Zhangjiajie's sandstone pillars are real, and no, James Cameron never filmed there; the AVATAR connection is that the film's designers drew inspiration from these rocks. The park is huge and the ticket structure confuses everyone, so here is the version I wish someone had given me.

Understand the layout first

The national forest park, the one with the pillars, has multiple entrances and a sprawling internal bus system. Yuanjiajie, the most famous viewpoint cluster, sits in the middle. Separately, Tianmen Mountain is a different mountain right next to the city itself, famous for the 999-step staircase and a road with 99 bends. And then there is the glass bridge, in a third location, the Grand Canyon. These are three separate tickets and three separate days if you do everything.

Day one: the forest park

Enter early via the Wulingyuan gate. Take the Bailong elevator, a glass shaft bolted to a cliff that lifts you 326 metres in under two minutes, to Yuanjiajie before the tour groups arrive around 10am. Walk the plateau trail to the Hallelujah Mountain viewpoint, then continue to the Tianzi Mountain cable car and descend to Ten-Mile Gallery. You will walk maybe eight kilometres, most of it flat, and the buses handle the rest.

Day two: pick your mountain

Tianmen Mountain is the better half-day: the cable car starts practically in the city and takes 30 minutes to climb, the cliff-hanging walkways are properly scary if you are afraid of heights, and the views down the 99-bend road justify the ticket alone. The glass bridge is a fun hour but honestly skippable if your schedule is tight; the photos oversell it.

Where to stay and eat

• Stay in Wulingyuan town for park access, or downtown for Tianmen Mountain. Do not switch hotels mid-trip.
• Tujia cuisine is the local thing: smoked pork, tuanzi fan rice. Try it once, then eat whatever smells good.
• April-May and September-October have the best weather; summer weekends mean queues measured in hours.

Zhangjiajie pairs well with Fenghuang old town, three hours away by road. We include both in our Zhangjiajie tours, with the permits and cable cars pre-booked, which in high season is the difference between seeing the mountains and seeing the back of a queue.

Originally published on 71Asia Tours blog.