It is said that James Cameron was inspired to create the Hallelujah Mountains in the movie Avatar by the scenery in Zhangjiajie. While the main focus is the karst mountain, this area has enough to do that one can spend close to 1 week here and even combine with a river cruise to Chongqing for a 2-week vacation.
Please see below for a sample itinerary...feel free to adjust this to suit your availability vacation and also your energy levels.
Day 1: flying into Changsha
This is the major city closest to Zhangjiajie. Depending on where you are coming from, there may be a direct flight or you may have to fly into Shanghai or Beijing before reaching Changsha. Changsha is the street food capital of China, so do plan to walk around the shopping street near Wuyi, Huangxing, and Zhongshan road, assuming you arrive in the late afternoon and after checking into the hotel.
Day 2-3: sightseeing in Changsha
Changsha city in Hunan is the birthplace of Chairman Mao, the founder of the Chinese Communist Party and the first leader of modern China. So, one of the things to do here is to visit Orange Island which has a huge bust of the Chairman, (when he was younger). If you are still doing OK, consider walking up Mt Yuelu park to see the city skyline. For those into architecture, a great place to drop by is the Meixihu Cultural and Arts Centre, where many shows are recorded by Hunan TV. History buffs should visit the Hunan Provincial Museum plus the Mawangdui Han tombs that houses the artefacts from the Marquis Dai, who live in the Han dynasty ~200 BC, two thousand years ago,.
Changsha has supposedly the largest Chinese restaurant in the world (Xihulou or West Lake Restaurant) with 5,000 seats and 1,000 staff...so having Chinese food here should probably be an item on your to-do list.
Day 4: Fenghuang Ancient Town
Take the high-speed train from Changsha South station for Fenghuang Guzheng, between 2hr to 2.5hrs depending on the type of trains. With over 300 years of history, this town is said to be the most beautiful town in China with its wooden houses built on stilts. Plan on doing a boat ride on the Tuojiang River to admire the scenery and then visiting the residence of Shen Congwen.
Visit the other sites such as the Rainbow bridge, Eastgate Tower...while waiting for nightfall where the village takes on a different look (with the lights)
(Optional)
Some folks with higher energy level may wish to take a detour to visit Fanjingshan, a UNESCO heritage site also. There are no high-speed trains to here so the only way is via bus or private car, about 2 hours from Fenghuang. The top can be reached by climbing the "Stairway to Heaven" of 8,000 steps - about 5 hours. Nope, this was not my to-do list but some food for thought. You will need to spend 1 night here to rest before the next town.
Day 4: Furong Ancient Town
From Fenghuang ancient town, one can take the high-speed train to another ancient town called Furong, which is less than 1 hour away. The highlight will be the waterfall which is a major reason why folks come here to visit. Other sites include the Tusi Palace and just walking around the town while waiting for nightfall to see the night views.
Day 5-8: Zhangjiajie
The highlight of the entire journey is none other than the Hallelujah Mountains at Zhangjiajie. While it is known collectively as Zhangjiajie, the place consist of many sites which may take up minimum 3 days and up to 5 days to explore everything this location has in store. The 2 must-go sites is Wulingyuan and Yuanjiajie. Others include the Golden Whip Stream, taking the Bailong Elevator and Tianzi Mountain, and Tianmen Mountain.
One thing to note: if the planning above seems daunting especially if you do not speak the language, it is possible to engage a local tour guide who can help with booking the hotels. Typically, they will pick you from the airport or the high-speed train station and go from there. This is pertaining to Zhangjiajie only - it is perfectly fine to travel to Changsha, Fenghuang and Furong on your own.
Some big agencies include China Highlights and China Xian Tours. Alternatively, you can also engage local guides. One that was highly recommended is QiQi (WhatsApp ID:+8618874485275, WeChat ID:zglv-qiqi).
(Optional)
If you wish to do more, one very good recommendation is the Yangtze 3-Gorge cruise. The Yangzte river, longest in Asia, spans 6000km but the most popular stretch (and where 95% of tourist would visit) is the one from Chongqing to Yichang, which is about 4 hours drive from Zhangjiajie. The cruise takes about 4 to 5 days depending on whether you can choose to travel upstream or downstream. You can start with a 3-day tour of Chongqing city, then go for the cruise to Yichang and then to Changsha to Furong to Fenghuang and then Zhangjiajie. Or do the reverse...
As per my standard best practice, here is usual procedure to plan your self-organized trip:
- Duration - 1 week is typical so choose your dates wisely. Weather wise, the absolute best time to visit China is between Mar-May (Spring) and Sep-Oct (Fall) but please avoid the golden weeks of 1st week of May and 1st week of Oct - this is the period where you see more people than anything else. My recommendation is to time your travels 1-2 weeks before or after the May/Oct golden weeks. That way, the crowd is thinner and you get the best weather.
- Passport and Visa: do check before going if visa is required. Recently, China has opened up such that citizens from many countries can visit visa-free for 30 days or less. Do check before you fly.
- Flight: Most tourists enter via Beijing or Shanghai from major cities. If you are coming into Beijing, this should be pretty straightforward. Other major cities that that plenty of international flights include Xi'an, Chongqing and Chengdu. The best and cheapest way is to fly into a major city closest to your final destination...stay a night and then take a high-speed train in the morning.
- Insurance: travel insurance is a MUST. If you are not getting one during the time you book your flight, please ensure that you have bought one before the trip...it's not that expensive for 1 week and it is money well-spent if things go wrong.
- Internet: China restricts certain apps such as Google, Whatsapp, Facebook, etc. To continue using your normal app, you can get a China VPN router or if you are using an eSim, download a VPN (Express VPN is a good one) before reaching the country. Or you use Wechat like everyone else in China. Wechat is required for booking free tickets to the museums or to contact the hotel.
- Transportation: most cities are reachable via the high-speed rail network. It is as simple as going to Trip.com (or downloading the Trip.com app) and buying the tickets - available 2 weeks in advance. Oh yes, if you wish for changes, this can be done at the station - no questions asked - for an earlier train, delay or even cancel (yes, I have tried this). Just show them the ticket and ask for a refund/exchange. Within cities, most major cities have a subway system so it's easy to hop from one site to the other. Another convenient way is to download DiDi, an app similar to Uber or Grab. Just connect this to your credit card and it is ready for use pretty much anywhere in China. The easiest is just stretch your arm and hail a cab from the street,
- Hotel: my go-to site is Booking.com but you can pretty much use any hotel booking platform. China hotels are numerous and you can easily find one that suit your budget from $30-50 per night (yes, really) to international hotel chains such as Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn, Hilton, Hyatt or resorts such as Banyan Tree. Have not seen too many Airbnb in China...have not tried this yet.
- Payment: cash and credit card is acceptable but if you are here, you will find that most folks will pay either via Wechat or Alipay on the phone. You can either download the app and connect it to your bank app. One thing: for some reasons, Wechat Pay only works when you are physically in China. I tried setting the app plus link my card (and add my passport number) and it did not work. But once I was in the country, it worked perfectly...no ideas why.
Happy Travels!!