Zhangjiajie

Zhangjiajie is considered one of the best touristy cities in Hunan province, and what's more, it's one of the most famous filming locations in China. Within it is located Wulingyuan Scenic Area, the background scene setting of Movie Avatar. The area was designated as the World Heritage Site by the UNESCO in 1992. Endowed with traditional ethnic culture, numerous natural rock formations, unique peaks, primitive forests, beautiful cascades, caves and underground cataracts, this super filming place always drawing the eyes of all tourists from home and abroad.

Wulingyuan Scenic Area is comprised several national parks, the most famous of which is Zhangjiajie National Forest Park, a 243 square mile park is full of stunning karst pillars of sandstone, covered with sub-tropical rainforest. The park is often covered in fog, adding to the mystery but obscuring views. Hiking The main highlight is following the many paths through the stunning sandstone landscape. It can be quite daunting at times, so the above mentioned cable cars help. The park is enormous and there is no way you can see it all, even in two days, so it's important to plan ahead and know which areas you want to visit. The signage in the park is not always adequate, so buy a map from a vendor in the village before you go in (some maps are in both Chinese and English). It's a good idea to use the free bus network within the park to get from one hiking area to another. Some highlights of hiking include the following natural landmarks:

Tianmen Mountain The highest area in the park at 3,450 feet can be reach by taking the world's longest cable car for 290 Yuan, this includes a bus to see the hole in the mountain and access on the summit or instead upi can be climb up a 3,878 step stairway. The infrastructure on the summit is excellent, there are cliff face walkways around the mountain, including a section of 50m glass walkway. The views of the scenery are very good. Signs and maps are in English. The park is closed one week in February for routine maintenance.

Please note: Tiamen is NOT in the Wulingyuan Scenic Spot the highest peak in the park is Tianzi, Tianmen is reached by getting the cable car from near the main bus station in ZJJ City i.e Tianmen is south of ZJJ and Tianzi is (about an hour) north of ZJJ, the entrance fees are seperate, ive seen a lot of confusion about this, Im currently writing from ZJJ and thought I would elaborate,