No wonder it's the filming location of "The Journey of Flower," truly stepping into a fairyland
Help! The Detian Transnational Waterfall, made famous by "The Journey of Flower," is like a real-life fantasy, unbelievably stunning🌊 This top Asian waterfall spans China and Vietnam. The latest 2025 guide is here for efficient photo ops + avoiding pitfalls, young people, save this fast🔥
📍Must-go reasons | Why choose Detian?
✅ Asia’s only transnational waterfall: One step crosses two countries, with Chinese landscapes on the left and Vietnamese countryside on the right, a perfect Versailles-worthy social media material +10086
✅ The same fairyland as in "The Journey of Flower": The prototype of Changliu fairyland, standing under the waterfall, you can instantly imagine “Bai Zihua, I curse you in the name of the gods…”
✅ Explosive activities: bamboo rafting through the waterfall, border markets, countryside hiking… both thrilling and relaxing, a treasure spot for post-00s travelers
🚗 Transportation | 3 ways from Nanning to Detian
Charter car/self-drive🚗
- Pros: Stop and shoot anytime! Passing through Chongzuo Karst landforms is divine, and you can chill all afternoon at a rice field café with no one bothering you
- Route: About 3 hours from Nanning, slight highway congestion on holidays, navigate to “Detian Transnational Waterfall Tourist Center”
- Suitable for: Special forces teams/family trips, mainly for freedom
High-speed train + bus🚄
- Pros: Saves money! Nanning to Chongzuo South by high-speed train takes 29 minutes, then transfer to a tourist bus directly to the scenic area
- Note: Transfer is a hassle, must time the bus well (about 1 hour per bus), check the latest schedule on the official scenic area WeChat
- Suitable for: Budget travelers/solo adventurers with plenty of time
One-day tour group👫
- Pros: Best for relaxing! Tour guide handles tickets + transport, plus border stories, tight but worry-free itinerary
- Cons: Fixed schedule, low freedom
- Suitable for: Lazy people/social anxiety, those who want a no-brainer group tour
📸 Must-check list | Great for photos + experience
🔥 Core activity: Three ways to enjoy the waterfall
1. Viewing platform overlook🌉: Take the sightseeing bus to the mountaintop viewing platform, see the full view of Asia’s top transnational waterfall + China-Vietnam border line, stunning enough to leave you speechless, wide-angle camera ready!
2. Walk the plank road🚶: Walk down the waterfall trail, each platform offers a surprise view! The waterfall explodes right before your eyes, water splashes on your face, super refreshing (remember to bring a waterproof bag, don’t let your phone die)
3. Bamboo raft through the waterfall🛶: A must! Spend 30 yuan to get up close to the waterfall, feel the pressure of “a waterfall plunging three thousand feet,” getting soaked is totally worth it (social butterflies can shout: Vietnamese friends, lend me a light!)
🌿 Hidden side quests: Border wild play
- Guichun River hike🌾: Small paths along the China-Vietnam border river, rice fields, water buffalo, Vietnamese bamboo rafts… immersive border countryside experience, snap shots like scenes from "Back to Field"
- Boundary marker No. 53🪦: Stand with feet in both countries for photos, post with “I smuggled into Vietnam for a coffee today,” instantly a travel influencer
- China-Vietnam style street🛍️: Vietnamese coffee, spring rolls, perfume… bargain like a pro! (Don’t fall for the “free photo” trick, printed photos cost 35 yuan each, just say no!)
🍜 Food guide | Border delicacies map
Must-try list🍲
- Rolled rice noodles: Thin as cicada wings rice sheets wrapped with minced meat/wood ear mushrooms, topped with soul sauce, 5 yuan carb freedom
- Vietnamese spring rolls: Transparent rice paper + fresh shrimp + mint, dipped in fish sauce, so refreshing you’d think you’re in Vietnam
- Sour treats: Mango/pineapple/guava soaked in sour plum juice, sour and spicy appetizer, Guangxi people’s “fruit assassin” (but delicious!)
Pitfall warning
Restaurants inside the scenic area are expensive and bad! Go to Shuolong Town instead, Vietnamese small eateries with sour bamboo shoot fish and grilled corn, cheap, generous portions, and authentic
🏠 Accommodation | What’s it like to sleep at the border?
- Hotels inside the scenic area🌄: Open your window to the waterfall! Watch sunrise early + take photos in an empty scenic area, enjoy the whole waterfall alone (prices are a bit high, book early in peak season)
- Daxin County town🏙️: Best value for money, many options plus night markets and barbecue, about 40 minutes by car from the scenic area
- Rice field homestays🌾: The new hit in 2025! Stay by the rice fields in Detian Village, listen to frogs at night, wake up to Vietnamese cooking smoke, a dream for artsy youth
⚠️ Life-saving pitfall tips
1. Sunscreen + mosquito repellent! The scenic area has lots of greenery, mosquitoes are clingier than your partner; direct sunlight with no shade, apply sunscreen up to your neck or you’ll get “Detian tan”
2. Don’t sit on the right side of the bamboo raft! To photograph Vietnamese villages, sit on the left side; the right side is all water splashes on your face (don’t ask how I know, my camera almost died)
3. Free photo trick: The “free photo” spots in the scenic area give you photos so blurry even your mom wouldn’t recognize you, don’t buy! Your own photos are way better
4. Best time to view the waterfall: High water season (May - October) after 3 PM you’ll likely see a rainbow; low water season (November - April) mornings 9-11 AM have fewer people and soft light, the waterfall looks like a silver chain, super fairy-like
🌍 Nearby linked activities | Check them out on the way
- Mingshi Countryside🏞️: Filming location of "Eternal Love," bamboo rafting to see Karst peaks, relax for 2 hours to cure all emo feelings
- Tongling Grand Canyon🌿: Underground rivers + caves + waterfalls, a hiker’s paradise, like Detian’s “thrilling DLC”
Detian Waterfall is not the end, it’s the starting point where you romantically collide with the border! Follow this guide and you’ll be bombarded with “Where exactly is this?!” on your social media
Finally, shout out loud: Youth has no price, the transnational waterfall is just a direct trip away! The first stop for 2025 travel is Detian, just go for it🏃♀️💨