With surreal Avatar landscape and thrilling activities, Zhangjiajie is a hot destination in China located in the northwestern of Hunan Province well linking with Beijing, Xian, Shanghai, Changsha, Chongqing, Yichang, Chengdu, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Guilin, etc. Usually, most of the travelers would like to spend at least 3 days or 4 days to see the essence of Zhangjiajie. While, part of them may plan 5 days to visit Zhangjiajie. That’s to say, arranging 5 days to Zhangjiajie is not long which are suitable for those who want to have an in-depth exploration about all the sites, or want to take a side trip around Zhangjiajie to Fenghuang Ancient Town. So, if you happen to have 5 days or so, it is time to plan your 5-day itinerary in Zhangjiajie! Get inspired by the following article.
Zhangjiajie has many attractions to see and it can satisfy different travelers to the fullest with different but amazing experience. No matter you want to get back to nature for relaxation or look for something different and doing something adventurous, Zhangjiajie can give you all.
Zhangjiajie is a small city and the visiting can be divided into two parts - one is in Wulingyuan Town with many attractions scattered around, like Zhangjiajie National Forest Park, Yuanjiajie, Tianzi Mountain, Zhangjiajie Grand Canyon & Glass Bridge, Yellow Dragon Cave, Baofeng Lake. Travelers can spend about 2-4 days in this area located in the northern of Zhangjiajie, about 30-40 kilometers away. The other part is around Zhangjiajie downtown area where Tianmen Mountain is located which is suitable for 1-day trip.
Taking one-day cultural break to Fenghuang Ancient Town is a common choice for a Zhangjiajie tour. It is situated in the southwest of Zhangjiajie, about 200 kilometers away. Praised as “the most beautiful ancient town in China”, Fenghuang Ancient Town is one of the best preserved traditional villages featured in Diaojiaolou (stilted houses) built along riverside.
Check the following attractions list and get a quick look at what to see and explore in and around Zhangjiajie in 5 days.
Zhangjiajie Attractions Map (Click to Enlarge)
| Location | Attractions | Type | Distance & Driving Time (from Zhangjiajie Downtown) |
Highlights | Recommended Length of Visiting |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wulingyuan & Around | Zhangjiajie National Forest Park | National Park | 28KM, 40 mins’ driving | Including Huangshi Village & Golden Whip Stream, hiking and photography | 2 days or more |
| Zhangjiajie Grand Canyon | Canyon | 60KM, 80 mins’ driving | Experience the longest and highest glass bridge, hiking in the canyon | Half day | |
| Yuanjiajie | National Park | 32KM, 50 mins’ driving | Capture famous Hallelujah Mountains of Avatar, Bailong elevator | 2 hours | |
| Tianzi Mountain | National Park | 54KM, 80 mins’ driving | Sea of Clouds, whole and complete majestic view of Wulingyuan Scenic Area | 2-3 hours | |
| Yangjiajie | National Park | 43KM, 1 hour’s driving | Newly-developed scenic area with less crowds | 2 hours | |
| Yellow Dragon Cave | Underground Cave | 41KM, 50-60 mins’ driving | Delicate underground palace with typically Karst landform | 2.5-3 hours | |
| Baofeng Lake | Lake | 34KM, 50-60 mins’ driving | Man-make lake surrounded by verdant forest and peculiar mountains with 30-minute boat experience | 2 hours | |
| Zhangjiajie Downtown Area | Tianmen Mountain | National Park | 6KM, 10 mins’ driving | Longest cable car experience, Glass skywalk, Tianmen Cave, 99 Turns toward Heaven | Half day |
| Around Zhangjiajie | Fenghuang Ancient Town | Old Town | 200KM, 3-3-5 hours’ driving | The most beautiful ancient town in China with charming night view | 1 day |
| Travel Plan | Itinerary | Features | Recommended Tour |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plan A | Day 1: Arrive in Zhangjiajie Day 2: Zhangjiajie National Forest Park (Huangshi Village + Golden Whip Stream) Day 3: Yuanjiajie + Tianzi Mountain Day 4: Zhangjiajie Grand Canyon with Glass Bridge + Yellow Dragon Cave Day 5: Tianmen Mountain & Leave |
Covers all the stunning attractions of Zhangjiajie | 5 Days Zhangjiajie Ultimate Adventure Tour with Glass Bridge & Tianmen Mountain |
| Plan B | Day 1: Arrive in Zhangjiajie Day 2: Zhangjiajie National Forest Park (Huangshi Village + Golden Whip Stream) + Zhangjiajie Glass Bridge Day 3: Yuanjiajie + Tianzi Mountain Day 4: Tianmen Mountain + Transfer to Fenghuang Day 5: Fenghuang Ancient Town + Transfer back to Zhangjiajie for Leave |
Explore both in & around Zhangjiajie with a side trip to Fenghuang Ancient Town | 5 Days Classic Zhangjiajie & Fenghuang Tour |
| Plan C | Day 1: Arrive in Zhangjiajie Day 2: Zhangjiajie National Forest Park (Huangshi Village + Golden Whip Stream) + Zhangjiajie Glass Bridge Day 3: Yuanjiajie + Yangjiajie Day 4: Tianzi Mountain + Laowuchang Day 5: Tianmen Mountain + Leave |
Theme travel best suit for those who like photography | 5 Days Zhangjiajie Avatar Mountains Photography Tour |
▶ Zhangjiajie National Forest Park (Huangshi Village + Golden Whip Stream)
Features: Different angles to explore Zhangjiajie National Forest Park - reach up the biggest natural platform of Huangshi Village to view various shaped stone hills and hike along the deep valley to immerse in the primitive valley scenery. These two sites are the traditional way to visit the national park.
