Zhangjiajie is well-known for its quite unique quartz sandstone mountain peaks, the first national forest park of its kind in China. Also it inspired the movie “Avatar” filmed here. 

1. What to see in Zhangjiajie?

Zhangjiajie national forest park , It's the main attraction here, and it's huge, just like a big city. There are many different part of areas, like Yuanjiajie, Yangjiajie, Tianzi mountain, yellow stone village, golden whip stream, ten-mile gallery etc. But most popular areas are Tianzi mountain which is called the king of all mountains, the highest area among the whole park, and Yuanjiajie where is Avatar mountain located, it's the shooting place for the movie Avatar. To visit this two places, you can take a elevator which is built on the cliff side of the mountain, and take cable car in Tianzi mountain.

Zhangjiajie glass bridge , world's longest and highest glass-bottomed bridge, measures 430 meters long and 6 meter wide, and 300 meter depth to the bottom stream. Walking on the bridge, just like walking on the clouds, and it allows 800 people walking at the same time. If you like hiking, at the end point of glass bridge, you can walk down to the bottom grand canyon from a wooden plank which built on the cliff side of mountain, It's a stream in the grand canyon, the long walking is energy-consuming , but you will enjoy its beautiful views like waterfall, lush green plants, and taking boat in its peaceful lake.

Yellow Dragon Cave , is a karst cave with lots of fantastic stalagmites, peculiar limestone formations and underground rivers. among those stalagmites, there is a most famous one, 19.2 meters high, shaped like a needle, called heaven's needle. It's still growing, 1cm in hundred years, estimated to reach the top in 60 thousand of years.

Tianmen Mountain , it's the highest mountain in Zhangjiajie area, well known by the hole which called heaven's gate. This gate was created by cliff rocks collapsing in ancient time, it's 131 meters height, 57 meters width and 60 meters long. In 1999 the local government launched an activity that airplane flying through this gate, it was really a amazing activity. In front of this gate, there is a walking stairs, 999 steep and narrow steps which is called the stairway to heaven. In recent years there is another activity called skyflying launched in Tianmen mountain, The professional sportsman who wear wingsuit, jump down from Tianmen mountain, flying through the heaven's gate, and landing in somewhere.

2.What time to visit Zhangjiajie?

Generally speaking there are four seasons here, each season has its own featured views. but comparatively April to October are the most popular times. Spring from March to May, the weather becoming warm, the forest and plant becoming green and flowers blossom, average temperature is about 15-25 degrees. normally fog raising up and floating after rain. Summer from June to August, the weather could be very hot, average temperature is about 25- 38 degrees, It's a peak season because of summer vacation for students, especially August. Autumn from September to November, the weather is becoming cold, but it's comfortable, not to hot, not too cold. And the forests becoming yellow and red. so beautiful. Winter from December to February, the weather becoming too cold with snow, the average temperature is about 10- 3 minus degrees.

3. How to get to Zhangjiajie?
Nowadays Zhangjiajie as a tourism city, is becoming a very popular destination around the China, so the transportation is convenient as well. By airplane, to Zhangjiajie there are direct flight from China's major cities like Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Changsha etc. normally takes about 1-3 hours. By train, At the moment our bullet train station is still on construction, but normal train is also an option when you need to take it. By bus, you can take flight or bullet train to Changsha which is the capital city of Hunan province, then take bus to Zhangjiajie driving about 5 hours.

4. Where to stay in Zhangjiajie?

Most hotels are in two areas, downtown zhangjiajie and wulingyuan town, comparatively live in wulingyuan is better, as it's the closed to the national forest park, and convenient to visit other scenic areas like yellow dragon cave, baofeng lake, glass bridge etc. There are many different hotels, family hostels and featured inns can be optional. But sometimes If you are arriving too late, or if you need to catch up the earlier flight, then you can choose the hotels in downtown Zhangjiajie.

5. What's the suggestion of Zhangjiajie tour itinerary?

Day 1: Zhangjiajie National Forest Park, explore Avatar mountain & Tianzi mountain.

Day 2: Zhangjiajie Glass Bridge & Baofeng Lake.

Day 3: Zhangjiajie Tianmen mountain, also called Heaven's Gate mountain.

Also you can extend your tour for extra 2 days to visit Fenghuang Ancient Town

Day 4: Furong Town, also called Lotus town which is ancient local king's living place, famous of waterfalls.

Day 5: Fenghuang Ancient Town, enjoy their Miao minority cultural and life style, visit China Southern Great Wall etc. 

China is vast and diverse, with so many travel destinations. There are plenty of historical cultures to explore, and too many natural views to see. As well as so many ethnic groups and languages. Each destination in China has different features from others.

Visitors especially the first time trip to China, normally confused that where to get started to travel around China, here is an brief introduction of main China destinations.

1-Beijing

Beijing is the current capital city and remains one of the most popular places to visit in China. Its history dates back more than 3,000 years, It first became notable in Chinese history after it was made the capital of the State of Yan under the name Yanjing. After the fall of the Mongol-founded Yuan dynasty in 1368, the capital was initially moved to Nanjing but was moved back in 1403 and received its present name.

The most popular attractions in Beijing are Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City, the National Museum of China, as well as Summer Palaces. There are numerous temples within and just outside of the city for those who want to witness Confucius, Taoist and Buddhist landmarks or perhaps have a spiritual experience. 

2-Xi'an

Xi'an is an ancient capital city, roughly as old as Beijing, It was the start of the once indispensable Silk Road that made commerce between many countries in Eurasia possible.

What the popular most attraction is terracotta warriors, Located 2km east of Qin Shihuang Mausoleum, the Emperor's afterlife army terracotta soldiers are only part of his mausoleum. These vivid over 2000-year-old soldiers of Terracotta Army were discovered March 24, 1974 by a group of local farmers when they were digging a well.

3-Shanghai

Shanghai is the largest city and most developed city in China, Located on the East China Sea and the mouth of the Yangtze River. Its skyline is filling with skyscrapers while shiny shopping malls, luxurious hotels and prestigious arts centers are rising alongside. The city nights in Shanghai are representative of the Western view of China cities with bright neon signs, bustling streets and numerous businesses.

The most popular place to go for a stroll is the Bund, Shanghai's colonial riverfront along Huangpu River. While levies have significantly changed the Bund's appearance, a number of architecturally significant are adjacent buildings to the strip and are still visible.

4 Guilin

The magical, mystical scenery around Guili is one of China's best-known tourist attractions. Wind and rain has eroded the limestone hills into fantastic shapes, riddled with labyrinthine caves and grottoes. this is a dream-like landscape, familiar to anyone who has looked at a Chinese scroll painting.

The Li River winds its way through the hills and a steady stream of riverboats follow its course between Guilin and the town of Yangshuo, 30km (18 miles) to the south. Karst mountain scenery surrounds as well as the famous cormorant fishermen that you'll see along the river.

5-Zhangjiajie

Well-known by quartz sandstone peaks, limpid streams, dense forests, and large karst caves. Zhangjiajie national forest park is the first of its kind in China since 1982, also was listed as the World Natural Heritage in 1992 and appraised as a national 5A scenic area in 2004.

Zhangjiajie becoming popular and international after the movie Avatar, the Hallelujah Mountains in Avatar were inspired by Heavenly Pillar in Zhangjiajie National Forest Park .