Originally Posted by
guoguo914
In the hostels of Nanning, you can easily find 200+ (or more) backpackers from western countries. Not to mention the tie between Nanning and Southeast Asian countries.
That's probably the case of a lot of southern tier 3, tier 4 cities in China, imho.
Nanning is popular as a quick-stop for a day for overland travelers, as it is the primary connection point to/from Hanoi. Nanning and Hanoi are quite close geographically and it is very inexpensive to get between the two by train or bus. However, it rarely figures into most tourist plans as an extended stop.