What to See & Experience: Travelers enter from Forest Park Ticket Station and enjoy a simple walk to take cable car up to Huangshi Village. “He who does not reach Huangshi Village does not pay a true visit to Zhangjiajie”. You can either enjoy the small circle visiting (1 km’s walking) and large circle visiting (3.8 km’s walking) to overlook stone hills with various shapes, like Five Finger Peak, Lovers Peaks, Natural Mural. After seeing the panoramic view of the national park, get down by cable car and move to Golden Whip Stream for a relaxing hiking journey. Golden Whip Stream is a 7.5-kilometer stream, flowing from Laomo Wan, Stream Winding around Four Gates and then to Suoxi Stream. You’ll hike 2 to 3 hours along this stream to enjoy the most essence part.
▶ Yuanjiajie + Tianzi Mountain
Features: Inspiration for shooting the movie Avatar where Hallelujah Mountain located; the must-see sites in Zhangjiajie no matter when you come
What to See & Experience: Yuanjiajie and Tianzi Mountain in one trip is the classic way to explore the Wulingyuan Scenic and Historic Interest Area. You’ll first take Bailong Elevator up to visit the whole Yuanjiajie to see the Avatar Hallelujah Mountain and appreciate hundreds of stone bamboo shoots growing in the deep valley at Puzzling Crag, enjoy the lush scenery of Natural Bonsai at Back Garden. After that, you’ll take the sightseeing vehicle to continue your visit to Tianzi Mountain at the northwest park of Wulingyuan Scenic Area to see the dense ancient primitive forest and its famous fascinating sea of clouds, waves of stones, and other wonders of nature. After the visiting, you can transfer to Zhangjiajie downtown area or still stay at Wulingyuan area for further exploration.
Huangshi Village
Golden Whip Stream
Yuanjiajie
Tianzi Mountain Sea of Clouds
▶ Zhangjiajie Grand Canyon with Glass Bridge + Yellow Dragon Cave
Features: Real discovery with thrilling glass bridge experience and explore an “Enchanted Palace Under the Ground”.
What to See & Experience: Spend one day to the east of Wulingyuan Town to Zhangjiajie Grand Canyon with both glass bridge experience and hiking journey in the canyon. You can enjoy the amazing surrounding valley scenery at different angles - on the longest and highest glass bridge or at the bottom of the valley. And then, drive to Yellow Dragon Cave for an interesting exploration to see miraculous maze under the ground to find a large number of naturally formed cave sediments that are millions of years in the making, including stalactites, stalagmites, stone pillars, stone flowers, etc.
▶ Zhangjiajie National Forest Park (Huangshi Village + Golden Whip Stream) + Zhangjiajie Glass Bridge
Features: If your time is tight, it is a good idea to cover Zhangjiajie National Forest Park and Zhangjiajie Glass Bridge of Grand Canyon in one day.
What to See & Experience: You’ll first take an exploration in the famous Zhangjiajie National Forest Park with a visit to Huangshi Village where you can catch the panoramic view of all the national forest park and enjoy a light hiking tour along Golden Whip Stream to deep into the valley of the park to release for yourselves. After the visiting, you’ll transfer to the east of Wulingyuan Town with 28 km’s driving to Zhangjiajie Grand Canyon Glass Bridge. In this afternoon, you’ll only pay a thrilling visit to the glass bridge.
