Zhangjiajie overview 张家界

About Zhangjiajie

Yongding is the city around the railway and airport connections and the urban Tianmen Mountain cableway station; Wulingyuan is the separate gateway to the sandstone-pillar landscape. A museum or temple stop in the city can fit around transfers, while the forest-park sectors deserve their own mountain days. Decide where to sleep from the entrance you will use next morning, rather than assuming every attraction bearing the Zhangjiajie name is close together.

The city is named after the Han-dynasty minister Zhang Liang (张良), who is said to have retreated into seclusion in the area. It was formerly called Dayong (大庸); in May 1985 the State Council approved converting Dayong County into a county-level city, and in May 1988 it was upgraded to a prefecture-level city. In April 1994 it was renamed Zhangjiajie because the name Dayong was far less well known than the Zhangjiajie National Forest Park within its territory, China's first national forest park.

Zhangjiajie lies in the heart of the Wuling Mountains in northwestern Hunan, bordering Changde and Huaihua prefectures, the Xiangxi autonomous prefecture, and Hubei's Enshi prefecture. The terrain is predominantly mountainous, with widespread limestone producing karst landforms, peak forests and caves; the Li River (澧水) crosses the area, joined by tributaries including the Rushui (溇水). Elevation ranges from 1,890.4 meters at the highest point to 75 meters at the lowest. The city covers 9,534 square kilometers, with a resident population of about 1.524 million, of whom over sixty percent are Tujia.

The sandstone peak-forest landscape of the Wulingyuan Scenic Area, within the city's territory, is considered rare worldwide and was inscribed by UNESCO as a World Natural Heritage Site in December 1992. Zhangjiajie is popularly known through the saying 'three thousand peculiar peaks, eight hundred clear waters' (奇峰三千，秀水八百).

What to look for

• The distinction between Tianmen Mountain’s city-side access and the Wulingyuan pillar landscape.
• Urban cultural stops that explain the region beyond its famous mountain photographs.

Location & getting there

Getting to Zhangjiajie

Check whether your train uses Zhangjiajie West or the older Zhangjiajie station, then arrange the transfer to Yongding or Wulingyuan. Choose the specific hotel and scenic entrance before booking the onward ride.