Travel Log: Tianmenshan National Forest Park, Hunan Province, China

  If you follow me on Instagram, you may have seen that I recently returned from an amazing trip to China. My husband and I spent 17 days (including travel days) exploring several regions of this massive country. We visited Shanghai, Zhangjiejie National Forest Park, Tianmenshan National Forest Park, Beijing, Xi'an, and Suzhou. When we were planning our itinerary for this trip, I asked my husband where he wanted to go and Zhangjiajie National Forest Park with its "Avatar Mountains" was at the top of his list. When researching the Zhangjiajie area (Zhang is a family name, Jia = family, and Jie = homeland or border so this translates to "Zhang Family Homeland"), I discovered that there is a second national park called Tianmenshan (Tian = heaven, Men = doorway or gate, Shan = mountain so this translates to "Heaven's Gate Mountain") National Forest Park that is also stunning and famous for a natural arch within a limestone mountain, access via the longest cable car in the world, glass-bottom skywalks, Tianmen temple, an observatory at the peak, and more. Please continue reading to see more photos and details of how we spent our day in Tianmenshan National Forest Park.

We chose to explore Zhangjiajie National Forest Park on our own, and hire a guide (on Viator--message me for details and I am happy to share) for a day tour of Tianmenshan National Forest Park. Our guide and driver met us at our hotel and drove us to the entrance of Tianmenshan National Forest Park. We scanned our passports to gather our tickets, and then waited in a short line for a shuttle (similar to Zhangjiajie National Forest Park) to a cable car entrance. The longer route, the Tianmen Mountain cableway from downtown Zhangjiaie to the top of the mountain is the longest in the world, stretching just under 25,000 feet (7,455 meters) with a duration of ~30 minutes. We took the Tianmen Mountain Express Cableway, which is just under 4,000 feet (1,200 meters) and a duration of ~7 minutes. We exited at the mid-upper part of the mountain in order to walk over to the base of Tianmen Cave and its 999 steps from base to top.

From the base, you have two choices: walk up the 999 steps or take the Transmountain Escalator that has been built inside the mountain. We were up for the exercise and our guide, Sunny, told us that we should not skip steps and needed to touch each stair for good luck. If you decide to ascend the stairs, it should take 30 minutes or less depending on your speed and how often you stop to take photos!

From the top of Tianmen Cave, you have several options to walk around the summit of Tianmen Mountain. Our guide, Sunny, recommended following the East Line to see stunning mountain views from a series of walkways, experience two different glass-bottomed skywalks, and cross a suspension bridge high above it all to reach Tianmenshan Temple.

It may be difficult to tell, but the below photos are one of the glass bottom walkways. Everyone had to put on red shoe covers (presumably to keep the glass clean), and there were quite a few tourists who hugged the mountainside very fearful of walking on the thick glass. While on the glass, it was easy to see the winding road waaaay down below. 

The walking path wound along the mountainside and I was simply in awe of how it was built. The pathways and railing were all concrete, and per our guide Sunny they were all installed within a seven year timeframe. The suspension bridge felt like we were in the clouds with the towering mountains around us. This tour is definitely not for people who have a fear of heights--looking over the railings or crossing the suspension bridge would likely be extremely scary. For whatever reason I have no fear of heights and found it all amazing! I could not get enough of the gorgeous views.

Tianmenshan Temple is a Buddhist temple that sits at an elevation of approximately 4,980 feet (1,518 meters) and contains a relic of the Buddha as well as three giant Buddha statues and a number of Buddha and Bodhisattva statues representing different ideals and inspiration. From the temple, we took a chairlift to the Yunmeng Fairy Peak--the highest point in the park with a pavilion that enables 360 degree views. It truly felt like we were up at the same level as the clouds when standing on the outdoor deck of the summit pavilion.  

After circling the summit, we made our way down to the cable car entrance and back down the mountain. We could see tracks being built for a toboggan (similar to what exists at the Great Wall of China, more on that later) and I think that will be a really fun way to descend part way when completed. All in all we had a really great day exploring Tianmenshan National Forest Park with Sunny and I highly recommend booking a guide to help navigate the different routes and learn a lot of history/facts along the way. We were dropped off back at our hotel to enjoy a hearty dinner on our final evening in the area. I promised more information on our hotel in my last post, and below you can see a few photos of our Premier Room Cabin, the resident pups, and the view at Celestial Valley property in Zhangjiajie.