As it has been 5 years already since the last review, I can provide some updated information on visiting the location of Laosicheng – the "Machu Picchu of China".

When doing it all on public transport, be aware that it takes a full day from Zhangjiajie. The return trip (including 2-3 hours at the site) takes 9 hours at best; leaving 10+ hours between your departure from Zhangjiajie and any onward transport from that city upon return is even better.

I started from Zhangjiajie bus station (next to the Central Railway Station), where at 7.30 I caught the minibus to Yongshun (2h15). It is a beautiful route through the countryside, and the World Heritage Site is advertised with large signs along the road. You already pass the exit to the road to Laosicheng, but I stayed on the bus until the end to catch a Didi taxi as there were no drivers in the smaller towns. The driver who eventually picked me up in Yongshun wanted, in addition to the fare of 35 yuan, also 30 yuan for the return journey as he would have to drive back from this rather deserted place empty.

He dropped me off at the visitor center and museum, where the main feature is a grand video about the site’s history (as is common in any site museum in China). The main emphasis is on how remote this region has always been and in a certain sense still is. This is also why in Chinese tourist brochures the site got the nickname of Machu Picchu of China. The exhibition further emphasizes traditional clothing and ancestor worship.

I did not linger long at the visitor center as I was especially eager to get to the core zone and visit the excavations located 5 km away. There were no other visitors and I saw no movement at the shuttle bus stop, so I went looking for the bus driver myself. After a while, I managed to find her and lure her to the bus. To return to the entrance, she left her phone number so she could come and get me. They certainly don't expect many visitors here on a weekday.

Loasicheng is a charming village that is still inhabited and is located in beautiful mountainous surroundings. To (finally!) get to the ruins of the Laosicheng from the Tusi period, I had to cross a rickety bridge. There’s not really a tourist route signposted and I was a bit confused about the "right way" to see the site, so I mostly relied on maps on my phone. The main buildings of the residential area were built against the hillside, with roads and drainage. Particularly striking are the stone patterns on the ground levels, a bit similar to mosaics. One of the few buildings still standing (it has been restored) is where the ancestors of the governing Peng family are venerated.

I roamed around for an hour or so, also in the ‘modern’ village, before I went back by direct bus. At the village square back on the other, "modern" side of the river, a bus for residents runs every hour on the hour to the 'big city' Yongshun. It costs 10 yuan cash. From Yongshun I then took the bus back to Zhangjiajie, which conveniently also makes a stop at Zhangjiajie West train station, the main intercity hub.