The main tourist area is focused around 2 parallel streets. The two main tourist streets run from the river at one end to one of the town's larger main streets. There are also a few smaller streets connecting the two larger streets. The street on the left from the River is Old West Street (Laoxijie), but is simply called West Street and is the older more established tourist street and the real center of things. The other long tourist street is Diecui lu (畳翠路).

There's a small creek that runs down the center of these two streets. Some of the prettiest bars and restaurants in town have overlooking balconies nearby. The street there is called Guiha Lu. There are a large number of vendors hawking all sorts of tourist stuff, on the foot road leading along the Li River, from both shops and handcarts. There are also a number of rather nice, cheaper, riverside hotels.

Across the top of these 2 streets, is a major street called Pantao Lu with many hotels. The town's bus station is at the corner where that main street meets Die Cui Lu. There used to be a very nice night market filled with dozens of makeshift restaurants. They have all been moved out of town by the recent ‘clean up YS’ campaign. But you will also find Yangshuo Central Park across from the bus station. They have just recently opened the park up and made it prettier. At current they are still extending the park at the rear. This is a nice place to relax with a book. Many local elders use this place for morning fitness regimes such as ‘Tai chi’ or walking the grandchildren.

Near the top of West Street are three banks with ATMs — Bank of China, Agricultural Bank and ICBC — and there is also a China Construction Bank on Die Cui Lu. Service in the Bank of China can be awful, but it has the only ATM that accepts foreign cards. The post office is also on Pantao Lu, opposite the top end of West Street and is open from 8am until 9pm.