Qingming and May Day Independent Travel Guide to Zhangjiajie.
There will surely be many people planning to visit Zhangjiajie during this year's Qingming or May Day holiday. From the Zhangjiajie tourism website, I saw that hotels are all very expensive, especially those inside Wulingyuan Scenic Area, which are even more frightening, with prices marked above 700 RMB. As a netizen with a sense of justice, I think these prices are too unreliable. When consulting them online, they also said holiday room prices would rise further. So many people who want to travel to Zhangjiajie seek help from the editor. No matter how many days you plan to travel,…
There will definitely be a lot of people planning to visit Zhangjiajie this year during Qingming or May Day. From the Zhangjiajie travel websites, I can see that hotels are very expensive, especially
those inside the Wulingyuan scenic area, which are even more frightening, with prices marked above 700 RMB. As a netizen with a sense of justice, I think these prices are too unreliable.
When consulting online, they also said that room rates would rise even more during holidays. So many people who want to visit Zhangjiajie seek help from the editor. No matter how many days you plan to travel, some main attractions are a must-visit, such as Baofeng Lake and Yellow Dragon Cave. I heard these two places are very beautiful. So I'm here to help everyone with the cost situation, the prices of various tickets, accommodation prices, etc., especially accommodation during holidays. Travel expenses are always the biggest part, and some student friends will definitely need to be more economical.
If you travel during May Day, it will definitely be outrageously expensive.
I suggest you avoid May Day. If you go in mid-April or early April, it will definitely be very affordable.
Since you've decided on independent travel, don't believe those 700 RMB prices. There's no need to stay in such a good place when traveling. There are plenty of clean, hygienic, and safe small inns.
You can go up the mountain and ask yourself. In mid-April or early April, rooms around 50 RMB are still easy to find.
Specifically, it's a bit troublesome. Let me paste some information from Ctrip for you. It's quite detailed and practical, at least useful for you. You can refer to it:
Hotels and guesthouses of all sizes in Zhangjiajie are mainly distributed in the following three areas: Suoxiyu, the city area, and the forest park. Among them, Suoxiyu and the city area have the most, followed by the forest park. In addition, if you want to savor Zhangjiajie's “original landscape painting”, the farm stays in the scenic area are also worth considering.
Staying in Suoxiyu
Advantages: Suoxiyu is located in the center of many attractions such as Tianzi Mountain, Yellow Dragon Cave, and Baofeng Lake. Transportation to various attractions is extremely convenient, so this is a gathering place for hotels;
Disadvantages: It is nearly 40 kilometers from the train station and airport, with a travel time of about 40 minutes;
Suitable for: Tourists with ample time who want to visit Suoxiyu, Tianzi Mountain, Yellow Dragon Cave, Baofeng Lake, and other attractions.
Near the Suoxiyu scenic area, hotels of all grades are available, with plenty of choices. The villa area in Gaoyun Village (quasi-three-star) is priced at 110—150 RMB, three-star about 160—200 RMB (depending on peak and off-peak seasons), and private inns at 20—50 RMB per person.
Staying in the city area
Advantages: Close to the train station and airport, about 6—10 kilometers, and you can easily get there by bus or taxi;
Disadvantages: 35 kilometers from the scenic area, wasting several hours on the round trip every day, and increasing unnecessary transportation costs;
Suitable for: Tourists arriving in Zhangjiajie on the first night, or those who finish sightseeing and rush for a flight or train the next day, or those visiting tourist attractions around Zhangjiajie city area.
Accommodation in the city area is relatively more expensive. A two-star standard room is about 120—160 RMB, three-star ranges from 180—280 RMB, and four-star prices are all above 400 RMB. If you have enough money, you can consider Zhangjiajie International Hotel, Xianglong International Hotel, Noble Hotel, Langhao Hotel, etc. You can also choose more economical private inns, generally priced at 20—40 RMB per person. It is recommended that tourists choose to stay near the People's Road Bus Station, because it is more convenient to go to the scenic area or return from there. In addition, recommended for backpackers:
〉Snail Inn
Features: The inn is antique-style, with not many rooms. It mainly features a book bar, bar, coffee bar, and internet bar, emphasizing atmosphere. It also has a well-stocked outdoor equipment warehouse. If there are not enough beds normally, you can set up a tent indoors. “Donkey friends” who don't want to sleep in beds can also try something new.
Location: Located in Dehuang Community, Nanzhuangping, beside Zhangjiajie city area (80 meters south of Nanzhuang Market). From the airport, taxi is 10 RMB (15 RMB at night). From the train station, take Bus No. 1 and get off at “Nanzhuangping Market” station, then walk 50 meters to the left at the intersection (taxi 15 RMB during the day, 20 RMB at night).
