Zhangjiajie is in the northwest of Hunan Province, about 400 km away from Changsha, capital of the province. Composed of the Zhangjiajie National Forest Park, the Tianri Mountain and the Suoxiyu Valley, the Zhangjiajie City has a total area of 369 square km. It is a scenic area made up of sandstone from the primitive ecological system and the forest coverage rate reaches 97.7 percent.

Zhangjiajie itself has not been officially open for business long as a tourist destination. In fact it is less than 20 years since locals had this grandeur all to themselves. In that time a lot has happened to the area. It was given the title of China's first national tourist park in 1982, which set the ball rolling and 10 years later Wulingyuan, one of the scenic spots, was included in the list of UNESCO's World Natural Heritage Sites. Like a magnet to every tourist in Asia, this title has opened the floodgates of human traffic.

It is easy to see why UNESCO gave the area the thumbs up. Being mostly mountainous -- the highest point is 1,890 meters above sea level -- nature has set about to carve some truly awesome statues from the quartz sandstone landform. These peaks rise like giant arthritic fingers, all named after legends and bearing imaginative likeness to beings from this and other worlds. Names like Treasure Box of Heavenly Books, Magic Sea-suppressing Needle, South Pillar of Heaven and Golden Tortoise Watching the Sea help to create a modern day fairyland.

There are pavilions, bridges, caves, lakes and waterfalls everywhere. It almost feels as if someone tipped over a basket of natural features into one place by mistake.

In the park's Suoxiyu Valley, going from high above ground to way down into the bowels of the earth is quite an experience. You make the descent via the world's highest outdoor lift, which drops over 360 meters and gives you a view of the treasure house of natural resources on the way down. Emerging in the Yellow Dragon Cave, a 20-hectare wide cavern that seems to go on forever, it is time for scenery of a different kind. The cave's four levels means some serious climbing is involved as the vertical height is over 100 meters. It's home to an impressive collection of stalactites and stalagmites, illuminated in a variety of colored lights. A perfect place to film a horror movie. Its one outstanding feature is a 19.2-meter high stalagmite, named the Holy Needle, which legend has it protects the Dragon King who resides in the dark depths. This delicately balanced stalagmite, only 10 cm in diameter, was reportedly insured in 1998 for 100 million yuan (US$12.1 million). The cave has its own waterway and boats rush about like giant catfish on steroids. This combined with impossibly noisy and aggressive visitors gives the whole place a Disney vibe.

Zhangjiajie has moved from unknown forest, created over 1.5 billion years, to chaotic 500 square km tourist trap in less time, geologically speaking, than it takes to blink an eye.

Whether walk along the circular path of Wulingyuan, explore the damp depths of Yellow Dragon Cave, motor around the postcard perfect Baofeng Lake or hike along the bubbling Golden Whip Stream, tourists will be buffeted, jostled and rendered almost catatonic.

How to get there

By air:
Hehua airport is situated in the Hehua county of Zhangjiajie City. It is 5km far away from the city center. Nowadays there are more than 20 cities having the direct lines to Zhangjiajie, but exclude Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou,Chengdu, the other cities haven't the airlines everyday. So you should check your lines in the ticketing computer system, before your starting.

By train:
In Zhangjiajie the train lines are very convenient which pass the Shichang line and connect Jingguang line. Now more than 10 China major cities have the trains to Zhangjiajie.

If you only want to visit Zhangjiajie, we suggest you not to choose the line from Guangzhou to Zhangjiajie (K502) and the line from Changsha to Zhangjiajie (K525), because these two lines detour the Jishou, Huahua etc. It will waste you a lot of time. However, if you want to visit Fenghuang these two will be a better choice.

Buses run between the railway station and Zhangjiajie City (RMB2) everyday.

By bus:
You can make your round trip between Changsha to Zhangjiajie or Wulingyuan scenic area by bus. The buses go to the scenic area at 7:00 am, cost RMB100/person.

A bus start from Fenghuang to Zhangjiajie at 8:30 am, costs RMB40/person.

Inner transportation:

By bus:
The bus station of Zhangjiajie is at the end of People Road. It is about 30km long between Zhangjiajie City and the Wulingyuan scenic area. Minibuses run between these two places every 30 minutes, take about one hour and cost RMB10/person.

Cable:
The most pleasant way to travel here is to take the cable.

The tickets price of Tianzishan cable: RMB52/person (up); RMB42/person (down).

The tickets price of Yellow Lion Village cable: RMB48/person (up); RMB42/person (down)

Litter:
Generally, litter is more expensive than cable. It costs RMB100 on the ground and RMB200-300 in the mountain. However you can try to haggle.

Visiting bus:
RMB15/person for the visiting buses of Tianzishan and Yangjiajie; RMB29/person for the visiting train of Shili gallery.

Canoeing
Maoyan river boating, RMB114/person for the canoe of manpower, takes 3-4 hours; RMB124/person for the canoe of power-driven, takes 2hours.

The length between Zhangjiajie city and the scenic spots:
Suoxiyu: 32km;
Huanglong cave: 40km;
Zhangjiajie park: 32km;
Tianzi mountain: 102km;
Maoyan river: 35km ;
Jiutian cave: 80km.

(China.org.cn September 30, 2005)