Welcome to Zhangjiajie City all the way from South Korea — this stunning scenic spot is the real-life prototype of the floating Hallelujah Mountains featured in the blockbuster Avatar. As soon as you land at Zhangjiajie Hehua Airport, our dedicated local guide and driver will wait for you right outside the arrival exit, then transfer you to your hotel located inside Tianmen Mountain Scenic Area. After finishing hotel check-in, you will have free leisure time to wander the surrounding area at your own pace.

We highly recommend visiting the 72 Strange Buildings, a comprehensive cultural complex showcasing authentic Tujia ethnic heritage. Here you can watch wonderful folk performances including the Tujia Hand-Waving Dance, Miao Flying Songs, Nuo Opera and traditional Daliuzi percussion music. You can also sample classic local Hunan specialties: blood duck, smoked meat hot pot, hezha stew, sour fish soup and rice tofu. For the most vibrant night atmosphere, we suggest visiting after 7:40 PM.

Zhangjiajie Hehua Airport operates abundant air routes. You can take direct flights to Zhangjiajie from major cities including Beijing, Shanghai, Xi’an, Changsha, Chengdu, Chongqing, Hangzhou and Guangzhou.

High-speed trains also provide convenient access:

Today’s half-day sightseeing trip takes you to Tianmen Mountain National Forest Park, honored as “the Soul of Zhangjiajie” and “the Top Sacred Mountain of Western Hunan”. Just 8 kilometers from downtown Zhangjiajie, this scenic spot fits visitors of all ages with no tiring uphill climbing required.

We start with a 30-minute cable car journey stretching 7,455 meters directly from the city to the mountain summit. While rising, you can enjoy full panoramic views of the twisting 99-Bend Road to Heaven as well as miniature peak landscapes that look like natural bonsai. Then get ready for an exciting cliffside adventure. Step onto the 60-meter Glass Skywalk suspended 1,430 meters above the deep valley; the transparent floor brings a heart-stopping feeling of strolling in mid-air. Continue along the 1.6-kilometer Cliff-Hanging Plank Road built along mountain ridges for endless spectacular mountain views. You may choose to visit Tianmen Temple, a peaceful Qing Dynasty Buddhist temple surrounded by dense green woods. Or climb up to Yunmenxianding (1,518 m above sea level), the highest peak of Tianmen Mountain, to overlook the whole region from a bird’s-eye perspective.

After that, ride a series of mountain escalators downhill to Tianmen Cave — the world’s tallest natural mountain arch standing 131.5 meters high, also called Heaven’s Gate. The huge cave is often wrapped in drifting mist or pierced by soft golden sunbeams, creating dreamy, constantly shifting light and shadow scenes perfect for photography. You can either walk down the famous 999 stone steps or take a convenient elevator, then head to another cable station to ride downhill.

Check into your hotel in Zhangjiajie and stay overnight.

This grand live show perfectly blends Western Hunan folk legends with natural mountain scenery. It takes Tianmen Mountain Canyon as its natural stage and the starry night sky as its backdrop, delivering breathtaking audio-visual effects. The performance adapts the classic Chinese folk tale Liu Hai Cutting Firewood, telling a touching romantic love story between a fox fairy and a poor woodcutter. It fully integrates local Nuo opera culture together with Tujia and Miao ethnic customs, presenting the mysterious, romantic image of the fox fairy from ancient Xiangxi folk beliefs.

After breakfast, we head into Zhangjiajie National Forest Park within Wulingyuan Scenic Area to explore Yuanjiajie and witness the spectacular Hallelujah Mountain (Qiankun Column / South Sky Pillar). After lunch, we transfer to Tianzi Mountain Nature Reserve for a full day’s mountain sightseeing. You will have plenty of time to soak in the unparalleled charm of Wulingyuan, a world-famous natural sanctuary dotted with more than 3,000 slender quartz sandstone pillars.

Our first stop is Zhangjiajie National Forest Park, China’s very first national forest park, defined by one-of-a-kind landforms: countless oddly shaped towering stone pillars, luxuriant primitive vegetation and grand mountain vistas. We take the park’s eco-shuttle bus to reach Bailong Elevator, widely hailed as the “World’s No.1 Outdoor Sightseeing Elevator”. It holds three Guinness World Records as the tallest, fastest and heaviest outdoor sightseeing elevator, ascending 326 vertical meters from the valley floor to the mountaintop platform in merely 66 seconds.

