Day 14: Wulingyuan - Zhanjiajie National Park
We wake up at 6:30 in the morning and after breakfast some of the buns we bought last night after arriving from Zhangjiajie to Welingyuan we left the Destination Youth Hostel, where by the way, as in all the accommodations we have been offering Free tea and coffee service, even if you only put the kettle on, so we advise you to take home coffee or tea if you like, on the way to the entrance of the Zhanjiajie National Park We have only 200 meters.
Before entering the Zhanjiajie National Park We advise you to buy or request a map of the park at the hotel where you are staying or at a store. The orientation in the park is not especially easy and if you do not carry a map, much worse.
Zhanjiajie National Park Map
Only when we see the entrance from afar, we realize what the Chinese are capable of: a large pagoda that reminds us of how famous the Zhanjiajie National Park, especially after the Avatar movie take your incredible landscapes as an enclave to Pandora, and what will undoubtedly become after the works they are building, including a mega mall right next to the entrance.
We go through the ticket office paying 275RMB per person, here the student card does not work even if it is valid, which entitles us to 4 days of entry to the Zhanjiajie National Park.
When you enter they take your fingerprint to make sure you do not pass it to someone and for safety and there we are going to take the first bus that indicates that it leads to the famous elevator.
Yes, yes, as you have read, they have built the Bailong elevator that borders one of the cliffs, located at the end of the Golden Whip Stream, and that takes you to the top, 326 meters high.
And even if it seems a lie, after paying 275RMB, go up in the Bailong elevator It is not free. You have to pay 73RMB more per person and route.
Our idea was to climb the cable car, another transport that they created in the Zhanjiajie National Park, which allows you to reach the top without having to climb the hundreds or perhaps thousands of stairs that take you to that area and that say have stunning views and from there make the whole journey on the different buses, these are free , which will take you to all the important points of the park, then go down with the Bailong Elevator or if you have time to walk.
A perfect plan for this first day in the Zhanjiajie National Park.
More practical information to prepare your trip to China
- 10 essential places to visit in China
- 10 essential tips for traveling to China
But nothing is further from reality and sometimes the plans fail and when we ask they tell us that the cable car is temporarily closed, so the only option to get to the top is to take the Bailong Elevator, which currently has 2 waiting hours (logically with the cable car closed there are many more people waiting than usual) or walk up.
The second option telling me that I am starting to incubate a cold and I am medicating and I am not 100%, and partly counting that they are more than 2 hours of climb, I do not see it very clear, so we return to take a bus that takes us to the tail of the Bailong Elevator, and as good Chinese we get into an infinite tail ready to squeeze and push each other as if there was no tomorrow, waiting for our turn to come.
Views from the Bailong Elevator. Zhanjiajie National Park
And so comes 11:45 in the morning. Yes, yes, more than mid-morning when we reach the doors of one of the elevators, not to mention the most bizarre one we have ever climbed on.
Bailong elevator in Zhanjiajie National Park
Without a doubt we can say that the more than two hours that we have spent in that queue have been the worst of this trip to China for free and surely of all that we have done and that is that some details of the Chinese character, at this stage of the trip , we must say that it is surpassing us and it is that, sometimes, they make it very difficult 🙂 Continuous pushing, shouting, spitting to the side, and standing in front of you, without leaving you living space, talking (or shouting, as the case may be) in Chinese as if we could understand them.
So far our personal experience at the level of conversation or interaction with 1 or 2 people has been more than positive, but at the moment when the group increases, it is certainly time to start running if you can 😉
Surely we remember this in a few days as an anecdote, but now, we have just queued for more than 2 hours, almost without breathing, we find the most uncomfortable we have lived in our travels and that without doubt, dazzles the wonders That this amazing country has.
In the end we can really say that we have entered the Zhanjiajie National Park almost at 1 noon.
We have to comment that we had read that the views from the Bailong elevator were impressive since the first 154 meters run through an underground passage for later, suddenly come out in the daylight and meet you with that landscape so characteristic of the Zhanjiajie National Park.
The truth is that as tight as we were we could not see much, so this point we can not confirm or deny it.
Once at the top, we go straight to the first stop we see to take one of the free buses that takes us to the first point where we begin to follow the roads that take us through the different viewpoints that give us stunning views of the Zhanjiajie National Park.