▶ Tianmen Mountain + Transfer for Leave / Transfer to Fenghuang
Features: Another popular attraction with fantastic experience after Zhangjiajie National Forest Park and Zhangjiajie Glass Bridge.
What to See & Experience: Take the 7455-meter cableway to get up Tianmen Mountain and arrive at Tianmen Mountain upper cable station and choose west route to travel through Mixian Qijing Scenic Area and experience Cliff-Hanging Walkway and Glass Skywalk, visit Tianmen Temple; take Tianmen Mountain Peak Forest Sightseeing Cable Car from Cherry Bay to Yunmeng Xianding; reach upper escalator Tianmen Mountain to get down Tianmen Cave and visit the door to heaven; get down from Tianmen Cave to the parking lot and take sightseeing bus to experience 99 turns via Avenue towards Heaven.
▶ Fenghuang Ancient Town
Features: One day side trip to Fenghuang Ancient Town for a totally different cultural experience with diverse minority culture. It is highly recommended to cover this most beautiful tiny town in China after your whole Zhangjiajie tour.
What to See & Experience: With the clear Tuo River winding through Fenghuang Ancient Town, there are many unique wooden houses called DiaoJiaolou built alongside. Taking a boat trip along the Tuo River is a great way to have a better view of the houses. Besides, it will be very enjoyable to take a relaxing walk on the old streets with dozens of ancient lanes and ancient residence in Ming and Qing Dynasties. You’ll explore Yang’s Ancestral Hall (杨家祠堂), Longevity Palace (万寿宫), Former Residence of Shen Congwen (沈从文故居), Former Residence of Xiong Xiling (熊希龄故居) and so on.
Tianmen Mountain Tianmen
Cave
Avenue to the Heaven
Tianmen Mountain Glass Bridge
Fenghuang Ancient Town
| Travel Plan | Itinerary | Features | Recommended Tour |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plan A | Day 1: Arrive in Zhangjiajie Day 2: Zhangjiajie National Forest Park (Huangshi Village + Golden Whip Stream) Day 3: Yuanjiajie + Tianzi Mountain & Leave |
Focus on Zhangjiajie National Forest Park | 3 Days Zhangjiajie Natural Beauty Tour |
| Plan B | Day 1: Arrive in Zhangjiajie Day 2: Zhangjiajie National Forest Park (Huangshi Village + Golden Whip Stream) + Zhangjiajie Glass Bridge Day 3: Tianmen Mountain & Leave |
Highlight of the highlights in Zhangjiajie | Customizable & Contact Us |
Learn more about How to Spend 3 Days in Zhangjiajie >>
| Travel Plan | Itinerary | Features | Recommended Tour |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plan A | Day 1: Arrive in Zhangjiajie Day 2: Zhangjiajie Glass Bridge + Yellow Dragon Cave Day 3: Yuanjiajie + Tianzi Mountain Day 4: Tianmen Mountain & Leave |
Classic and most famous sites | 4 Days Zhangjiajie Exciting Adventure with Glass Bridge |
| Plan B | Day 1: Arrivel in Zhangjiajie Day 2: Zhangjiajie National Forest Park (Huangshi Village + Golden Whip Stream) Day 3: Yuanjiajie + Tianzi Mountain Day 4: Tianmen Mountain & Leave |
Two national forest park with exciting experience | 4 Days Zhangjiajie Tour to Yuanjiajie & Tianmen Mountain National Park |
| Plan C | Day 1: Arrive in Zhangjiajie Day 2: Zhangjiajie National Forest Park (Huangshi Village + Golden Whip Stream) Day 3: Yuanjiajie + Tianzi Mountain Day 4: Yellow Dragon Cave + Baofeng Lake + Leave |
Most relaxing way | 4 Days Zhangjiajie Classic Discovery Tour |
Learn more about How to Spend 4 Days in Zhangjiajie >>
It is suitable to visit Zhangjiajie at any time in a year. The best traveling seasons are Spring and Autumn with best comfortable weather. In Spring during March to May, all flowers there are blooming among the most verdant green mountain range, and the fresh air with singing of birds help to create your great traveling mood. In Autumn from October to November, mountains and forests are covered with layers of warm yellow and orange, which is great for nice photography. In Summer, Wulingyuan National Forest Park has lower temperature to be a good summer resort to go, and it is good to walk along the streams and dense forest, however, since summer is the rainy season here, you are suggested to prepare raincoats. Furthermore in winter, it is a good time to avoid crowds, besides, many places including the national forest park are covered by snow to change the attraction into a pure beautiful lady, which is awesome for a photography tour.