We then hike into Yuanjiajie, the real-life prototype of Pandora’s floating peaks featured in the blockbuster Avatar — the authentic home of the iconic Hallelujah Mountains. Do not miss South Sky Pillar (officially named Avatar Floating Mountain), a vertical stone monolith rising roughly 150 meters from the deep valley at an altitude of 1,074 meters, resembling a giant stone pillar standing straight toward the sky.

Stroll along the 3,500-meter precipice-edge sightseeing trail decorated with fluttering red blessing ribbons, and admire a series of world-class natural wonders: Backyard Garden, Lost Soul Platform (recognized as Yuanjiajie’s top natural viewing deck), and the World’s First Bridge Under Heaven — a natural stone arch that serves as Yuanjiajie’s landmark. While immersed in this extraordinary scenery, you will also learn about the formation mechanism of Zhangjiajie’s sandstone peak forest: millions of years of unique geological structures, crustal tectonic movements and natural weathering erosion have created this globally rare geological wonder.

We board the eco-shuttle bus to visit our second core scenic zone, Tianzi Mountain Nature Reserve. It takes its name from Xiang Dakun (Xiang Tianzi), a legendary Tujia tribal leader who proclaimed himself “Tianzi (Son of Heaven)” during the early Ming Dynasty (1368–1644). Known as the “King of All Peaks”, Tianzi Mountain represents the mature evolution stage of peak forest landforms and shot to fame as the fairyland backdrop for the classic Chinese TV series Journey to the West. Standing at 1,262 meters above sea level, it is celebrated for its five unrivaled seasonal spectacles: sunrise, sea of clouds, crimson moon glow, winter snow and fiery autumn red leaves, plus boundless clusters of stone peaks.

Walk to Dianjiangtai Viewing Platform to overlook the mist-shrouded West Sea Peak Forest, where jagged rock spires surge upward from fog-filled ravines. The unmissable Imperial Writing Brush Peaks consist of six roughly 100-meter-tall stone pillars arranged neatly in a square formation. The pillars taper naturally from top to bottom, perfectly imitating ancient Chinese writing brushes; local legend states they were the writing tools used by Xiang Tianzi himself.

Later, we walk to He Long Park to visit the bronze statue of Marshal He Long alongside his warhorse, then climb the 30-meter Tianzi Pavilion. Standing on the pavilion’s observation deck, you enjoy a full unobstructed panoramic view of endless layered peaks stretching to the horizon — a breathtaking grand landscape. After the full-day tour, we transfer back to your hotel for a well-deserved rest.

After breakfast, we will transfer you from Wulingyuan to Zhangjiajie Grand Canyon, a 56-kilometer drive that takes roughly 1.5 hours. Upon arrival, you can experience the stunning Grand Canyon Glass Bridge. After a satisfying lunch, we head to Baofeng Lake for a soothing wooden boat cruise. We return to downtown Zhangjiajie late in the afternoon.

Zhangjiajie Grand Canyon is famed for cascading waterfalls and fresh, oxygen-rich valley air, making it an unmissable destination for photography lovers and adventure seekers alike. Its crown jewel is the Glass Bridge — the world’s longest and highest glass-bottom suspension bridge strung between two steep cliffs. Measuring 375 meters long and suspended 300 meters above the valley floor, this landmark was designed by Israeli architect Haim Dotan. Constructed primarily from transparent glass with minimal steel supports, it can hold up to 800 visitors simultaneously.

At the bridge’s center sits the world’s highest commercial bungee jumping platform. Thrill seekers may join this heart-pounding activity at their own expense to feel the sensation of soaring through the gorge just like Spider-Man. Exploring the skywalk takes around one hour, and travelers from every corner of the globe come here to test their bravery. Beneath the crystal-clear glass panels, you gaze straight down onto dense woodland and mist-shrouded ravines. Standing on the transparent surface creates an incredible floating-in-midair feeling, paired with sweeping panoramic views of the whole canyon. Step onto this glass skywalk and challenge yourself!

After the adrenaline-charged glass bridge experience, unwind your nerves at mirror-smooth Baofeng Lake. A shuttle bus will carry you from the scenic entrance to the dock, where you board a traditional wooden sightseeing boat across this crystal alpine lake. Stretching 2.5 kilometers long, ranging from 200 to 1,000 meters wide and averaging 72 meters in depth, Baofeng Lake sits in a mountain basin ringed by green woods and distinctive stone peaks, forming a serene pastoral paradise. As you drift gently across the water, admire perfect mountain reflections rippling on the surface and listen to melodic ethnic folk songs sung by local minority performers.