Guide to Zhangjiajie Tianmen Mountain National Forest Park
● "Spending" at Tianmen Mountain: The ticket price for Tianmen Mountain National Forest Park is 258 RMB, including admission to all attractions in the scenic area, round-trip on the large cableway, and round-trip shuttle bus to Tianmen Cave, etc. It is valid for one day. ● Touring Tianmen Mountain: 1: Essential experience tour: Take the Tianmen Mountain sightseeing cableway up the mountain and experience the thrill and shock of soaring through the clouds—climb to the top of Zhangjiajie at Yunmeng Fairy Summit and overlook the panorama of Zhangjiajie, experience the pride of standing alone in the sky, and take in the magnificence of the mountains and rivers—...
●“Flowers” at Tianmen Mountain
The ticket price for Tianmen Mountain National Forest Park is 258 RMB, including admission to all scenic spots within the park, round-trip on the large cableway, and round-trip shuttle bus to Tianmen Cave. It is valid for one day.
●Touring Tianmen Mountain:
1: Essential Experience Tour:
Take the Tianmen Mountain sightseeing cableway up the mountain and experience the thrill of soaring through the clouds --- climb to the summit of Zhangjiajie, the Yunmeng Immortal Peak, and overlook the panoramic view of Zhangjiajie, experiencing the pride of standing alone above the clouds and taking in the magnificence of the mountains and rivers --- take the small summit cable car to Cherry Bay, flying over the treetops to enjoy the beauty of the primitive aerial garden --- visit the Tianmen Mountain Temple, the Buddhist kingdom of heaven, and feel the sacredness of this famous immortal mountain temple --- from Cherry Bay, take the small summit cable car back to Yunmeng Immortal Peak --- go to the West Line to experience the thrills of the Ghost Valley Plank Road, screaming freely on the cliffside above the clouds --- return to Lingxiao Terrace to enjoy the city scenery and appreciate the majestic sweep of the landscape scroll --- return to the cableway upper station square, take the cableway down to the middle station --- transfer to the sightseeing bus to experience the wonders of the 99-bend Heaven-Linking Avenue --- arrive at Tianmen Cave to experience the marvel and stunning impact of nature's creation --- take the sightseeing bus down to the cableway middle station --- transfer to the cableway back to the city cableway lower station
2: West Line Essential Tour:
Take the Tianmen Mountain sightseeing cableway up the mountain --- follow the West Line along the summit to explore the Wonderland of Immortal Seeking --- Tianmen Mountain Temple, the Buddhist kingdom of heaven --- walk along the middle line or take the small summit cable car to Yunmeng Immortal Peak, the summit of Zhangjiajie --- take the sightseeing cableway down to the middle station --- transfer to the sightseeing bus to experience the 99-bend Heaven-Linking Avenue --- Tianmen Cave opens --- take the eco-friendly sightseeing bus down to the cableway middle station --- transfer to the cableway back to the city cableway lower station
3: East Line Essential Tour:
Take the Tianmen Mountain sightseeing cableway up the mountain --- follow the East Line along the summit to Biye Yaotai --- Tianmen Mountain Temple, the Buddhist kingdom of heaven --- walk along the middle line or take the small summit cable car to Yunmeng Immortal Peak, the summit of Zhangjiajie --- take the sightseeing cableway down to the middle station --- transfer to the sightseeing bus to experience the 99-bend Heaven-Linking Avenue --- Tianmen Cave opens --- take the sightseeing bus down to the cableway middle station --- transfer to the cableway back to the city cableway lower station
4: Middle Line Essential Tour:
Take the Tianmen Mountain sightseeing cableway up the mountain --- Yunmeng Immortal Peak, the summit of Zhangjiajie --- walk along the middle line or take the small summit cable car to Tianmen Mountain Temple, the Buddhist kingdom of heaven --- walk along the middle line or take the small summit cable car back to the sightseeing cableway upper station --- take the cableway down to the middle station --- transfer to the sightseeing bus to experience the 99-bend Heaven-Linking Avenue --- Tianmen Cave opens --- take the sightseeing bus down to the cableway middle station --- transfer to the cableway back to the city cableway lower station
5: Panoramic Tour:
Take the Tianmen Mountain sightseeing cableway up the mountain --- follow the West Line along the summit to explore the Wonderland of Immortal Seeking --- Tianmen Mountain Temple, the Buddhist kingdom of heaven --- from Cherry Bay, follow the East Line along the summit to Biye Yaotai --- cableway upper station square --- Yunmeng Immortal Peak, the summit of Zhangjiajie --- return to the cableway upper station and take the cableway down to the middle station --- transfer to the sightseeing bus to experience the 99-bend Heaven-Linking Avenue --- Tianmen Cave opens --- take the eco-friendly sightseeing bus down to the cableway middle station --- transfer to the cableway back to the city cableway lower station.
