Zhangjiajie

Zhangjiajie, part of the UNESCO Wulingyuan area, is one of the most surreal landscapes on earth, a vast forest of thousands of towering, sheer sandstone pillars, some hundreds of metres high, rising from deep, misty green valleys. Their otherworldly forms famously helped inspire the floating Hallelujah Mountains of the film Avatar, and they are explored by cliff-edge walkways, cable cars, a glass-bottomed bridge and the world's tallest outdoor lift.

History

In 1982 Zhangjiajie became China's first national forest park, covering 4,810 hectares, and it is part of the much larger Wulingyuan Scenic Area, recognised as a World Heritage Site in 1992; in 2001 the area was approved as the Zhangjiajie Sandstone Peak Forest National Geopark, listed as a UNESCO global geopark in 2004. The quartz-sandstone pillars are the product of physical rather than chemical erosion, largely ice expanding in winter and plants growing on the rock, and in January 2010 the 1,080-metre Southern Sky Column was renamed Avatar Hallelujah Mountain, as the film's designers drew on Guilin, Huangshan and Zhangjiajie for their floating rocks (Wikipedia, Zhangjiajie National Forest Park).

The landscape

• The sandstone pillars - the thousands of towering peaks in the mist.
• The Avatar connection - the pillars that inspired the film's floating mountains.
• The glass bridge - the glass-bottomed bridge over the Grand Canyon.
• The Bailong elevator - the world's tallest outdoor glass lift up the cliff.

When to go

Spring and autumn for the mildest weather and the atmospheric mist that drifts among the pillars; summer is hot and crowded, winter cold but sometimes beautifully snow-dusted. The famous mist that makes it magical is more common in the cooler, wetter seasons.

Good to know

It is a large park needing a couple of days and a lot of walking, shuttles and cable cars, and it is extremely popular with domestic tourists, so it gets very crowded. The mist that gives it magic can also hide the pillars entirely. The glass bridge and lift are separate, ticketed attractions with their own queues.

Nearby

The old town of Fenghuang and Tianmen Mountain with its cliffside road are nearby.