Zhangjiajie: inside the sandstone forest linked to Avatar

What happens in the video

This is a long-form travel episode from CGTN, China’s international broadcaster, uploaded in March 2017. Presenter Min-Zhui Lee sets out to see the landscapes that, as the episode frames it, inspired the floating mountains of James Cameron’s 2009 film Avatar. According to the channel’s description, she heads underground into the area’s caves, travels along a lake set high among the mountains, climbs up to viewpoints among the rock towers, and finally crosses a glass-bottomed bridge over a canyon, then one of the area’s newest attractions.

At close to half an hour, the episode works as an overview of a whole region rather than a single viewpoint, which makes it useful for deciding what to see. Keep in mind that it was filmed almost a decade ago: prices, queues and some facilities have changed since then, so treat it as a picture of the scenery rather than a practical guide.

Why Zhangjiajie looks like this

Zhangjiajie is a city in the northwest of Hunan province, in central China, and Wulingyuan is the scenic district around it. UNESCO inscribed the Wulingyuan Scenic and Historic Interest Area as a World Heritage Site in 1992. Its listing describes more than 26,000 hectares dominated by over 3,000 narrow sandstone pillars and peaks, many higher than 200 meters, with ravines, streams, pools and waterfalls between them and some 40 caves.

The core of the area is Zhangjiajie National Forest Park. Established in 1982, it was China’s first national forest park and covers about 130 square kilometers, according to China Daily, which describes its pull as towering sandstone pillars, deep canyons, dense forest and cool mountain air. That last point matters: the park is a popular escape from the summer heat, so July and August are busy.

The Avatar link is part of how the area presents itself. In 2017 CGTN reported that Zhangjiajie officials were promoting the park in New York on the strength of the film, saying its pillar-like mountains had inspired the movie’s floating peaks. The same report dates the opening of the Zhangjiajie Grand Canyon glass bridge, the one the presenter walks across, to August 20, 2016.

How to visit Zhangjiajie

Zhangjiajie is reachable from abroad without going through Beijing or Shanghai. In the first five months of 2025, Hunan’s immigration authorities reported international routes from Zhangjiajie to 14 cities in seven countries, including Seoul, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur and Hanoi, and said 91% of foreign arrivals used visa-free policies, among them the 240-hour visa-free transit scheme. Check whether your passport qualifies in our visa-free transit guide.

• Give it time. Wulingyuan is large, and much of the walking is on stone steps between viewpoints. Two full days lets you see the main areas without rushing.
• Ask what your ticket covers. The elevators and cable cars that lift visitors onto the plateaus are often sold separately from park entry, so check before you join a line.
• Avoid public holidays. The park draws huge domestic crowds during Chinese holidays and summer; weekdays in spring and autumn are calmer.
• Pack for weather. Mist and rain are common in the mountains, and wet steps get slippery, so bring a rain layer and shoes with good grip.
• Tianmen Mountain is separate. The mountain known for its cliff-side walkways sits near Zhangjiajie city, outside the forest park, and needs its own ticket.

Mandarin you can use at the park

Ticket windows and junctions on the trails are where a few words help most. Ask whether a ticket includes the cable car before you pay, and ask for the scenic-area map when the signs run out. The ticket lesson and the directions lesson have more, with audio, and the queueing lesson helps at the busy elevator lines.