UNESCO Watchtowers Heritage and Ancient Villages Private Tour | La Vacanza Travel

UNESCO Watchtowers Heritage and Ancient Villages Private Tour

Duration: 8 to 11 hours
Destination: China, Guangdong, Guangzhou
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  • 8 to 11 hours
  • Guangzhou
  • E-Voucher
  • Lowest Price
  • Not-Cancellable

Overview

This 9 hours day trip will let you explore Kaiping(around 2.5 hours driving from Guangzhou), which is famous for its world class architectural and cultural heritage-Watch Tower (the house buildings look like fortress built in 1900s by overseas Chinese migrant workers) and villages. We would be travelling in a private car to visit a few UNESCO sites(like Li Garden, Zili Village) in the countryside area with many farmland, livestock shed and fishpond along the way.

Kaiping/Taishan is also the hometown city for many overseas Chinese, if you are coming back to visit and looking for your ancestor's house, we can assist and arrange such a tour for you. We will follow up with you to firm up the itinerary after you book this tour on Tripadvisor.^_^.

Itinerary
This is a typical itinerary for this product

Stop At: Kaiping Diaolou and Villages, Kaiping 529300 China

The Diaolou Cluster in Zili Village and the Diaolou Cluster in Majianglong Village in Guangdong’s first World Cultural Heritage Site, and Li Garden, which is known as “a masterpiece of gardens built by overseas Chinese”. It’s a comprehensive tourist attraction integrating many elements, such as overseas Chinese culture, garden art, Chinese and Western architecture, cultural relics, five-country customs. Kaiping Diaolou is a special type of native architecture in China. It is a kind of multi-story tower building integrating defense, residence, Chinese and Western architectural art. It is also the fruit of Chinese rural people’s active acceptance of Western architectural art and its integration with the local architectural art, embodying the typical open, inclusive, conflicting and integrated development between overseas Chinese culture and Western culture with unique artistic charm, becoming a masterpiece of overseas Chinese culture and a unique world architectural art landscape.

Duration: 2 hours

Stop At: Watchtower Group of Zili Village, Zili Village, Tangkou Town, Kaiping 529361 China

Founded in the 17th year of Daoguang’s reign in the Qing Dynasty(1837), it is comprised of Anheli, He’anli, and Yong’anli unincorporated villages all with the surname of Fang. In the early days after the founding of new People’s Republic of China, all three villages were combined into Zili Village, implying “self-reliance”. The entire village has 92 houses in total, including 77 “three-room-and-two-corridor” traditional dwellings, 9 watchtowers, and 6 cottage-style villas. Apart from the finest building Mingshi Building, there are another characteristic buildings named Yesheng Mansion, Lansheng Mansion and Guansheng Mansion. The traditional dwellings and watchtowers in the village are well distributed and proportioned. Dotted with the lotus ponds, its unique country lifestyle and the stories behind the watchtowers have attracted visitors from all over the world.

Duration: 1 hour 30 minutes

Stop At: Jinjiangli Village, Xian'gang Town, Kaiping China

Jinjiangli Village Diaolou Cluster, surrounded by mountains, with crisscross paths on the farmland and river flowing through away before it, lies in the Xian Gang Township, Kaiping City. Water buffaloes and geese appearing on the riverside from time to time, the granite-paved road leading from the pier to the village, and women carrying water coming and going, that is a pastoral life painting of Jinjiangli Village. 3 diaolou stand among traditional old houses, which gives you a sense of beauty of harmony in combination of western and Chinese traditional style. Ruishilou and Shengfenglou are 2 out of the 3 diaolou that forms the most beautiful diaolou cluster in Kaiping.

Duration: 30 minutes

Stop At: Kaiping Garden, Genghua Village, Beiyi Country, Tangkou Town, Kaiping 529361 China

Built in the early 20th century by Mr. Xie Weili, a US-based Chinese, the Li Garden is based on the Grand View Garden depicted in the Dream of the Red Chamber and skillfully combines the classical garden features with popular villa architectures in Europe and America, which presents a unique form of architectural art and boasts a breathtaking man-made garden landscape.
Known as the “Small View Garden”, the Li Garden focuses on the conception of “bridge, brook, and household”. Divided into grand garden, small garden, and villa clusters, the garden layout forms a style of its own: separation with the artificial river or walls, connection with pavilions and bridges or corridors, contributing to the pattern of gardens within gardens and landscapes within landscapes. With profound culture represented by the couplets by famous calligraphers and substantial romantic and legendary sculptures and murals, it will turn back the clock to make you feel like being in the early 20th century.

