From October 1st to 7th, is our National Holidays, AKA "The Golden Week"（国庆黄金周）, almost everybody works in China gets a 7-day holiday from their work, then massive domestic tourists pour into Yangshuo and fill up all the hotels and all the tourists attractions. It was the 4th day of the Golden Week, I came out to the West Street to see what it was like after I took care of everything at my B&B. Holy cow, look at the "Sea of People" down in the West Street...People could barely walk.
West Street (西街) in Yangshuo has always been touristy since Yangshuo got popular, it was quiet and peaceful before the year of 2002 when massive domestic tourists started coming to Yangshuo. Back then, there were only a few nice bars and coffee shops and local traditional wooden residences in the street where tourists could enjoy some quiet moment. Now, even if during the regular days, especially on the weekends, the street is always packed, commercialized souvenir shops are everywhere, loud night clubs going on all night long, making huge noise. However, the West Street is not all bad, there are some good restaurants, and the street view has its own feature and also if you like clubbing and shopping, then that might be a good place to visit, but if you want to have a good sleep after a long day touring Yangshuo, then this place you might want to avoid.
Because the prices on accommodation and tours and food and everything go up during National Holidays, so my suggestion is if you are free to choose a time to tour Yangshuo, don't make it during the Golden Week. But all the tourists I met during Golden Week were always like: Oh, we don't have other times to travel.
Crazy times of the year:
Golden Week (Oct.1st to Oct. 7th)
Chinese New Year (Dates vary every year according to Chinese Lunar Calendar)
Weekends During Tourism High Season (July to September)
Labor's Day (May 1st to 4th)
Easter for Westerners and Tomb Sweeping Day for Chinese (April 1 to April 4th)