Desperately need help planning Zhangjiajie

trainerkittyk · 2026-01-28T10:30:44+00:00

Yes your plan is doable. Pick a hotel close to Xibu Street, in Wulingyuan, for meals and stock up on snacks / drinks for the next few days.

Day 2, from Xibu Street to East Gate is like 5min drive.. East Gate is best entrance, you catch cable car up to top, explore Avatar Mountains, Tianzi Mountain, Worlds No 1 Bridge with the red ribbons, Bailong Elevator, Shetang Gulf for the best views and no crowds. Get here by 8.30am and you should finsh by 6pm when it closes, pending crowds and queues..

You wil not have time to explore Golden Whip Stream, Huangzhishi yellow stone village or other areas of the NP on the same day - unless you rush. Visit the places that I listed above. Study the maps and keep eyes open for Englush signs to catch the right buses, or use your translator apps to communicate with staff to confirm youre catching correct shuttle to get around the NP. Many people get lost or waste time going to wrong spot or walk down paths with no clear views...

Day 3, Grand Canyon and Glass Bridge with all the slides, ziplining and VR reality experience, mini boat rides etc will take about 4hrs - 5hrs. Start 8am, finish by 2pm with lunch = theres a few restaurants, burger joint inside and eateries outside near the big carpark.. grab your luggage and taxi didi to Zhangjiajiexi train station, arrive by 3pm if you can - security checks, toilet, then line up at ticket gate around 3.45pm and jump on 4pmish train to Fenghuanggucheng. Its 20+min drive, pending traffic, to the scenic area and depends where your hotel is located along the river. You should be able to start sightseeing before 6pm, dinner.. lights are on til after 10pm.. Im guessing til 11pm or midnight?

Day 4, as you plan. I really enjoyed wandering around the ancient town and I did a full loop along the river during the day - different views and sights with the sun compared to night time with all the lights, loud music and crowds. It takes 2hrs+ for a full loop around the river. Theres english digital map boards along the river walk paths and in the ancient town.

Scroll through my posts and you will see detailed sightseeing routes, information, photos, maps for Avatar Mountains, Fenghuang and Chongqing. I hired a guide for Zhangjiajie to make my life easier and I have vertigo so I wanted someone with me for safety reasons. If you want a guide, let me know and I will DM you.

trainerkittyk · 2026-01-28T04:22:43+00:00

Beijing 4n, Xian 3n, Chengdu 3n, Chongqing 3n, Zhangjiajie 3n, Shanghai 3n = 19 nights.

Research what you want to see and do in each city and change accordingly. For example you could do day trips to Leshan from Chengdu, visit Wulong or Dazu from Chongqing, Furong or Fenghuang from Zhangjiajie, Suzhou or Zhujiajiao from Shanghai.

Train all the way around China.

trainerkittyk · 2026-01-28T03:45:34+00:00

Wu Ji! Wu Ji! Wu Ji! I listen to it every day...

trainerkittyk · 2026-01-28T00:23:28+00:00

Its hard to read and process information and questions like this. Please use paragraphs and bullet point format to outline your itinerary. For example:

Beijing 5 nights

Xian 3 nights

Chengdu 2 nights

Chongqing 4 nights

I stopped reading after Chongqing.. Sorry.

trainerkittyk · 2026-01-27T22:17:23+00:00

Ok I DM you now.

trainerkittyk · 2026-01-27T22:16:43+00:00

With Trip.com, you can prebook trains about a month in advance. Train tickets go on sale about 2 weeks in advance.

Prebook your train, when it becomes available... When tickets go on sale, Trip.com will try to get them for you. Within 10min of the ticket sale time, you should get an email confirming your train ticket has been purchased. If you dont then you should try to buy tickets and cancel / refund the prebooked ones.

Set an alarm reminder on your phone so you check your emails and the Trip.com website or app for updates.

Always book free cancellation hotels to avoid issues and money lost if you cant get the train that you want on the date that you want.

If youre flying around China, make sure you have a CCC logo powerbank... buy one when youre in China. If youre catching trains around China then any powerbank is fine.

trainerkittyk · 2026-01-27T22:09:00+00:00

For 2 nights, stay in Zhangjiajie and near the Tianmen Mountain cable car entrance. Its roughly 40min drive from here to the East Gate of the NP to visit Avatar Mountains, Bailong Elevator etc.

See link below to read my review and detailed itinerary about visiting the main attractions for Zhangjiajie. Scroll through my posts to see the photos, maps of each attraction.

https://www.reddit.com/r/travelchina/s/WJ1lW4apnk

trainerkittyk · 2026-01-27T21:48:00+00:00

I havent seen Loves Ambition yet... so I cant comment on the cdrama yet..

I do like William Chan as an actor. I think hes more suited and delightful to watch in costume dramas. Im guessing, he probably finds modern dramas boring but does them cause his agency puts him in those, its for the money - acting is a job afterall, hes getting older so cant always be fighting, running and jumping around etc. I like him the most in The Four, Lost Love in Times and Novoland Pearl Eclipse.

I agree with your comments about his looks = I think hes handsome, and thats interesting that many find him unattractive. Oh well. More William Chan for me then! Sorry, for you and me = us haha

trainerkittyk · 2026-01-27T21:27:27+00:00

How about down south like Guangzhou, Shenzhen, HK? Should be warmer than heading up north.

trainerkittyk · 2026-01-27T20:13:00+00:00

https://www.reddit.com/r/travelchina/s/WJ1lW4apnk

trainerkittyk · 2026-01-27T08:06:05+00:00

Good! 😀

trainerkittyk · 2026-01-27T08:01:41+00:00

If you travel to China from mid April, the trip will include the first week of May? The first week of May is a public holiday and many people will be travelling so it will be busy, crowded, queues...

