Zhangjiajie, Hunan, is surrounded by misty mountains and green waters.

The independent and towering sandstone peaks and forests are the prototypes of Pandora in the Avatar movie.

Three hundred million years ago, crustal movements turned the sea here into land, accumulating 500 meters thick quartz sandstone on the surface. After billions of years of erosion and cutting by river water, Zhangjiajie's landscape of towering peaks and towering peaks today has been achieved.

There are only two sandstone sites like this in the world, and Zhangjiajie is one of them.

I want to liberate myself from the narrow urban life and wander on Pandora, where the Na'vi people live;

I want to escape from the busy modern rhythm and travel with immortals to dreamlike places in landscape paintings;

Just leave as you say,

Take off from work on Friday and return to Taiwan on Monday evening. Please take a day off and depart immediately!

traffic

◎ Flight tickets

The airline is China Southern Airlines

(Go to) Taoyuan Zhangjiajie 7/1 Fri. 18:20-21:00

Zhangjiajie Taoyuan 7/4 Mon  14:50-17:20 

◎ Public transportation (bus)

From Zhangjiajie city center to the scenic area, you can take a bus at Zhangjiajie Bus Station.

Zhangjiajie Bus Station is next to the railway station. Every day, there are buses to "Zhangjiajie Forest Park" and "Wulingyuan National Scenic Spot", both of which have ticket stations to enter the scenic area.

Train schedule information:

1. Zhangjiajie Forest Park Entrance: ¥ 11, 45-50 minute drive, every 10 minutes

2. Zhangjiajie Wulingyuan National Scenic Spot: ￥ 12, 45-50 minutes' drive, every 10 minutes

◎ Transportation within the scenic area

There are environmental shuttle buses within the scenic area, and the ticket price is included in the scenic area ticket.

When the car is not full, a stop and call system will be adopted, and it is best to confirm the destination with the driver as soon as you get on the car.

Travel advice

Zhangjiajie is a city that requires bus connections from the airport to the city center and from the city center to tourist attractions, so transportation time needs to be reserved

2. Zhangjiajie Hehua Airport, formerly known as Dayong Airport, can only be found by typing the old name on the website

3. Wulingyuan National Scenic Spot urban area is the nearest and busiest place from the scenic spot. There are many choices of food and accommodation. You can also go to Xibu Street to visit the night scene at night. It is recommended to find accommodation in Wulingyuan National Scenic Spot

4. When entering the ticket booth of Wujiayu near Wulingyuan National Scenic Spot, there are shuttle buses in the park, which are convenient to all scenic spots

get accommodation

D1 Resting Youth Hostel

Address: In front of Jinqiao Hotel, Nanzhuangping, Yongding District, Zhangjiajie

The hotel has WiFi, a clean environment, and convenient transportation (6 minutes' drive from the city center, 10 minutes' drive from Tianmen Mountain Scenic Area, 15 minutes' drive from Zhangjiajie Railway Station, and 20 minutes' drive from Zhangjiajie Hehua Airport),

D2 Wulingyuan National Scenic Spot, Zhangjiajie: Listen. Ya'anju Featured Inn

Address: near the entrance of Xibu Street, Wulingyuan National Scenic Spot Scenic Area, Zhangjiajie

The hotel has an elevator and wifi. The house price is large and clean. It is more than 2 kilometers away from Wulingyuan National Scenic Spot Scenic Area. There is a bus stop at the entrance. You can take a bus to the scenic area. The location is very convenient. It costs 116 yuan a night. The boss also booked tickets for Wulingyuan National Scenic Spot for us. The boss ordered 208 yuan here. I watched 228 yuan on the Internet myself. It's really good!

The address of the inn on Ctrip website is: https://hotels.ctrip.com/hotels/detail/?hotelId=11468308& ; checkIn=2021-03-28&checkOut=2021-03-29&cityId=27&minprice=&mincurr=&adult=1&children=0&ages=&crn=1&curr=&fgt=&stand=&stdcode=&hpaopts=&mproom=&ouid=&shoppingid=&roomkey=&highprice=-1&lowprice=0&showtotalamt=&hotelUniqueKey=&fromlist=1

trip

Travel itinerary

D1 Zhangjiajie City Rest for One Night

D2 Zhangjiajie City - Tianmen Mountain (Guigu Plank Road, glass walkway, Tianmen Cave) - Zhangjiajie City - Wulingyuan National Scenic Spot - Wulingyuan National Scenic Spot Pedestrian Street

D3 Wulingyuan National Scenic Spot - Yuan Jiajie (Bailong Sky Ladder, Back Garden, Ecstasy Terrace, Hallelujah Mountain, Tongxin Bridge, the First Bridge in the World) - Yang Jiajie (One Step to the Sky, Tianbo Mansion, Liulang Peak) - Wulingyuan National Scenic Spot