Summit Tour Route Guide
1: West Line Wonderland of Immortal Seeking Tour:
A: Take the sightseeing cableway up the mountain --- Lingxiao Terrace --- Yihong Pass --- Ghost Valley Plank Road --- Yefu's Hidden Treasure --- Ghost Valley Plank Road --- Small Tianmen --- View Ghost Valley Cave --- Child-Seeking Cave --- Cherry Bay --- Tianmen Mountain Temple --- from Cherry Bay, walk or take the small summit cable car to Yunmeng Immortal Peak --- take the cableway down from the sightseeing cableway upper station
B: Take the sightseeing cableway up the mountain --- Yunmeng Immortal Peak --- walk along the middle line or take the small summit cable car to Cherry Bay --- Tianmen Mountain Temple --- Child-Seeking Cave --- View Ghost Valley Cave --- Small Tianmen --- Ghost Valley Plank Road --- Yefu's Hidden Treasure --- Ghost Valley Plank Road --- Yihong Pass --- Lingxiao Terrace --- take the cableway down from the sightseeing cableway upper station
2: East Line Biye Yaotai Tour:
A: Take the sightseeing cableway up the mountain --- Diaosuo Divine Valley --- Tianmen Water Surge --- North Overlook of Tianmen --- Lingquan --- Yuhu Peak --- Zuiyun Pavilion --- Kouyun Pass --- Xianyuan --- South Overlook of Tianmen --- Wood and Stone Romance --- Cherry Bay --- Tianmen Mountain Temple --- from Cherry Bay, walk along the middle line or take the small summit cable car to Yunmeng Immortal Peak --- take the cableway down from the sightseeing cableway upper station
B: Take the sightseeing cableway up the mountain --- Yunmeng Immortal Peak --- walk along the middle line or take the small summit cable car to Cherry Bay --- Tianmen Mountain Temple --- Cherry Bay --- Wood and Stone Romance --- South Overlook of Tianmen --- Xianyuan --- Kouyun Pass --- Zuiyun Pavilion --- Yuhu Peak --- Lingquan --- North Overlook of Tianmen --- Tianmen Water Surge --- Diaosuo Divine Valley --- take the cableway down from the sightseeing cableway upper station
3: Middle Line Buddhist Kingdom of Heaven Tour:
Take the sightseeing cableway up the mountain --- Yunmeng Immortal Peak --- walk along the middle line or take the small summit cable car to Cherry Bay --- Tianmen Mountain Temple --- from Cherry Bay, walk along the middle line or take the small summit cable car to Yunmeng Immortal Peak --- take the cableway down from the sightseeing cableway upper station
4: Full Summit Tour:
Take the sightseeing cableway up the mountain --- Lingxiao Terrace --- Yihong Pass --- Ghost Valley Plank Road --- Yefu's Hidden Treasure --- Ghost Valley Plank Road --- Small Tianmen --- View Ghost Valley Cave --- Child-Seeking Cave --- Cherry Bay --- Tianmen Mountain Temple --- Cherry Bay --- Wood and Stone Romance --- South Overlook of Tianmen --- Xianyuan --- Kouyun Pass --- Zuiyun Pavilion --- Yuhu Peak --- Lingquan --- North Overlook of Tianmen --- Tianmen Water Surge --- Diaosuo Divine Valley --- cableway upper station Li Na Villa --- Yunmeng Immortal Peak --- take the cableway down from the sightseeing cableway upper station
Fruit: In the Tianmen Mountain scenic area, it can truly be said that “wild fruits are everywhere, and every month brings mountain delicacies.” Visiting here, you will find wild fruits in all four seasons: in the first lunar month there is “ice-wine fruit,” in the second month “milk-stick fruit,” in the third month strawberries (locally called “pao”), in the fourth month loquats, in the fifth month cherries, in the sixth month wild peaches, in the seventh month wild pears, in the eighth month carambola (wild kiwi), in the ninth month chestnuts and wild lychees, in the tenth month Laba melon, in the eleventh month clove persimmons, and in the twelfth month “soldier-saving fruit” (commonly known as “wood melon seeds”), and so on.
Tea: “Good water comes from high mountains, and fine tea is nurtured by mist and clouds.” Tianmen Mountain stands at 1,518.6 meters, the highest mountain in Zhangjiajie. For at least 260 days a year, Tianmen Mountain is shrouded in mist and clouds, with long sunshine hours and large temperature differences between day and night. Under these conditions grow the fragrant, rich, mellow, and sweet high-mountain cloud-mist teas --- Tianmen Mountain Maofeng, Tianmen Mountain Yinhao, and others --- with bright green liquor and uniform leaves.
