September 29, 2023/ Travel/ Zhanjiajie, China
Zhanjiajie National Forest Park Itinerary: The Ultimate Guide To The Avatar Mountains
Although it may seem incredible, the magical world of Pandora exists in real life. Zhanjiajie National Forest Park is the place that served as inspiration for the creators of the movie Avatar.
And it is not surprising, since the park has more than 3,000 vertical pillars covered in green foliage, creating a spectacular peak forest.
After visiting these mountains, I can assure you that it is one of the most amazing places we have ever seen. This region is quite large and there are enough activities and hikes to cover several days. So here you have a complete guide to get the most out of your trip to Zhanjiajie.
Traveling To Zhanjiajie
Zhanjiajie is a city located in the Hunan region. This city has its own international airport, so probably the easiest and most convenient way to get there is to take a flight, either from another country or within China. In our case, we took a direct flight from Busan, South Korea, to Zhanjiajie Hehua Airport.
Additionally, Zhanjiajie has high speed train and bullet train, from Chengdu, Chongqing and Changsha. You can also take a high speed train from Zhanjiajie to Furong Ancient Town and Fenghuang. The first is a beautiful small town located on cliffs over a waterfall that will leave you speechless. The second town, Fenghuang Ancient Town or Phoenix Ancient Town is known as the most beautiful city in China. So if you come to visit Hunan, I recommend that you don’t miss these two places!
The Hunan region is quite remote and you will hardly find anyone who speaks English. If you don’t speak Chinese like us, I recommend that you check out my recommendations that will make your trip much easier here.
Where to Stay
When you arrive in this region the first thing you will see is that there are two main areas, Zhanjiajie City and Wulingyuan. The first area is where Tianmen Mountain, also known as “The Stairway To Heaven”, is located. The second area is where Zhangjiajie National Forest Park, or the “Avatar Mountains” are located.
We recommend you to stay one night in Zhanjiajie City to be able to see Tianmen Mountain. The Wulinguyan area is prettier and is where most of the hotels are located. We recommend that you spend at least 3 nights there.
Hotels in Zhangjiajie
During our trip we booked all the hotels with trip.com. We found this application very useful during our trip to China, since it is one of the few applications that we found in English adapted to tourism in China. With it you can also book plane and train tickets, which saved us a lot of headaches. Plus, many hotels have free cancellation until the day of check-in, which is great if you have to change your plans for any reason.
Hotel in Zhangjiajie City:
Hampton by Hilton Zhangjiajie – Excelent hotel located a few meters to the entrance of Tianmen Mountain
Hotel in Wulingyuan:
Pullman Zhangjijie Hotel – Very good quality hotel, well located, and with helpful english-speaking staff.
How many days to spend in Zhanjiajie
We stayed 4 nights, 1 night in zhanjiajie and 3 nights in Wulingyuan and we thought it was perfect.
PRO TIP: We recommend not reduce your time in this region too much. The first day we arrived at the national park it was completely cloudy and we couldn’t see anything! Luckily, the next day the weather cleared up and we could finally see the mountains.
The foggy season is most common between April and June.
Entry Ticket
TianMen Mountain ticket costs 258RMB per person and is valid for one day. This includes transport within the park.
ZhangJiaJie National Forest Park ticket costs 228RMB per person and is valid for 4 days. There are free shuttle buses in the park that will help you get around. There are also a few cable cars as well as the Bailong Elevator, the highest elevator in the world with 330 meters. Both the cable cars and the Bailong elevator are not included in the price of admission to the park and have an extra cost.
Zhanjiajie 3 days Itinerary
We recommend to spend 1 day in Tianmen Mountain and, at least, 2 days in Zhanjiajie National Park. We spent an extra day at Zhanjiajie National Parl (3 in total), since one of them was very cloudy and we couldn’t see anything.
Chinese tourists normally use to take a guided group tour, but we decided to do it on our own and we had no problem.
Day 1
Take the full day to see Tianmen Mountain.
When you go to buy a ticket, the first thing they will ask you is in which direction you want to take the tour. The first option is to start by taking a cable car to the top of the mountain, walk along the scenic tour and finish going down the “Stairway to Heaven”.
The second option is to take a shuttle bus to the “Stairwayto Heaven”, walking the scenic route and go down by taking a cable car.
We took the first option and thoroughly enjoyed it. Although we would also have loved to see the “Stariway to Heaven” right at the beginning.
PRO TIP: At the top of the mountain, in the middle of the scenic route, there are different food restaurants and food trucks. Which is quite convenient since you will spend some hours in Tianmen.
Day 2
The first day in Zhanjiajie National Park is a bit chaotic since the park is quite large and you will see that there are different shuttle buses depending on where you want to go.
On your first day, we recommend you to take the bus to Tianzi. This area is less crowded and you’ll love it. Prepare your camera because the views there will leave you speechless.
When you finish with Tianzi, take another bus and ask to be dropped off at He Long Park. Here you will find one of the most beautiful viewpoints in the entire park.
When you are done, go to the Baitong elevator and buy a ticket to go down. Take a shuttle bus to drop you off at the park entrance.
Day 3
Yuanjiajie or the “Avatar Mountains”. Today begins as yesterday ended. Take the Baitong Elevator and follow the signs that will take you to the “Avatar Mountains”.
Once you finish, if you still have energy you can take the Baitong elevator down and take a shuttle bus to the Golden Whip Stream and enjoy a beautiful walk.
Day 4
If you have an extra day in this region like we did, you can visit the spectacular Glass Bridge. This bridge, built as an attraction for tourists, is glass-bottomed and is transparent.
Admission costs 138RMB and the views from the bridge are just beautiful.