Convenient flights and trains are available in Zhangjiajie City. Zhangjiajie Hehua International Airport, with 10 minutes’ driving distance to the downtown, has good air connection with 42 domestic cities including Beijing, Shanghai, Xian, Changsha, Chengdu, Chongqing, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Kunming, Nanjing, Hangzhou, Tianjin, Qingdao, etc. and international cities including Bangkok, Osaka, etc. Besides, Zhangjiajie Railway Station is also frequently used for reaching the city, which is rightly at the city downtown. It serves trains from Changsha (4.5-5.5 hours), Yichang (4.5-5 hours), Tongren (about 7 hours), Wuhan (10 hours), Xian (15 hours), Shanghai (20 hours), Beijing (23 hours), etc.
Zhangjiajie offers various luxury hotels and budget hostels and boutique accommodation for your stay during the trip. For your several days discovering Wulingyuan Scenic Area including Wulingyuan National Forest Park, Zhangjiajie Grand Canyon, etc., we suggest you arrange the hotel at Wulingyuan Town, which needs only 10 minutes to Wujiayu Ticket Station and 20 minutes to Forest Park Ticket Station by car. However, for your arrival day especially by a late flight or train and if you plan to visit Tianmen Mountain, it is suggested to stay in Zhangjiajie City downtown.
For spring and autumn, light sweaters, long shirts and long pants are suggested. Temperature in Wulingyuan National Forest Park is about 5-10℃ lower than that in the city area, and the temperatures varies a lot from day to night. In summer, shirts and shorts are enough, besides, it is advised to prepare light coats for lower temperature in early morning and at night. In winter, it is a little cold in Zhangjiajie, and down jackets, sweaters, warm pants and socks, scarves, gloves, etc. are better to keep warm. Remember to wear comfortable shoes or sneakers, because you will have a lot of steps to walk around those natural scenic spots. Since it often rains in Zhangjiajie, you are highly suggested to bring your raincoats or umbrellas. Besides, bring sunblock, sunglasses and hat to protect your skin and eyes.
Most accommodations in Zhangjiajie offer Western toilets. However, in the scenic area, there are only a few Western types to suite foreign visitors, which can be found at some major toilet blocks. One more, remember to bring your own tissue.
Wulingyuan National Forest Park is very large and has many ways, so it is complicated for people to travel independently to catch all the top highlights in an enjoyable and relaxing way. To help you enjoy a worry-free trip to Zhangjiajie, we suggest you travel with us, and our local guide and driver will escort you from your hotel to the scenic area and our guide will take you to the best sightseeing deck and give interesting introduction of the sites and stories to enrich your experience. All you need is to focus on the highlights. If you are interested, please feel free to contact us directly!
No matter how many days you plan to stay in Zhangjiajie, China Discovery always has a suitable tour for you. We are also specialized in high-quality private tours as well as tailor-made tour packages that fit you best according to your own interests, requirement, traveling time, etc. Below are the Best Zhangjiajie Tour Packages 2023/2024. If you have no idea where to start, please don't hesitate to contact our travel experts for help.
Are you caught by the fabulous photos of Zhangjiajie and want to have a great look of its famous natural wonders in person? This tour is really suitable if you want to discover the famous Zhangjiajie National Forest Park and the exciting glass bridge in the most classic way!
If you show interests in the natural splendid landscapes and like to take challenges, this 4 Days Zhangjiajie Exciting Tour will be your satisfactory selection.
This 5-day Zhangjiajie Fenghuang tour is the best way to fully make use of your time in Zhangjiajie. Admire all natural must-sees in UNESCO Zhangjiajie Forest Park with a cultural relaxation at antique Xiangxi flavored Fenghuang Ancient Town.
Your ultimate exploration of all natural wonders in Zhangjiajie Forest Park plus adventures to thrilling Zhangjiajie Glass Bridge and Tianmen Mountain
The leisure trip to see the top wonderful natural mountains and cliffs, caves and lakes, valleys and streams in wonderful Zhangjiajie
Your exciting hiking journey of amazing Tianmen Mountain and real "Yuanjiajie Avatar Mountains" in Zhangjiajie National Forest Park area
Unbelievable nature exploration of two big UNESCO Heritage lands, Zhangjiajie National Forest Park and Fanjingshan Mountain in Southwest China.
Visit the top travel destinations in vast China, Beijing, Xian and Shanghai, with the fabulous trip to Zhangjiajie and Guilin with stunning natural miracles.
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