Solitary Beauty Peak & Jingjiang Prince City, Guilin

Solitary Beauty Peak (独秀峰 Dúxiù Fēng) does what its name says — a single 152-metre limestone tower standing alone in the middle of downtown Guilin, with no neighbours. Around its base sits Jingjiang Prince City (靖江王城 Jìngjiāng Wángchéng), the walled compound built in 1372 for a nephew of the first Ming emperor, decades before the Forbidden City went up in Beijing. The grounds later became an imperial examination hall, and today Guangxi Normal University occupies part of the site, so you share the paths with students carrying textbooks.

The climb is 306 stone steps, steep in places, taking about 20 minutes at a reasonable pace. From the pavilion at the top you get the single best orientation view of Guilin: the grid of the old city below, the lakes glinting to the south, and karst peaks poking up between apartment blocks in every direction. It is the view that makes the geology make sense — these hills are not on the edge of town, they are in it.

At ground level, wander the restored palace walls, the examination cells, and the cliff-base inscriptions, including the Song-dynasty line that gave Guilin its enduring tagline about having the finest scenery under heaven.

The ¥100 ($14) ticket is the sticking point, and plenty of travellers find it steep for two hours. If you only do one paid Guilin city sight, though, this is the one with both the history and the panorama.