Zhangjiajie 张家界 Travel Guide

Zhangjiajie is a region of extraordinary scenery with 243 peaks surrounded by over 3000 karst upthrusts, a concentration not seen anywhere elsewhere in the world. Inspiring Chinese painters and poets for centuries in 1990 it was recognised as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. To add to the scenic splendour is the gravity defying “glass road” on Tianmen Mountain the spectacular Huanglong (Yellow Dragon) Cave system and the area is also home to 3 ethnic minorities, the Tujia, Miao and Bai. Little visited by non-Chinese tourists yet one of China’s true highlights.

Simply the astonishing scenery. Give yourself a few days to wander the paths and soak it all up. For the brave there is the stunning “Glass Road” path on Tianmen mountain.

Jinbianxi offers a beautiful 8km riverside walk through some of the regions best scenery with the advantage of their being few steps to negotiate making this idea for families and those with less than perfect knees! Wulingyuan offers up the classic Chinese scenery that has inspired countless scroll paintings. There is an excellent circular walk amongst the peaks with numerous view points and which can be reached by the impressive sky lift elevator.

Tianzi Mountains offer up more of the classical Chinese scenery of this area and are the best spot to watch the sun go down amongst the karst towers. Huanglong (Yellow Dragon) Cave is a huge system of caves with stalactites over that have taken over 10 million years to form and featuring a series of limestone caverns interconnected by a subterranean river you can take a boat along.

Tianmen Mountain offers the world’s longest cable car system as well as the gravity defying glass road perched on the side of the peak giving the feeling of floating on air (or just sheer terror) as you walk along it.

Visited less by foreign tourists than Huangshan but no less impressive and providing more variety of scenery a must for anyone interested in unique landscapes.

Most of the hotels here are of a good standard and are large affairs catering to Chinese tour groups. We recommend the Qinghe Jinjiang or the Western run Pullman Hotel – both impressive and of 5 star standard. There is very little decent budget accommodation.

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By Phil Stanley & Headseast – TCTC Destination Expert.