RhodyRed

Maybe I should clarify what I meant by hidden gems. Obviously Yangshuo is incredibly touristy and has grown to support that tourism for well known reasons. My question or hope was to maybe hear about something that might not be obvious - we plan to do the bamboo rafts for example (obvious) but I've also heard there may be a fan-painting workshop which would be perfect for my daughter (not obvious). Most heavily touristed places in addition to the marquee activities also have less well-known activities or sights that are wonderful but may not be as well known.

My favorite example of this is visiting the Metropolitan museum roof garden in NY at Sunset - beautiful little oasis with a unique view of NYC and Central Park and one that many people wouldn't think about, or bother to mention, when planning a visit to NYC for the first time.

So for the experienced Yangshuo traveler's out there any specific activities that might fly under the radar?

RhodyRed

Just wanted to thank everyone for their input - big thanks to @jiejie for her suggestion to catch the train farther down the line instead of traveling back to Guilin. We stayed up the Yulong river about 15 minutes outside of town and it was very peaceful and quiet. Rice was still being harvested and threshed while we were there. We did attend the Liu San Jie light show (a name which doesn't do it justice - it really is a spectacle worth seeing) and it was quite fun. We did a self-led hike to the Moon Hill through several small villages and it was very nice - low key and very much real day-to-day living. Being outside of town also had it's benefits in that we were far from the crowds. We also did the bamboo raft tour down the river - cliché ridden it may be but it was still fun.