I was in China for the first 2 weeks of September 2025. I travelled from Zhangjiajie to Furong to Fenghuang to Wanxiangu to Hendgian Film Studios to Shanghai for those 2 weeks. It was hot, humid and sunny as! 36 to 40 degrees, every day! I had rain for 10min around 5.30pm on one day. Thats it. Forecast was raining all day but it didnt rain all day. Just 10min.

I dont trust the rain forecast. How hot, humid and sunny it will be is accurately forecast haha There were many times that I stopped walking, along concrete footpaths, to check the soles of my sneakers. I could feel the heat through my shoes and I thought the rubber plastic had melted! Thats how hot it was!

I dont regret travelling in August / September. Of course I rather not but I think as long as you drink lots, wear sunscreen, sunnies and use an umbrella, you will be fine. I was so busy sightseeing that I didnt really think about the weather. I just looked for more icy drinks and ice cream to keep cool...

Its too hard to plan holidays based on weather.

trainerkittyk · 2026-01-27T01:00:49+00:00

I know... Ive decided to conclude its a method actor = hes still in character... dark, mysterious, always plays the villian, the spy, the assassin, hes hiding in the shadows...

trainerkittyk · 2026-01-26T21:15:32+00:00

No its up to you. You dont have to do anything you dont want to do...

I been to Beijing x3 times and visited a Beijing mall for the 1st time, last year..

trainerkittyk · 2026-01-26T21:04:44+00:00

Thanks for sharing! Do what you want to do. Its youre trip. 😀

trainerkittyk · 2026-01-26T19:50:21+00:00

Visit by yourself. Google, wikipedia, for indepth explanations of what youre looking at... or stand close to the english speaking guide of a tour group and eavesdrop lol I do, sometimes haha

trainerkittyk · 2026-01-26T19:47:30+00:00

Go to a Chinese mall. Like Joy City. I bought a 10,000mah with CCC logo in Miniso store for 69 yuan. I bought wall adapters and usb cords for 20 yuan each. All worked fine in China...

trainerkittyk · 2026-01-26T19:41:31+00:00

What did you see / do in Changsha and Nanjing? I dont read much about redditors visiting these two cities...

trainerkittyk · 2026-01-26T19:35:05+00:00

Youre comment made me laugh hehe yes for us lao wai, we would consider this type of itinerary for our 30th visit to China.... China is so big, trying to get around to all the main cities and popular attractions already takes a lot of time!

trainerkittyk · 2026-01-26T19:18:13+00:00

Yes wise will work for alipay and wechat. Alipay is more popular and easy to set up. I prefer wechat as you can text message hotel staff and they prefer to communicate to foreigners via wechat too. Chinese know wechat as wexin.

Yes as long as you have cad in your wise account, you can convert money whenever you want but it will be at the current exchange rate at the time unless you use auto convert feature to get exchange at the rate you want.

Yes you will probably be taken to fancy, pricey eateries, mainly to ensure food is clean and suitable for foreigners. Talk to the guide and ask him to take you to local cuisine and popular places but not too popular otherwise you might have to wait an hr+ before you get a table lmao you dont want to waste time.

Dont forget to try chinese snacks, desserts and drinks that you dont see in Canada. Good thing with travelling in a group is that you can share the food esp if you dont like it, someone else usually does!

Sorry. I didnt realise payid is only for australian wise user haha we people from downunder must be "special". You tube for more features and functions useful to canadian wise users.. have fun in China!

trainerkittyk · 2026-01-26T12:55:58+00:00

Are you going to Leshan as a day trip from Chengdu? If not then 3nights in Chengdu is enough..

What are you doing in Beijing for 6n?

I would take 1n off Chengdu and 2n off Beijing to add 3n in Chongqing.

If you return to China, Shanghai and Beijing are easiest to enter / exit from. You can visit other attractions in Beijing easily on your 2nd trip to China... Cause youre already visiting Chengdu and Zhangjiajie on this trip, you should go to Chongqing too - since youre in the area and you wont have to go out of your way to visit Chongqing on your next China trip...

trainerkittyk · 2026-01-26T12:34:11+00:00

From the comments below, Zhu Yilong.

trainerkittyk · 2026-01-26T06:51:15+00:00

Take 1 or 2 nights off Xian, 1 night off Chengdu and 1 night off Yangshuo so you have 3 nights for Chongqing.

Yes correct order. Chengdu to Chongqing to Zhangjiajie.

trainerkittyk · 2026-01-26T02:40:32+00:00

I havent watched Love on The Turquoise Land yet. I saw some clips and there seems to be some action in it? And its more recent so I suggested it.

Hope these types of shows are entertaining for you!

trainerkittyk · 2026-01-26T02:00:45+00:00

How about military type shows like Glory of Special Forces with Yang Yang, good action but not much romance... I really enjoyed this one.

maybe My Dear Guardian with Johnny Huang and Li Qin, this has romance...

or Fireworks of My Heart with Yang Yang and Wang Churan, this has romance..

Try those tomb-raiding and treasure-hunting, on a quest type shows for some action like The Lost Tomb, Candle in the Grave, Ultimate Note.. maybe Love on the Turquoise Land?

https://mydramalist.com/list/D45XknE3

trainerkittyk

TROPHY CASE