Price: Bring your own sleeping bag 10 RMB per person, inn provides sleeping bag 20 RMB per person, ten-person room 20 RMB per bed, six-person air-conditioned room 25 RMB per bed, double air-conditioned room 30 RMB per bed, self-service kitchen 3 RMB per use, monthly accommodation 300 RMB per month. No distinction between peak and off-peak seasons.
Staying at the entrance of the Forest Park
Advantages: Convenient for visiting Zhangjiajie National Forest Park;
Disadvantages: Not only is it nearly 40 kilometers from the train station and airport, but due to geographical restrictions, it is also not very convenient for visiting other scenery in Zhangjiajie;
Suitable for: Tourists with tight schedules who only visit a few attractions such as Huangshizhai or Yaozi Village.
Choices range from four-star hotels to ordinary guesthouses, such as Pipa Stream Hotel, Xiangdian Villa, Qilin Villa, etc. The listed prices range from 400—1000 RMB, with discounts available.
Staying in farm stays within the scenic area
Due to environmental protection needs, hotels of all sizes within the Wulingyuan scenic area have been demolished, leaving only some farm stays. The scenic area ticket is only valid for entry and exit within two days, so farm stays within the scenic area are very useful for tourists planning to stay for more than two days.
Advantages: Convenient for leisurely touring the scenic area, saving quite a bit of money and time, and avoiding many wasted trips in and out of the scenic area;
Disadvantages: The conditions of farm stays are not as good as outside the scenic area. In addition, rooms are relatively tight during Golden Week, so advance booking is required;
Suitable for: Tourists with ample time who plan to stay within the scenic area for leisurely touring.
Currently, the inns inside the scenic area are mainly concentrated in three places: Yangjiajie, Yuanjiajie, and Tianzi Mountain. Room prices are generally 50—80 RMB. Two accommodations with good reputations online are recommended:
〉Teacher Xiao's Home
Features: Staying at Teacher Xiao's home (formerly an art teacher), it is most convenient to use it as a base for traveling around. After dinner, listen to Teacher Xiao's explanations about Zhangjiajie and chat with fellow travelers staying there. It has a special mountain charm.
Location: Near the Back Garden of Yuanjiajie. You can enter from the Forest Park ticket station and take the route Golden Whip Stream—Meeting of a Thousand Miles—Back Garden, or enter from the Wulingyuan ticket station, take the sightseeing bus—get off at Water Winding Around Four Gates—walk to Meeting of a Thousand Miles—Back Garden, which is closer.
Price: Triple room (private bathroom, TV) 50 RMB per person, including breakfast and dinner: breakfast includes white porridge, eggs, steamed buns, and four small dishes of pickles; dinner (four-person standard) includes two meat dishes, two vegetarian dishes, and one soup, with unlimited rice, home-style dishes.
〉Zhongtian International Youth Hostel
Features: The location and environment of this hostel are good, clean and hygienic.
Location: Located in Yuanjiajie, near Wangqiaotai Teahouse.
Price: Beds in an eight-person room are about 35 RMB, about 25 RMB with a youth hostel membership card, and a standard room is about 180 RMB.
Regarding tickets: Zhangjiajie 248 RMB per person, discounts with student ID, including tickets for Tianzi Mountain, Yellow Dragon Cave, and Golden Whip Stream (Baofeng Lake is here), not including cableway. The Tianzi Mountain cableway is 52 RMB.
If you have time, you can visit Tianmen Mountain, which is also very famous. The ticket is 258 RMB, which includes the cableway.
If you don't go to Tianmen Mountain, then with just 248 RMB for the ticket, you can go to all the places you want to go, haha.
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To make it more convenient and enjoyable for friends who like independent travel to visit Zhangjiajie and Fenghuang, I collected some independent travel plans for Zhangjiajie from the Zhangjiajie Travel Website (), and specially wrote the following guide for everyone, hoping it will be helpful:
Plan 1: Based on three days and two nights
First day morning:
Friends who really have plenty of time and want to save money can choose to take a 2-hour bus to enter the park through the Tianzi Mountain ticket station. You can visit the winding mountain road from the Tianzi Mountain ticket station to the summit, General Rock, City Wall Gate, and other attractions.
Afternoon:
Visit Yuanjiajie. Yuanjiajie is a mountain-top circular tour, very relaxing to visit. From Hundred-Zhang Cliff, Sanguan Terrace, to the No. 1 Bridge under Heaven (a natural stone bridge spanning two mountains, with an arch vertical height of as much as 350 meters, majestic and spectacular). Then you can also see Lover's Valley, Five Women Going to Battle, etc. Finally, there is a place that can captivate the soul and kill film—Mihun Terrace (leaning on the railing and looking out, the large area of stone peaks rising from the ground before your eyes, like towers, like buildings, like pavilions. Especially after a little rain, waves of white mist rise from the foot of the mountain, making you really feel as if you don't know where you are. This is the charm of Mihun Terrace!) The day's journey ends while you are still searching for that intoxicating feeling! Then walk from the Mihun Terrace parking lot to the No. 1 Bridge under Heaven parking lot, take the free eco-friendly bus provided by the scenic area back to Wulong Village's “Mountain Family”, where the chef has prepared delicious food for you.