D4 Wulingyuan National Scenic Spot Jinbianxi Wulingyuan National Scenic Spot Zhangjiajie Lotus Airport

The first day in Zhangjiajie

The next day, Tianmen Mountain National Forest Park

D2 Tianmen Mountain glass walkway+999 Step Ascending Avenue, Challenge Your Foot

Spend ¥ 258 per day on Tianmen Mountain ticket (including round-trip cable car fees)

Glass walkway shoe cover ￥ 5

Today's goal is the emerging popular scenic spot "Tianmen Mountain" in Zhangjiajie

After breakfast early in the morning, I took a taxi to the Tianmen Mountain cable car entrance to prepare for taking the cable car

Tianmen Mountain Cableway Station

Actually, I was mentally prepared to wait in line for two to three hours. It was quite dangerous today as there weren't many people. After waiting in line for just over an hour, I got on the cable car

There is a lovely blue roof in the urban area of Zhangjiajie

After a 30 minute cable car ride from the city center to the mountainous area, the originally gentle cable car began to rise rapidly in sections. Every time I thought, "Ah! This is the limit of the steep cable car track!" I would then discover that the cable car had once again shown the possibility of tilting

Thanks to the extremely steep cable car, the height of the cable car suddenly soared several hundred meters and quickly reached the top of Tianmen Mountain.

Next, we're going to take the boardwalk!

The boardwalk of Tianmen Mountain is built on a nearly vertical cliff, as if it stands out of thin air

There are two routes to choose from when walking on the boardwalk on Tianmen Mountain: the eastern route and the western route

There is a famous Ghost Valley boardwalk on the western route, which is a popular choice for tourists; The eastern route is relatively easy and suitable for the elderly and children.

(It's said that the glass of the east glass walkway is clean, and the sense of suspension will be obvious, but as a standard tourist, I certainly choose the west line from the crowd!)

Glass walkway, you can directly see the vegetation in the valley

Before going to glass walkway, you should pay ￥ 5 for renting shoe covers. I think the Tianmen Mountain Garden is very careful, which can not only protect tourists' safety but also keep the glass clean. It is another scenery to watch people walk carefully on the glass walkway together with colorful shoe covers (laughing)

Finally, after crossing the Tianmen Mountain Suspension Bridge, you will arrive at Tianmen Mountain Temple. Here, you can choose to take the suspended chair cable car (¥ 23/person) and walk up to the cable car station, where you can take a shuttle bus to Tianmen Cave.

The hanging chair cable car is a bit like a ski resort cable car, with everyone's head, hands, and feet extending out of the chair, allowing you to feel the gentle breeze of Tianmen Mountain~

But I have already spent money to build a cable car today, so I will just walk left from Tianmen Mountain Temple and walk for 15 minutes to get to the cable car station!

Next stop, take a shuttle bus to Tianmen Cave.

The shuttle bus takes the 'Tongtian Avenue', which is the 99 bend mountain road that I saw when taking the cable car in the morning.

The driver's skills were excellent, as if the headpiece D was drifting on a curved road, experiencing motion sickness and astonishment, and arriving at Tianmen Cave faster than imagined.

The Tongtian Avenue is carved into steep mountain walls, with a total of 99 bends and many hairpin bends, making it look very spectacular.

Panoramic view of Tianmen Cave

Will be! Looking up at Tianmen Cave from the ground, one cannot help but marvel at the wonders of nature. The glowing openings seem to have a wonderful attraction. What is the world behind the cave? It feels both dangerous and tempting to get closer

However, Tianmen Cave cannot be approached just by wanting to get closer, "said by me.

You must have enough perseverance and physical strength to climb the 999 steps of Tianmen Cave.

At the moment I arrived at Tianmen Cave, I had already begun to have the illusion that Tianmen Cave was actually an arbitrary door, and passing through it would directly lead to hotels and the like... Although my legs were weak, my will could not be weak! Because today's itinerary is not over yet!

Take the cableway down the mountain, go back to the hotel, pick up my luggage, and then take a bus from Zhangjiajie Bus Station to Ya'anju Special Hotel in Wulingyuan National Scenic Spot

delicious food

We arranged our accommodation and began to look for food. With the recommendation of the hotel owner, we went to eat a special meal of Zhangjiajie. This restaurant also has a car to pick us up for free. The boss directly drove to our hotel door to pick us up to eat. The service was very good, of course, the dishes were also super excellent. The dishes were quite special, and almost all of them were consumed. Moreover, the price was super affordable. It was really profitable. It was rare to meet such good service in Wulingyuan National Scenic Spot, so we must recommend a restaurant!

