Top 5 Must-Visit Spots in Zhangjiajie

🥳 A Local's Late-Night Guide! 5 Essential Spots for First-Timers Here's a super detailed guide ✨ Recommend saving and bookmarking this one! This trip mainly focuses on mountain sightseeing, so we planned two visits to Wulingyuan and skipped the Grand Canyon and Huanglong Cave. ✖️ The Grand Canyon is also about mountain views, which overlaps too much with other attractions. The glass bridge is quite ordinary, extremely crowded, and you can't really experience the transparency effect - it's no different from a regular bridge. ✖️ Huanglong Cave is artificial, similar to a light show. It's full of various light installations inside, dark and humid - not worth spending half a day there. ✅ Here's our itinerary, which felt both fulfilling and comfortable: 🏞️ Day 1: Arriving in Zhangjiajie Stay at a hotel near the Tianmen Mountain Cable Car Station. It's only 5.2 km from the airport, a 10-minute drive, convenient for an early start the next day (going late means endless queuing 😭) 🏞️ Day 2: Tianmen Mountain Park Take the cable car up Tianmen Mountain at 7:30 AM. Choose Route A to reach the summit directly, then take the elevator to Cloud Dream Peak. After exploring Cloud Dream Peak, take the west route first, then the east route to complete a loop without backtracking (if you have limited stamina, the west route alone is great). Then take the mountain elevator (it's free 🆓) to visit Tianmen Cave, ride the escalator down the 999 steps, and finally take the small cable car and shuttle bus back to the city station. Take a taxi to Zhangjiajie Forest Park East Gate (34 km, 40 minutes) You can make a small detour to see the 72 Odd Buildings, but it's not worth buying tickets to go inside - it's just various performances. 🏞️ Day 3: First Forest Park Visit Enter through the East Gate, take the eco-friendly bus to Golden Whip Stream for hiking. This is a lower elevation experience with scenic platforms, Water Winding Four Gates, Ten Mile Gallery, and a mini train. The total length is 5 km, but you don't need to complete it all - just enjoy the leisurely walk and scenery. At noon, take Bailong Elevator up to Yuanjiajie, explore, then return via Bailong Elevator to end the day. 🏞️ Day 4: Second Forest Park Visit Enter through the East Gate, take the cable car up Tianzi Mountain, explore it, then take the eco-friendly bus to Yangjiajie. After exploring Yangjiajie, take its cable car to Huangshi Village, explore there, then take the Huangshi Village cable car to Golden Whip Stream. Take the eco-friendly bus back to the East Gate to complete the day. 🏞️ Day 5: Furong Town + Fenghuang Ancient Town From Wulingyuan to Zhangjiajie West Station (26 km, 30 minutes), take the high-speed train (23 minutes) to Furong Town. After visiting, return to Furong Town Station and continue by train (40 minutes) to Fenghuang Ancient Town Station to explore the old town. Make sure to get a taxi driver's phone number, as it's difficult to get taxis from the guesthouse to the station the next day - there are no ride-hailing services in the ancient town. 🏞️ Day 6: Fenghuang Ancient Town + Return from Zhangjiajie Hehua Airport Explore the ancient town in the morning, then take the train back to Zhangjiajie West Station (1 hour). From there to Hehua Airport (9 km, 15 minutes) for your return flight.