Zhangjiajie National Forest Park Mini-Group Day Tour

Zhangjiajie National Forest Park

Zhangjiajie National Forest Park was China's first national forest park, opened in 1982, and it forms the core of the Wulingyuan Scenic Area, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1992. The landscape is a forest of thousands of quartz-sandstone pillars, some more than 200 metres tall, separated by deep ravines and streams. The park is large, with several gates, shuttle buses, an elevator and cable cars linking its plateaus.

How do you get to Zhangjiajie National Forest Park? Most visitors stay in Wulingyuan town by the East Gate, about 40 minutes from Zhangjiajie city and its airport and railway station. On this day tour our driver handles the transfer and our guide plans the route through the park, which is the real advantage: without help, first-time visitors often lose hours on shuttle queues and wrong turns.

Bailong Elevator

The tour enters the valley and heads straight for the Bailong Elevator, a glass-sided lift built against a cliff on the edge of Yuanjiajie. It lifts visitors about 326 metres from the valley floor to the plateau in less than two minutes; the lower part runs through a shaft inside the rock and the upper part outside it, with open views over the peaks.

Going up early is the key to a calm day, as queues build by late morning in busy seasons. Our guide handles the tickets so you simply step in, find a place by the glass and watch the pillars rise around you. The ride up is included, and the guide explains how the lift was built into the cliff.

Yuanjiajie and the floating-mountain pillars

Yuanjiajie is the part of the park most travellers picture when they think of Zhangjiajie. A cliff-top loop of paths and viewing terraces looks over the Pillar of the Southern Sky, the tall stone column that became the symbol of the floating-mountain pillars, as well as the Enchanting Terrace and the Back Garden. The loop also crosses the First Bridge Under Heaven, a natural rock bridge linking two peaks over a deep drop.

Plan on about two hours here, mostly on paved paths with some steps. Our guide takes a shortcut to the main viewpoint before the larger groups arrive. The best time to visit Yuanjiajie is in the morning, when light mist hangs between the pillars and the paths are quieter.

Yangjiajie and the Natural Great Wall

A short shuttle ride away, Yangjiajie is less crowded than Yuanjiajie and feels wilder. Its signature view is the Natural Great Wall, rows of pine-covered sandstone ridges that line up like a defensive wall across the valley. The rocks here are some of the oldest in the park, formed from sea-bed sands hundreds of millions of years ago.

The viewpoints are close to the shuttle stop, so you get the scenery without a long hike. This is also where many groups take their lunch break, at your own pace and expense; food choices on the plateau are simple, so bring snacks if you prefer. Our guide keeps an eye on the time so you reach Tianzi Mountain in good afternoon light.

Tianzi Mountain and the cable car

Tianzi Mountain, at about 1,260 metres, is the highest area of the forest park. Its terraces overlook the Imperial Brush Peaks, a cluster of slender pillars that look like brushes standing upside down, and the West Sea stone forest, which fills with cloud after rain. On clear days the view stretches across the whole peak forest.

The day ends with the Tianzi Mountain cable car down to the valley, a ride of a few minutes that passes close to the cliffs, followed by our transfer back to your hotel. What is the best time of year to visit Zhangjiajie? Spring and autumn bring the clearest days, while winter sometimes dusts the peaks with snow.