Zhangjiajie National Forest Park 张家界国家森林公园

About Zhangjiajie National Forest Park

The southern approach is particularly useful for Golden Whip Stream and Huangshizhai, while other sectors connect through the wider Wulingyuan visitor network. These pillars are formed in quartz-rich sandstone, rather than the limestone karst often associated with southern China. Choose a coherent combination of valley and plateau, accounting for walking, buses and separately managed lifts or cableways.

The park covers 130 square kilometers and was established in 1982 as China's first national forest park. It lies within the Wuling Mountains and contains more than 2,000 stone peaks, with forest covering 88 percent of its area, and is enclosed by surrounding mountains under a warm, humid climate.

Its quartz-sandstone pillars formed mainly through physical rather than chemical weathering, shaped over many years by expanding ice in winter and by plants growing on the rock; the eroded material is carried away chiefly by streams. The moist, year-round climate supports dense foliage on the formations. Named attractions within the park include Huangshizhai (黄狮寨), Shadaogou (砂刀沟), Jinbianyan (金鞭岩) and Jinbianxi (金鞭溪), and the park is organized around seven main visitor routes.

The park forms part of the larger, 397.5-square-kilometer Wulingyuan Scenic Area, which was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1992. The wider area was approved as the Zhangjiajie Sandstone Peak Forest National Geopark, covering 3,600 square kilometers, in 2001, and was listed as a UNESCO Global Geopark in 2004.

What to look for

• Sandstone pillars viewed from the valley floor and higher plateaux.
• The contrasting Golden Whip Stream and Huangshizhai landscapes near the southern approach.

Location & getting there

Getting to Zhangjiajie National Forest Park

For Golden Whip Stream and Huangshizhai, use the Forest Park south gate on Jinbian Road. Confirm the gate and transport included in your reservation; the Wulingyuan east gate leads into a different approach and transfer sequence.