Zhangjiajie National Forest Park Ticket with Cable Car & Elevator

Zhangjiajie National Forest Park: gates and opening hours

Opened in 1982 as China's first national forest park, Zhangjiajie National Forest Park is part of the Wulingyuan Scenic Area, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1992, famous for thousands of quartz-sandstone pillars rising from deep, forested ravines. The park has several entrances, the most used being the Wulingyuan gate on the east side, near most hotels, and the Forest Park gate on the south side, closer to Zhangjiajie city.

How do you get to Zhangjiajie National Forest Park? From Zhangjiajie city, the airport or the railway stations, it is about 40 minutes to an hour by road or bus to the gates. The park generally opens early in the morning and closes in the early evening, with shorter hours in winter. With a four-day pass, staying in Wulingyuan and entering early each day is the best plan.

Bailong Elevator and Yuanjiajie

The Bailong Elevator climbs about 326 metres up a sheer cliff in under two minutes, first through a shaft in the rock and then in glass cabins on the outside, linking the Golden Whip Stream valley with the Yuanjiajie plateau. It is the most popular way up, so take it early in the morning to avoid queues.

At the top, Yuanjiajie is the park's most famous area, with the Pillar of the Southern Sky, the column that came to symbolise the floating-mountain pillars, the Enchanting Terrace and the First Bridge Under Heaven, a natural stone arch between two peaks. Allow two to three hours for the viewpoint loop. Is Yuanjiajie worth visiting? It is the one area no visitor should miss.

Tianzi Mountain cable car

Tianzi Mountain, at about 1,260 metres, is the highest part of the park. The cable car climbs from the valley near the Ten-Mile Gallery to the summit area in a few minutes, gliding past cliffs and pine-topped towers. At the top, viewpoints look over the Imperial Brush Peaks and the West Sea stone forest, which often fills with a sea of clouds after rain.

Many independent travellers combine Tianzi Mountain and Yuanjiajie on the same day using the park buses, going up by elevator and down by cable car or the reverse. The best time to visit Tianzi Mountain is the late afternoon, when the light turns golden over the peak forest.

Yangjiajie cable car

The Yangjiajie cable car rises from the valley on the Wulingyuan side to Yangjiajie, a quieter part of the park whose rows of pine-covered sandstone ridges are known as the Natural Great Wall. A trail along the ridges reaches dramatic viewpoints such as One Step to Heaven, where a narrow path leads out to a rocky platform.

Because fewer tour groups come here, Yangjiajie rewards travellers with time, and a four-day pass gives you exactly that. Plan a half day for the cable car, the viewpoints and the trail, and combine it with a shuttle bus to Yuanjiajie, which lies close by on the same plateau, to see two of the park's finest views in one day.

Huangshi Village cable car and Golden Whip Stream

Near the Forest Park gate on the south side, the Huangshi Village cable car lifts you to a plateau at around 1,000 metres with one of the park's largest viewing platforms and a broad panorama over the pillars. It makes an excellent first visit if you enter from the city side, and the loop on top takes about two hours.

From the same gate, Golden Whip Stream follows a flat, shaded path for about seven kilometres through the valley at the foot of the pillars, the gentlest walk in the park and a lovely contrast to the plateau views. Macaque monkeys live along the stream; enjoy watching them but do not feed them. The small train along the Ten-Mile Gallery is not included in this pass.