Wulingyuan has already received a lot of praise, with a very high 4.32/5 community rating, and it was also the undoubted highlight of my 2 weeks in China in 2024. I visited on a Wednesday, arriving by taxi around 8 a.m. from the city of Zhangjiajie. Although there were plenty of people around, there were no queues at the ticket office, bus stops or cable car so it was all enjoyable. This also was the first site on this trip where I encountered Western tourists – about 6 of them during the whole day.

The site is all about the tall peaks. I had set myself to do at least one peak and one lower-lying area. Like other Chinese mountain WHS, site maps are mere sketches and I just went with the flow without singling out a specific area. As I arrived at the South Gate, the shuttle bus took me to the Huangshi Village cable car (one of three of those systems in the park). There I bought a one-way ticket up, as I planned to hike down. The cable car experience here surely isn’t for people with a serious fear of heights. The cable pulls you up steeply to the top of one of the pillars.

A big difference between Wulingyuan and the other Chinese mountain WHS I visited on this trip is that barely any climbing is necessary. The cable car arrives on a plateau, and you can walk a circuit of 3.8 km from there. It’s an easy stroll with good viewpoints all around. The tops of the pillars are covered in forest (one of the causes of their erosion) and this provides a lot of shade. The pillars seem so narrow that they look like the spires of Gothic cathedrals!

To get down, I took the ‘Back of the mountain’-trail. This is a 4km long series of steps. I should have been alerted when I saw no one else taking it – it turned out to be a path that (unlike the main areas) isn’t well-maintained and quite treacherous at times because of slippery moss growing on the steps. I took it slow and it took me almost 2 hours to complete it. I only encountered two solo guys, who were walking this way up. The scenery isn’t that great either: you mostly walk under the cableway and hear its screeching noise all the time.

Once back on firm ground, I refrained from hiking any of the other trails as in this area they all seemed to be in the same poor state. I would have enjoyed another uphill experience and had singled out the Glass Elevator for that – but unfortunately, it wasn’t running today.

Practicalities

The bare entrance fee is 233 yuan, including entry plus access to the shuttle buses. If you want to do a cable car ride, you pay for it separately at the cable car station (65 yuan one way). There is also an ‘All-Inclusive Pass’ (valid for 4 days of entrance and including all 3 cable cars and the elevator), but that’s a hefty 518 yuan (67 EUR).  I went to the park by direct Didi taxi from Zhangjiajie City – 45mins, 75 yuan (the price depends on where you start from in this sprawling city). It was no problem either to find a Didi taxi back from the parking lot in the afternoon.