Second day morning:
After a night's rest, is your heart still dizzy from yesterday's beautiful scenery? Let me tell you, don't be! Because today's places will be even more exciting and beautiful. If you are not careful, you will... will... Anyway, today we will go see that bandit den----Wulong Village in Yangjiajie. Speaking of this place, there is a very real story: It was during the Northern Song Dynasty, when bandits were rampant. Here in Yangjiajie, relying on the natural barrier of the terrain, they occupied the mountain as kings. At that time, the Yang family generals were also loyal to the court, so they sent members of their family there to suppress the bandits. After the final victory, because their descendants multiplied in that area, and there were people surnamed Yang, it was named Yangjiajie. And that Wulong Village indeed had many scenes filmed there for the film “Story of Suppressing Bandits in Wulong Mountain”, and its broadcast made this place famous. On the way up the mountain, you have to pass three ghost gates (One Step Difficult, Who Dares Not Bow, One-Line Sky or Slimming Valley) plus a sentry post before you can climb to the summit. See a unique spectacle of Yangjiajie----Tianbo Mansion (four natural stone walls arranged in parallel in sequence, really like the dragon gate formation set up by the Yang family generals when suppressing bandits, very spectacular.) After enjoying the scenery on the summit, you will find that if you want to go up this mountain, apart from the path you just climbed, there is no second way. However, when you stand on the peaks here, don't you sigh endlessly: It wasn't easy for others to be bandits back then! As the saying goes, everything is difficult at the beginning, as long as you are willing to climb! This saying should be right! Haha... Don't forget that you are only expressing emotions, watch your step! After returning to the Wulong Village restaurant, take another path on foot, and you can also visit Wulang Worshipping Buddha, One Step to Heaven (the highest point of Yangjiajie, where you can see the panoramic view of Yangjiajie and Yuanjiajie up close, and Huangshizhai and Yaozi Village in the distance. Very spectacular! Truly one step to heaven!), after climbing to heaven, remember to come down safely and then follow a narrow winding path close to the cliff. Not far away is a high-altitude viewing platform----Sky Corridor. At this time, the gentle breeze gives a feeling of elegance and refinement, the broad view, layers of terraced fields, and the “Roly-Poly” standing in the middle of the mountain hollow. The rugged feeling brought by nature makes you feel as if you are in a fairyland, intoxicated!
Afternoon:
After climbing mountains all morning, hurry back by eco-friendly bus to “Mountain Family” to replenish energy. This afternoon, you will go to Daguantai. At Daguantai, the main things to see are Immortal Bridge, Tianzi Seat, Tianzi Peak, One Step Difficult, Divine Chicken Pecking. (Brief introduction to attractions: Immortal Bridge—also of the same nature as the No. 1 Bridge under Heaven in Yuanjiajie, a natural stone bridge. But it still retains its original appearance, that is, it has not been repaired with protective measures like the No. 1 Bridge under Heaven, and has not undergone any artificial processing. This is a great opportunity for friends who love adventure! The entire bridge body is only about 20 meters long, and the widest part is no more than 1.5 meters. But if you dare to walk across, there is a very broad platform on the opposite mountain top, with a wide view, where you can see the entire Ten-Mile Gallery Grand Canyon. Legend says walking on it can make you immortal! Speaking of this, friends, don't think about becoming immortal first. Let me tell you a very real story first! It was in the late Yuan and early Ming dynasties, when there was a Tujia person named Xiang Dakun in Zhangjiajie. Because he was dissatisfied with the government at the time, he proclaimed himself emperor, established himself as king, and launched a peasant uprising. But he ultimately failed. Perhaps it was fate playing tricks! Let's not think about these for now! First think about what it feels like when you stand on Tianzi Seat? Looking at the energetic stone peaks opposite, aren't they like waiting for orders to be conferred at any time? And this Tianzi Seat is where King Tianzi Xiang once commanded troops and deployed generals. One Step Difficult is a gap sandwiched between two mountains about 300 meters deep. A professor once fell down there before. Now a steel-reinforced welded bridge with gaps has been built over it. Walking on it and looking down, it is bottomless. The timid will probably tremble when walking on it......