Zhanjiajie National Park
Zhanjiajie National Park
The tour of this incredible park leads us to move, even if we don't want to, at Hallelujah Mountains of Pandorafrom the movie Avatar.
Zhanjiajie National Park viewpoint
Throughout the scenic area of WulingyuanZhanjiajie National Parkwe can find more than 3100 stone pillars, some of them of more than 800 meters, surrounded by incredible forests and an enclave, that you see where you look, it is spectacular.
Zhanjiajie National Park
Zhanjiajie National Park
We cannot forget that Zhanjiajie National Park has been declared a World Heritage Site by Unesco.
Our recommendation, after the experience we have had, is that you enter the park early, better at the time they open, ask at the hotel as the schedules vary according to the time and go directly to the Bailong Elevator, trying to reach First hour and no queues.
Once up, you can enjoy several hours touring the different viewpoints that you can access, both walking and on the free bus that moves you between the different enclaves.
Zhanjiajie National Park
Natural arch in Zhanjiajie National Park
One of the most scenic areas of Zhanjiajie National Park
After almost 2 hours of travel between the different viewpoints we take a couple more buses, always asking, sometimes with more luck and sometimes with less, since the direction in which the bus goes is logically indicated in Chinese and see who it is the handsome one who guesses it, that they approach us to the high zone where the cable car would have left us if it had worked and we found a McDonald's !! Can you imagine? A fast food restaurant in the natural park.
Seeing what time it is and checking before the tail in the elevator, this time to descend, the idea is from here to walk down and get to the first parking lot we arrived this morning. We are not sure what time the park closes, because when we asked this morning there were people who told us at 6 in the afternoon and people at 7. As we have not been able to confirm the time anywhere, we prefer not to take risks and start to get down with time.
And so we do, but before, venerating the lord of the hamburgers, we eat a couple of more coffee menus for 100RMB that leave us as new and part, we load with a chicken box for 80RMB, which will be our dinner tonight if not We found nowhere else to dine.
In the end we will have to thank Mcdonald's because thanks to him more than one day we have eaten on this trip to China for free 😉
At 16:45 we begin our descent down the stairs, in front of new spectacular landscapes, which make us forget, as it happened before in the viewpoints, of the day we have queues and setbacks.
Views descending from the upper part of Zhanjiajie National Park
Zhanjiajie National Park
The descent is getting harder and harder, nothing compared to what we thought, crossing even with places with chairs that raise or lower weight if you ask.
Zhanjiajie National Park
It took us an hour and a half to reach the bottom, of continuous stairs, more downhill than uphill, which make us think that if we had decided to take this road this morning to reach the top, it would have been impossible to arrive.
Thus, after this walk we reach the path of the Three miles where there is also a little train that takes you to the stop where are the buses that take you to the entrance of the Zhanjiajie National Park.
The route that we have left to get to the bus station is quite flat, but it is about 5 kilometers and as we are busted and it is no longer 38RMB that costs the train per person, we ride the train as if we had been offered a First class plane ticket to Australia 😉
Zhanjiajie National Park
And so we arrive at the parking lot, we take a bus again and return to our accommodation, the Destination Youth Hostel, where after taking a shower, we eat our chicken and curl up in a bed that wraps us with the best dream.
Here we would like to make a little clarification after the visit to the Zhanjiajie National Park and always under our own experience. The truth is that we would not be able to judge if this visit worth or not worth if we put in a balance the time spent + money with the experience.
The landscapes alone deserve any time or money invested, but if we add the look that is taking the Zhanjiajie National Park theme park plus the amount of local tourism there is, and here you can find thousands, we are not so sure we can recommend it.
Today and for some years now there is much (very much) local tourism and it is practically impossible to move. This added to that they always travel in organized groups and that by their character, separate even 2 centimeters from their partner, it can mean death, you can already get an idea what it means to fight against this.
According to our perception and what they have told us, this is getting more and more, so if you are interested in traveling to China, especially to this area, it may be better to do it now, before it is too late.
That said, we also have to say that now, seeing it with the perspective that gives time, we would surely repeat the experience since the landscapes are unique
Day 15: Wulingyuan - Zhanjiajie National Park: Avatar Chinese Mountains - Zhangjiajie - Fenghuang