Snacks: At the foot of Tianmen Mountain there are many small stalls selling hot and sour snacks, with several large jars and bottles containing red radishes (both sweet and sour types), tender white bamboo shoots, thin seaweed, translucent jellyfish shreds, crisp celtuce strips, and more, priced from 1 to 3 RMB per jin. The vendor first gives you a small basin, and you can choose whatever you like; then hand it to the vendor to season with chili, ginger flowers, scallions, salt, MSG, vinegar --- any flavor you choose. It is strongly recommended that travelers grab a bag before going up the mountain and, while on the mountain, enjoy a bite of the Tujia specialty hot-and-sour flavor with cool mountain spring water --- it will refresh you like nothing else!
There are also many small stalls at the summit and at Tianmen Cave, offering seasonal items picked or grown by local villagers, such as fresh cucumbers with dew on them, sweet cherry tomatoes (locally called small tomatoes), golden boiled corn, fragrant roasted sweet potatoes, and wild fruits that vary by season --- absolutely pure natural food, an absolutely pure natural pleasure~
☆Tips
⑴Weather: Tianmen Mountain is the highest mountain in Zhangjiajie, and the temperature on the mountain is about 10 degrees lower than in the city, so please adjust your clothing according to the season. Down jackets are available for rent year-round at the cableway upper station kiosk.
⑵Touring: Be careful when walking on the summit, because due to the special geological landforms, Tianmen Mountain has many bottomless sky-holes, so please follow the direction of the tour route signs. Especially in dense fog and rainy weather, watch your step to prevent slipping. In icy and snowy weather, it is recommended to wear a pair of straw sandals over your shoes. All rainproof and anti-slip clothing is sold at the various kiosks on the summit. When climbing the 999-step Heaven-Linking Ladder at Tianmen Cave, be sure to pay attention to safety; do not play around while going up or down, hold the stone pillars or iron chains on both sides, and take care with the elderly and children to avoid falls.
⑶Dining: There are two restaurants on the summit: one is the Li Na Villa buffet restaurant at the cableway upper station, and the other is the Cherry Bay Restaurant located at the intersection of the east, west, and middle lines, next to Tianmen Mountain Temple. At Tianmen Cave there are several snack and food points, including the buffet restaurant “Tianmen Food Workshop” and the Tianmen Mountain local specialties and handicrafts shop “Tianmen Craft Workshop.”
⑷Eco-friendly bus: The eco-friendly bus takes 25-30 minutes from the middle station to Tianmen Cave in either direction, with one departure every 10 minutes (vehicles for travelers and tour groups only need to wait at the Tianmen Mountain cableway lower station).
⑸Ticket: The ticket card must be used twice within the scenic area, so please keep it safe; it is valid only for the person it was issued to.
⑹Time: The scenic area ticket office is open from 07:30 AM to 16:30 PM. The touring time in the scenic area can be arranged according to your specific itinerary, but it is recommended to descend around 6 PM in summer and around 4 PM in winter, especially in bad weather, because night falls relatively earlier in the mountains than in the city.
⑺Other: There are a great many Korean friends at Tianmen Mountain, and they are extremely friendly. Scenic spots on the mountain have explanations in Chinese, English, and Korean, and almost all staff in the scenic area can speak a few words of Korean. So for travelers interested in Korean culture, this is a superb opportunity to study, travel, and make foreign friends all at once.
●Highlight Recommendations:
1: Tianmen Mountain Cableway
Built by the French company POMA, taking 2 years and costing 250 million RMB, with a total length of 7,455 meters and a height difference of 1,279 meters, it is known as the world's longest high-mountain passenger cableway; its 98 cabins come from the Swiss company CWA, which also produces cockpits for the American F117 aircraft, and each cabin costs about 150,000 RMB; its 57 cableway supports either stand above the clouds or hang slanting from peaks, showing human wisdom at its utmost.
The cableway runs from city to countryside to high mountains. Here you can experience the wonder and thrill of flying above the clouds, and also feel the grandeur and shock of the perfect combination of culture and nature. There is both the ultimate display of modern civilization and the true original ecology of ancient farming, as well as the incomparable wonder of nature's creation. The unimaginable visual impact, the contrast between modern and ancient, and the harmony and blending of humanity and nature bring a marvelous feeling of constantly crossing through time and space, as if passing through a time tunnel.
2: Heaven-Linking Avenue
Stretching 11 kilometers and winding through 99 bends, it gets its name because it leads to Tianmen Cave. The entire road took 7 years to build and embodies the wisdom of several generations of engineers and the sweat of road workers. Driving up the road, 180° hairpin turns are everywhere, twisting and turning among sheer cliffs thousands of feet high, with amazement and delight in equal measure, hence it is called the world's number one road wonder.