Along the way, after seeing so many attractions, at this moment, what emotions do you have? Do you sigh that Zhangjiajie's scenery is so magical and beautiful? Do you sigh that every attraction in Zhangjiajie has a little story closely related to it? Do you sigh that nature's craftsmanship is so magical? After touring, you will more or less gain something. Let's not talk about these for now. Let it form a permanent beautiful memory in your mind! The above is the first travel plan. The reason for writing some attractions in more detail is to facilitate the travel of fellow travelers. The following plans only give simple itineraries.
Plan 2
First day morning: Enter the park from the Forest Park, walk along Golden Whip Stream straight to Yuanjiajie (the two ways to go up Yuanjiajie are as shown before: one is to climb the Luanchuan Slope, the other is to walk the entire Golden Whip Stream and take the elevator up.)
Afternoon: Visit Yuanjiajie, No. 1 Bridge under Heaven, Mihun Terrace, Back Garden, etc. Stay overnight at “Mountain Family” inn in Yuanjiajie.
Second day morning: Visit Yangjiajie----climb Wulong Village, explore the three ghost gates, view the Tianbo Mansion spectacle, go up One Step to Heaven, walk the Sky Corridor. Afternoon: Visit Daguantai, Tianzi Seat, Divine Chicken Pecking, Immortal Bridge, and other attractions. Stay at “Mountain Family”.
Third day: Morning: Visit Tianzi Mountain, Helong Park, Shentang Bay, Dianjiang Terrace, etc.; Afternoon: Take the Tianzi Mountain cableway or walk down Wolong Ridge to visit Ten-Mile Gallery, exit from the Wulingyuan ticket station and return to Zhangjiajie city area.
Plan 3
First day morning: Enter the park from the Wulingyuan landmark gate, walk Ten-Mile Gallery up to the summit of Tianzi Mountain (there are also two ways to go up the summit-----one is to walk the entire Ten-Mile Gallery and then continue on foot, climbing more than 8,000 steps straight to the summit of Tianzi Mountain; the other is to visit Ten-Mile Gallery and then take the Tianzi Mountain cableway straight to the summit);
Afternoon: Helong Park----Shentang Bay---Dianjiang Terrace, stay at “Mountain Family”.
Second day morning: Visit Daguantai;
Afternoon: See Yangjiajie;
Third day morning: Visit Yuanjiajie;
Afternoon: Pack your luggage and go down the mountain, walk Golden Whip Stream and exit the Forest Park, return to Zhangjiajie city area, and the trip ends.
Friends can choose any of the above three travel plans according to their actual situation. The attractions visited are already the essence of the essence. That is to say, no matter which plan you choose, the attractions worth visiting can all be visited. If you still want to see Baofeng Lake, Yellow Dragon Cave, or Dragon King Cave, etc., or if you still want to go rafting on Mengdong River, and you must visit all the mountain attractions in Zhangjiajie, then you must have enough time. As mentioned before, to visit all, it will take at least 5 days. Baofeng Lake, caves, and rafting are not included in the 248 RMB ticket. If you are interested, you must buy separate tickets. Baofeng Lake: 74 RMB per person, Yellow Dragon Cave 80 RMB per person. Mengdong River 180 RMB per person (including round-trip transportation to Zhangjiajie city area). Let you experience the world's number one rafting that makes men wet and women scream. One rapid after another, very thrilling. If you still have time, I highly recommend a newly developed immortal mountain---Tianmen Mountain. It has the world's longest cableway---Tianmen Mountain Cableway, letting you truly experience a feeling of being lifted above the world. The price is a bit expensive, 258 RMB per person. But it is indeed very good, with a wonder of Chinese highways----the winding mountain road. Then climb 999 steps and you will arrive exactly at the bottom of Tianmen Cave. In 1999 and 2006, the Russian Air Force performance team came to Zhangjiajie and performed the first aircraft crossing through a natural cave at Tianmen Cave. And Tianmen Cave, when viewed from a distance, looks like the “Eye of Sauron” in The Lord of the Rings. Haha, don't be scared. This “Heavenly Eye” is not as evil as the “Eye of Sauron”! It is a “Heavenly Eye” that brings good fortune to Zhangjiajie!
Finally, you must go see the Zhangjiajie Travel Website. It is a professional website. The content should be relatively complete and detailed.
How to find safe and trustworthy independent travel in Zhangjiajie
1: Friend recommendation (after a friend recommends a good contact, you can check online or call to inquire about the other party. Generally, independent travel operators in Zhangjiajie have their own websites. Professionals can see the other party's ability from aspects such as website design, thereby confirming the other party.)
2: Online search (searching for Zhangjiajie independent travel online, those on the first two pages have a certain degree of credibility.)
3: Whether a travel contract is signed
4: Whether there is a fixed office address and how many office staff there are.
I recommend a website, Zhangjiajie Travel Website. I'll paste a URL here. If you need to understand the route options and such, there are relatively detailed explanations here.