Thousands of quartzite pillars rising out of the mist — the landscape that inspired Avatar's floating mountains. Wulingyuan's elevators and trails, a heart-stopping glass bridge, and Tianmen's cliff-edge skywalk.
Tip The park is huge and vertical — buy the multi-day ticket, use the Bailong elevator and cable cars to save your legs for the ridge trails, and start early to beat the tour groups to the Avatar pillar. Tianmen is a separate ticket and a separate day.
Park guideWhich entrance, when to ride the Bailong elevator vs walk, and the loop that hits the Avatar pillar before the crowds.
Day guideThe long cable car, the 999 steps to Heaven's Gate, and the cliff-edge glass skywalk — a full separate day from the park.
Access guideFly or rail to Zhangjiajie, then base in Wulingyuan town (not the city) to be at the park gates each morning.
The city is 40 min from the park. Stay in Wulingyuan town by the gate so you're first up the elevator each day.
Your fingerprint links to the pass; it covers several days and most shuttles. Don't lose the ticket, you re-scan to re-enter.
The Hallelujah viewpoint is a bottleneck mid-day. Hit it early or late and you'll actually get to the rail.
Got the first elevator up and the whole valley was clouded between the pillars. Looked exactly like the film. Worth the 5am alarm.
Not super fit. Can I do the highlights mostly by elevator and cable car, or is it stairs-or-nothing? Three days planned.