Day 3 Wulingyuan National Scenic Spot

D3 climbs up the ladder to the sky, with misty clouds as if in a fairyland

The cost of Zhangjiajie four-day pass is ¥ 228 (including ¥ 65 for connecting eco-friendly vehicles within the scenic area, and the innkeeper booked it for me at ¥ 208)

The next morning, with legs that had regained their strength, they headed straight to the core scenic area of Yuanjiajie~gogo sister gogo brother~

As soon as you enter the ticket booth, you can see many eco-friendly shuttle buses. The driver will only drive after the tourists are fully seated.

After a 30 minute drive, you will arrive at the first stop, the "Hundred Dragon Sky Ladder".

The world's first ladder to the mountaintop

The Bailong Sky Elevator is 326 meters high and can reach the top of the mountain in just 1 minute and 28 seconds. It is the world's tallest and fastest outdoor sightseeing elevator.

The Bailong Heavenly Ladder connects the Ten Mile Gallery at the foot of the mountain, the Golden Whip Creek, and the Yuanjiajie, Yangjiajie, and Tianzishan on the mountain, allowing visitors to Zhangjiajie Scenic Area without being limited by a 1-2 hour ascent. It is a very successful means of transportation.

At the same time, as the world's tallest and fastest outdoor sightseeing elevator, it is also a must visit attraction when coming to Zhangjiajie. If you come to Zhangjiajie, not taking the Bailong Sky Elevator is like going to Taipei without going to the 101 Observation Deck or Seoul without going to the Nanshan Tower. (← Tourist mentality)

After entering the elevator, I stood by the glass window and followed the elevator out of the cave, soaring into the sky. The once majestic mountain terrain was gradually thrown underfoot, creating a ridiculous sense of unreality. The first time people took a plane or an elevator, they probably felt the same way.

Watching the bullet shaped carriages of the elevator rapidly shuttle through the mountain walls, the metal frame emitting cold light shines in contrast to the bare and steep mountains next to it, somewhat resembling a scene that would appear in a dystopian movie.

Seeing the magnificent hanging elevator cars of the Hundred Dragon Sky Ladder, I really feel that only in China can such a large-scale, difficult engineering, and sci-fi building be built!

After taking the Hundred Dragon Ladder, we arrived at Yuanjiajie again by taking an eco-friendly car. Yuanjiajie is the core scenic area of Zhangjiajie, with attractions such as the backyard, the Enchanting Platform, the Hallelujah Mountain, the First Bridge in the World, and the Tongxin Bridge.

The First Bridge in the World

Walking slowly and taking photos, we arrived at the Yuanjiajie Tourist Center around 2pm in the afternoon.

Here, you can choose to take an eco-friendly car to Tianzishan or Yangjiajie. Considering that the attractions in Yangjiajie are relatively close and there is plenty of time to explore slowly, I have decided to go to Yangjiajie first.

Of course, it should also be feasible for people with fast foot travel to visit two scenic spots in one afternoon!

The fourth day Wulingyuan National Scenic Spot

The total length of Jinbian Creek is about 6 kilometers, with green trees and clear water along the way, making it very suitable for summer hiking and outdoor activities. After climbing the Tianshan Mountains for two consecutive days, we arrived at Jinbian Creek, which is filled with many negative ions. Here, we can truly heal all fatigue and unhappiness~

The main attractions of Jinbian Creek include: Divine Eagle Protecting the Whip, Golden Whip Rock, Flower Fruit Mountain, Water Curtain Cave, Mountain Splitting to Save the Mother, Thousand Mile Meeting, Water Around the Four Gates, etc. It is one of the filming locations for Journey to the West.

After a three-day and three night flash mob trip to Zhangjiajie, I finally witnessed the magnificent and beautiful scenery on the land of China with my own eyes (with the music of searching for wonders from the mainland ringing in my mind~), and it seems that I can also feel the ancient people's admiration for their lofty aspirations!

Ah, where are we going for the next three-day weekend

Traveling, and the anticipation of traveling, is the best vitamin for me. When I come back from traveling, I can recharge my batteries and set off again!!! (Inspirational)

Travel tips

There are two scenic spots on the mountain route, Jinbian Creek and Shili Gallery, which have similar properties. You can choose one to go to. Shili Gallery has opened a sightseeing train, and those who want to take a car for easy sightseeing can choose Shili Gallery; Jinbian Creek, on the other hand, has relatively few artificial construction axes and chisels. For those who have good physical strength and want to experience the natural scenery of the valley, it is recommended to go to Jinbian Creek.