Because of its wonder and danger, the road is only open to the scenic area's own eco-friendly buses. The drivers of these buses are admitted to the company after several rounds of technical and physical assessments, with only 1 out of 100 accepted. The eco-friendly buses all drive within speed limits, and during the journey the drivers must constantly report driving conditions by walkie-talkie. At every “ninth” bend on the road stands the auspicious mascot of Tianmen Mountain, the “Tianmen Auspicious Beast,” to signify peace and good fortune.
3: Tianmen Cave
The world's highest-altitude karst cave through a mountain, 131.5 meters high, 57 meters wide, and 60 meters deep. This lofty cave opening brought the joy of the successful 1999 World Stunt Flying Competition, and also the regret of the 2006 Russian Su-27s gazing at the “gate” and sighing in awe. Success or failure aside, in people's minds it will always be a supreme deity.
Legendary little stories about Tianmen Cave:
¤ Tianmen Turns
According to local villagers, since 1982, taking the South Gate Pier by the Lishui River in Zhangjiajie as a reference, Tianmen Cave has been rotating from west to northwest. It is said that Tianmen Cave is a gate that gathers wealth, and wherever the cave opening points, that place will surely prosper. As the cave opening rotated, the various large buildings and companies built one by one in the direction it pointed all seemed to fulfill this mysterious prophecy in the unseen.
¤ Tianmen Water Surge
In dry seasons without rain, a sudden flood of water will gush from the stone wall on the right side of Tianmen Cave. Each surge lasts about half an hour. The years in which surges have occurred in history are: 1949 (founding of New China), 1965 (start of the Cultural Revolution), 1976 (death of Chairman Mao), 1989 (student movement), and 1998 (nationwide floods). According to local villagers, the water is of two kinds, clear and muddy, indicating different prophecies. The several surges in history were all muddy water, and all were followed by bad events. But in 2005, someone saw a surge of clear water at Tianmen Mountain. If the historical legend is correct, then this foretells some “heavenly” good event. According to online reports, in July 2006 Tianmen Mountain will host a contest between a Chinese Sanda champion and a Russian strongman at Tianmen. Does this surge foretell that Chinese martial arts will once again create a miracle of the Jingwu School through this event? Let us wait and see!
4: Tianmen Mountain Temple
Tianmen Mountain Temple was first built in the Ming Dynasty. Through the blending and adaptation of Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism, it has had flourishing incense since its founding and is the Buddhist center of the Xiangxi region. Tianmen Mountain also gained the name “the First Divine Mountain of Xiangxi” because of it. The present Tianmen Mountain Temple is a reconstruction on the original site, covering more than ten thousand square meters and consisting of five main halls, at a cost of 70 million RMB, and is expected to be completed by the end of 2007. It is said that Tianmen Mountain Company will donate the completed Tianmen Mountain Temple free of charge to the Chinese Buddhist Council, and a grand consecration ceremony will be held on the opening day. The singer Li Na, who has a connection with Tianmen Mountain, may also return to Tianmen in the role of abbess. Buddhist light, the universe, and Buddhist music will then combine to form a Penglai-like Tianmen fairyland.
5: Ghost Valley Cave
On the cliff of Tianmen Mountain there is a square cave opening, which is the most famous of Tianmen Mountain's sixteen caves, Ghost Valley Cave. This cave is a hundred meters below the summit and above a bottomless abyss, with extremely steep terrain. It is named because the ancient master Guiguzi once lived in seclusion and practiced here. Among the “Ten Scenes of Tianmen,” Ghost Valley Cave is known as “Mysterious Wall Hiding an Immortal.”
According to the Daoguang-era Yongding County Gazetteer of the Qing Dynasty, Ghost Valley Cave contains a deep stone chamber, with clear springs flowing below. Guiguzi once lived here studying the I Ching, and Jiazi seal-script characters are still preserved on the stone wall. Since 1991, Tianmen Mountain's brave explorers have descended by rope from above the cliff to the sheer wall seven times, making “close contact” with Ghost Valley Cave. During these cave explorations, they encountered various inexplicable miraculous phenomena. Especially on the fourth occasion, the exploring braves accidentally photographed with a camera a stone wall inside the cave bearing a head portrait resembling an ancient old man, with a lean face, high hair bun, slightly upturned chin, and clear facial features, remarkably similar in spirit to the widely circulated portrait of Guiguzi. Later, when exploring the cave, photographs deliberately taken at this spot came out blank after development. Whether this “Ghost Valley Manifestation” was accidental, coincidental, or a deliberate arrangement by heaven has become one of the six mysteries of Tianmen Mountain.