Visiting Zhangjiajie

Zhangjiajie may not mean much to many, but this is one of China’s most popular travel destinations. Located in northern Hunan province it is most famous for being the inspiration for the film Avatar (the whole site is sometimes erroneously referred to as the Avatar mountains). The park is huge and there are numerous different sites, trails and paths giving you the chance to experience the stunning scenery close up. However this is not like national parks in Australia, the US or New Zealand. You can’t just head off on your own adventure and explore freely. You have to stick to the concrete paths that wind their way throughout the park. The main reason for this is due to the parks size and the huge number of visitors it receives on a daily basis. The scenery more than makes up for this lack of freedom though. Welcome to one of the most unique landscapes in the world. 

When to visit Zhangjiajie

The park is open all year round, and each season has it’s own pleasant characteristics. That being said DO NOT visit during any Chinese national holiday, the main ones being Chinese New Year in late January/early February or National Day which is during the first week of October. Summer holidays will also bring the crowds as well as the heat. We visited at the end of October and the weather was mild with a mixture of blue skies, cloudy days and short rain showers. The weather did not alter or affect our plans in any way.

Getting there and away 

Most people will fly or take a train to Zhangjiajie city which is about an hour from the park. There is no high speed train to Zhangjiajie city. Most train journeys will require a change in Changsha. In many cases it’s far more convenient to fly. We flew from Chongqing for approximately 700rmb. When taking into account the costs of taking the gaotie (high speed train) from Chongqing to Changsha, there wasn’t a huge difference in price. 

Unless you want a long bus ride every day, do not stay in Zhangjiajie city. You’re better off staying closer to one of the parks entrances. We stayed in the small town of Wulingyuan, close to the entrance of the same name which was at the west of the park. This is probably the busiest of the entrances, but it’s certainly the most convenient. 

To get to Wulingyuan from Zhangjiajie city you can either take a taxi or a bus. Taxi’s should be around 200-300 rmb and can be arranged by your guesthouse. However buses stop running from Zhangjiajie’s central bus station around 7pm, meaning that if you arrive on a late flight a taxi may be your only option. If you find yourself in this situation you may be able to arrange a driver with your guesthouse, which more often than not will be cheaper than a taxi. 

Wulingyuan has a couple of bus routes, however other than walking taxi’s are the main way to get to the park. We were about a 20-30 minute walk or a 5 minute, 10rmb taxi ride from the entrance. There are plenty of taxi’s here so you should have no issue getting one. Also the 10rmb is a flat fair from anywhere in Wulingyuan to the park entrance.

Tickets

Tickets cost 248rmb and last for 4 days. The price receives a fair bit of complaint from people however it does also include all buses in the park itself and considering some of the outrageous prices we’ve paid for entrance tickets in China and elsewhere it certainly seems to represent good value for money. Especially when you consider that all of the roads and paths required a huge amount of manual labour. 

When you enter the park your ticket will be matched with your right thumb print. This is so that in the event you lose your ticket, someone else can’t get in. Every morning when you enter you will need to scan your ticket and thumb print. 

Crowds

Remember you are in China. Off season in China is still busy by western standards. There are plenty of places were there will be huge crowds, it is one of the things that you just have to accept. However there are plenty of areas where the crowds are non existent. The vast majority of the crowds will be large tour groups, however fortunately most of them are on one or two day tours and focus on a couple of specific areas (many of these sorts of tours in China will follow the same route at Zhangjiajie). Outside of these areas you will avoid the crowds. 

The busiest areas of the park are the areas around the 10 mile gallery bus stop along the electric train line (yes really). However when you get to the start of the Tianzi Shan climb it’s very quiet. In addition the entrance to the Golden Whip Stream walk can get pretty hectic. The top of Tianzi Shan can also get quite busy, although it’s quite a large area so it never really felt too crowded. However the winner of the most crowded place in park has to go the Avatar area. Most easily accessed by the Bailong elevator, that whilst being over-priced certainly saves you plenty of time and energy. The crowds upon entering the park can be particularly daunting, however our guides below will take you to plenty of areas away from the crowds.  

Entering the park

The Wulingyuan entrance is chaotic to say the least. Upon entering the pagoda turn right to scan you ticket and thumb print and join the cues to get onto a bus. You cannot walk anywhere in the park from this entrance, you have to take a bus. The lines on the left (nearest the pagoda) go to the 10 mile gallery (十里画廊), stream winding through four doors (水绕四门) and the bailong lift(白龙天梯), heading west. The lines to the right will take you to the tianzi shan lower cable car station (天子山索道下站) only. 

For each day in Zhangjiajie we have included which buses, lifts or cable cars we used to give you a clear idea of the route we took in the park.

Day 1

Buses: 1) Entrance to 10 mile gallery (十里画廊).  2) Tianzi shan scenic area (天子山景区办事处) to Yangjiajie (杨家界)  3) Yangjiajie (杨家界) to Tianzi shan scenic area (天子山景区办事处) 4) Tianzi shan lower cable car station (天子山索道下站) to entrance. 