Duration: 1 hour

Stop At: Ma-Xianglong Towers Group, Baihe Town, Kaiping 529300 China

Situated at the flatland on the eastern coast of Tanjiang River, the Majianglong Village is under the administration of Baihe Township. It is composed of 5 villages: Yong’an and Nan’an Village of the Huang family and Qinglin, Hedong and Longjiang Villages of the Guan family. Yong’an Village was established during the Qianlong period(1736-1795). In the early years, it was known as “Fengsuilang” which bears the symbolic meaning of “good harvest every year”. They renamed the place “Majianglong” after 1949. There are seven Diaolou buildings and eight Western-style villas in Majianglong Village, which are all unique in design and well preserved, hidden in the dense ancient woods and bamboo groves, perfectly blending into the surrounding natural environment and folk houses. Standing among them, surrounded by luxuriant and well-spaced green bamboo, dense fruit trees, chirping birds and fragrant flowers, you will wonder if you are stepping into a fairyland.

Duration: 1 hour

Stop At: Chikan Movie Town, Chikan Upper Town, Kaiping 529367 China

Established in early Qing Dynasty, next to Tan River with convenient transportation for surrounding rural villages, Chikan Old Town is famous for its many Cantonese style Qilou street buildings as well as western villas. It is also an ideal and popular place for film makers and photographers for wedding celebration who'd like to take advantage of its traditional architectural background and atmosphere. Delicious local food and snacks are a plus to this site.

Duration: 2 hours

Inclusions
  • Local English speaking tour guide with full escort
  • Private car with air-con
  • Professional driver
  • Hotel pick up and drop off in downtown Guangzhou

Exclusions
  • Admission fee and lunch(for you and the guide)
  • Gratuities
  • Not wheelchair accessible
  • Stroller accessible
  • Most travelers can participate
  • This is a private tour/activity. Only your group will participate
  • Confirmation will be received within 48 hours of booking, subject to availability
Departure Point

Traveler pickup is offered
We could pick up customer at any hotel in downtown Guangzhou(hotel location is limited in Tianhe, Haizhu, Yuexiu and Liwan District)

Voucher info

You can present either a paper or an electronic voucher for this activity.

Duration

8 to 11 hours


User's Reviews

Dottywhaleshark

21 Mar, 2024

Guangzhou is a convenient and accessible location to base oneself to visit surrounding cities and sights. Including Kaiping. Visiting the diaolou (fortress towers) in Zilicun (Zili village) was interesting as the history and architecture is unique in that part of China. Damon was very responsive to my initial enquiry, spoke excellent English (and Mandarin) and gave additional travel tips pre and post-trip. For a personalised, private tour experience, I would recommend booking with him.

TPKay

03 Feb, 2024

Zack was very knowledgable and very patient in replying to our many questions. I highly recommend him to anyone who wishes to explore this beautiful city!

Sightsee18453193875

31 Jan, 2024

Had an enjoyable day trip with Zack visiting Kaiping which is also my ancestors home town. We visited Zilicun dialogue and the Chikan Old Town. It was an eye opener to see the actual dialou. Zack gave us very good explanation on the history of dialou and information about Guangzhou. Zack is a very friendly, pleasant and responsible guide. Thumbs up for his tour! 👍

eewhc

31 Jan, 2024

We took a day trip to Kaiping with Zack as our guide. We had a wonderful day exploring the Dialou and Chikan Old town. Zack was a very pleasant guide, very knowledgeable, friendly & accommodating. He spoke excellent English. Will definitely engage him again in future if we visit GZ again.

MLYang

31 Jan, 2024

Enjoyed our day trip to diaolou and chi Kan ancient town with Zack. He was very friendly and helpful. Very clear explanation in English, Chinese or Cantonese. The car was very comfortable throughout the journey. Highly recommended.

User's Picture Gallery

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Fluent English guide for personalised tour in Guangzhou

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Day trip to Kaiping Dialou UNESCO World Heritage site.

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Beautiful old town & village tour in Guangzhou

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Architecture, History, and Countryside!

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