Cable Cars: Tianzi shan upper cable car station to tianzi shan lower cable car station – 72 rmb. 

After picking up our tickets which we’d pre-booked online through Chinese travel company c-trip we squeezed onto a bus and got off at the 10 mile gallery. From here we followed the path that goes alongside an electric train, fortunately the train does not block the amazing views. This path can get quite busy with tourists however so do be warned. After about 30-45 minutes or so we arrived at a snack station with bathrooms, food stalls and monkeys. This is where most of the other tourists walked to. They then turned around and went back down the exact same path. From this snack station we began the long slog (5000+ steps) up to the tianzi shan scenic area. This is a pretty tough hike, mainly because it is all steps, which is very common on China. The views on the way up were absolutely breath taking and we shared the path with a handful of people during our 2.5 hour hike up. 

Reaching the huge pagoda (tianzi ge 天子阁) meant we were at the top. From here there a numerous viewpoints and short paths to explore. However this whole area is very popular with tourists, so naturally it was pretty busy. It was here we jumped on a bus to Yangjiajie. This death defying ride ferried us over to the far western section of the park which has small pockets of crowds, however they were pretty easy to lose. From the bus station we followed signs to the Tianbo mansion (天波府). Parts of the path required ladders, decent balance and a lack of vertigo, however the views more than made up for it. 

From here you can loop round to another couple of view points before following your way back to the Yangjiajie scenic area bus stop. From here we took a bus to the tianzi shan scenic area,  a short walk from the cable car station. After taking the cable car down, another took us bus back to the entrance. You can walk back down to the 10 mile gallery gallery however you would need to start very early in order to do this. We arrived at the park at 9am and got to the exit around 6:30pm. 

Day 2

Buses: 1) Entrance to Bailong lift (白龙天梯). 2) Bailong lift (白龙天梯) to Yuanjiajie scenic area (袁家界景区). 3) Stream winding through four doors (水绕四门) to entrance. 

Lift: Bailong lift – 72rmb. 

After the punishing climb to the summit of tianzi shan we decided to avoid walking the ascents and take on the descents instead.  We took a bus to the bailong elevator and after paying 72rmb for about 80seconds we were up at around 1000m (give or take) and heading towards a bus that would take us and a fair few other people to the Yuanjiajie scenic area. Here we were greeted with the largest crowds we’d encounter. This area is also known as the “avatar area” so expect lots of tour groups, microphones and old ladies doing strange poses with scarves. However the scenery is certainly pretty enough to compensate. 

From the bus station a winding path along the mountains edge is littered with all manner of viewpoints giving you some stunning views. A good place to escape the crowds is on the far side of the loop after crossing the natural bridge. We sat here soaking up the scenery for a good 10 minutes until someone else discovered this little piece of paradise. 

From here we walked back to the the Yuanjiajie bus stop, along the road not through the crowds (it’s clearly signposted). From here we walked down the mountain back to the four door area taking a left at the end of the staircase. The views at beginning of the descent are particularly beautiful and this entire section is petty much deserted. Walking along the last part of the golden whip stream back to the four door area can occasionally be quite busy. Although it’s usually quieter later in the day 

Day 3

Buses: 1) Entrance to stream winding through four doors (水绕四门). 2) Oxygen bar (天然氧吧) to Huangshi village lower cable car station (黄石寨索道下站). 3) Huangshi village lower cable car station (黄石寨索道下站) to Oxygen bar. 4) Stream winding through four doors (水绕四门) to entrance. 

Cable Cars: Huangshi village cable car return – 118rmb. 

Nestled in the far south western corner of the park, this area was definitely one of the highlights of our visit to Zhangjiajie. This was our longest and most intense day for sure. We entered the park around 9:30am and got back to the entrance around 7pm. 

From the four door area follow the path along the golden whip stream. We encountered a lot of monkeys so make sure you keep all of your food in backpacks. Don’t carry it in a carrier bag, the monkeys will go for it. The path winds itself along the valley floor offering some lovely views. At the end of the golden whip stream we jumped on a bus to the Huangshi zhai cable car station.

We opted to buy a return ticket so as to spend more time on the track around Huangshi zhai. The views here were simply amazing. The crowds were non existent, which is surprising considering how stunning this area is. The track winds itself around the mountain top with numerous excellent viewpoints. A couple of spots are directly opposite the Avatar area that we visited on day 2; where you can just about here the tour groups being lead around.

To get back to the exit we re-traced our steps back to the entrance after taking the cable car down. The alternative would be to take a bus from the park entrance/exit close to the oxygen bar back to Wulingyuan for 10rmb.

Eating in and around Zhangjiajie

Food options are limited to stalls and a mcdonalds at Tianzi shan and a KFC at the Avatar area. Sadly the latter two are probably more suited to a western stomach than what’s served at the food stalls. Outside of the park is a different ball game. The area straight on from the entrance is littered with eateries mainly serving delicious hunan food (湖南菜). We found that the further away we got from the entrance (we were a 5 minute drive/15 minute walk from the park entrance) the poorer the food. If you stick on the main road from the entrance, bypass the big hotel and take your pick. Chances are you’ll find a good one.