China
Wulingyuan
Wulingyuan Scenic and Historic Interest Area contains over 3,000 tall quartzite sandstone pillars which create a spectacular landscape.
The forested landscape is often covered in mists and clouds, which adds to its beauty. Between the peaks lie ravines and gorges with streams, pools and waterfalls, and some 40 caves, as well as two large natural bridges.
Community Perspective: Better known as Zhangjiajie in the Chinese tourist industry, this is a large and popular park. Avoid visiting on weekends or during Chinese holidays because of the crowds. Frederik and GabLabCebu each wrote extensive reviews on its highlights which need a visit of multiple days. Els did a day trip via the South Entrance.
Site Info
Official Information
- Full Name
- Wulingyuan Scenic and Historic Interest Area (ID: 640)
- Country
- China
- Status
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Inscribed 1992
Site history
History of Wulingyuan
- 1992: Inscribed
- Inscribed
- WHS Type
- Natural
- Criteria
- vii
Links
- UNESCO
- whc.unesco.org
All Links
UNESCO.org
- whc.unesco.org — whc.unesco.org/
Related Resources
- zjjnfp.com — Zhangjiajie
Community Information
- Community Category
- Natural landscape: Mountain
Travel Information
One million visitors or more
See …
Not for Acrophobes
Recent Connections
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Perfect Inscriptions
1992 -
Not for Acrophobes
steep cable car ride -
In Video Games
Civilization VII: Zhangjiajie
Connections of Wulingyuan
- Trivia
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One million visitors or more
Zhangjiajie Number of visitors: 15.917 million // Millions, 1.4 million in summer alone -
Dragon
Yellow Dragon Cave -
In Video Games
Civilization VII: Zhangjiajie -
More than 500 steps to climb
Visitors to Wulingyuan's Yellow Caves have to climb more than 1000 steps to enter or exit the cave inner caverns -
On Passports
Chinese passport: Hunan -> Zhangjiajie
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- Ecology
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Visual effects of Cloud, Fog and Mist
"an aesthetically beautiful landscape enhanced by the mists and clouds which frequently shroud the site" (OUV) -
Sandstone Formations
Pillars -
Bears
Asiatic black bear -
Salamanders
Chinese giant salamander -
Natural Arches and Bridges
2 significant Natural Bridges : Xiannrenqiao (Bridge of the Immortals) and Tianqiashengkong (Bridge across the Sky. Possibly the highest Natural Bridge in the World) -
Dripstone
Yellow Dragon Cave -
Underground river
underground river inside the Yellow Dragon Cave -
Significant Karst Features
Particularly outstanding for its spectacular sandstone fluviokarst relief (AB ev) -
Hoodoo
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Non-Carbonate Karst Landscapes
"more than 3,000 narrow quartz sandstone pillars" (OUV) and "The most notable geographic features of the park are the pillar-like formations that are seen throughout the park. Although resembling karst terrain, this area is not underlain by limestones and is not the product of chemical dissolution, which is characteristic of limestone karst. They are the result of many years of physical, rather than chemical, erosion. Much of the weathering that forms these pillars is the result of expanding ice in the winter and the plants that grow on them." (wiki)See en.wikipedia.org
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- World Heritage Process
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Inscribed on a single criterion only
vii. to contain superlative natural phenomena or areas of exceptional natural beauty and aesthetic importance -
Perfect Inscriptions
1992
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- Human Activity
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Tea
Wulingyuan NP is famous for Kuzhong Tea Plantation -
Man-made Terraces
Rice field terraces of Tujia villages -
Natural sites with indigenous human population
many villages of Tujia people
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- Constructions
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Suspended cable cars
Zhangjiajie Tianzi Mountain Cable Way / 7455m, 30mins / "the world's longest cable car"See edition.cnn.com
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Elevators
World's tallest full-exposure outdoor elevator with biggest carrying capacity -
Theatres and Opera Houses
Halleluja Concert Hall is built in front of the entrance of Yellow Dragon Cave
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- WHS on Other Lists
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Global Geoparks
Zhangjiajie National Forest Park was listed as a UNESCO Global Geopark in 2004
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- Timeline
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Paleozoic
The stratums that form the sandstone peak forest landforms are mainly composed of the Yuntaiguan formation and Huangjiadun formation originating from the middle and late Devonian period of the Paleozoic era and have the characteristics of littoral clastic rocks
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- Visiting conditions
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Not for Acrophobes
steep cable car ride
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- 18
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Location for a classic movie
Wulingyuan (known as Zhangjiajie in Wiki), many scenic areas have been used as Pandora planet's Hallelujah Mountains in Avatar (2009)
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News
No news.
Recent Visitors
Visitors of Wulingyuan
- Alexander Barabanov
- Alex Goh
- Alex Marcean
- Ansitong
- Aspasia
- Atila Ege
- baiqitun
- Bin
- Boj
- chenboada
- chenqtao
- Chen Taotao
- Daniela Hohmann
- David Marton
- eljx1988
- Els Slots
- Erik Jelinek
- Everett
- Fan Yibo
- Frederik Dawson
- GabLabCebu
- George Evangelou
- Haining Guan
- Hammeel
- Hanming
- Harry Mitsidis
- henryjiao18
- Iain Jackson
- irosey
- jballard650
- Jeffrey Chai Ran
- Jens
- J_neveryes
- Joel on the Road
- Jonathan Zimmermann
- Joyce van Soest
- Junwang111
- Jun Zhou
- Kasper
- Kbtwhs
- Knut
- lantian
- lichia
- Lucas Del Puppo
- Ludvan
- Luke LOU
- Malgorzata Kopczynska
- MaYumin
- Michael anak Kenyalang
- Mihai Dascalu
- Miloš Tašković
- Nihal Ege
- nongbulinqing
- Pang Liang Fong
- Petteri
- reinhardt
- sakohju
- Sergio Arjona
- Shandos Cleaver
- SHIHE HUANG
- Shijie ZHU
- Stanislaw Warwas
- Tcchang0825
- Timothy C Easton
- trekkie900
- Twobaconsandaboston
- Vicente B. Avanzado Jr.
- Xinyue(Alice) Sun
- Xiquinho Silva
- Yang Chengyu
- YAO WEI
- YY
- Zhou Yan
- Zoë Sheng
- Zos M
Community Reviews
Show full reviews
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 …
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In 2019, I visited the Zhangjiajie National Forest Park portion of this World Heritage Site.
The scenery is stunning; absolutely, wonderfully, and undeniably. It is as if an imaginative painter decided to paint a fantastical world rather than one based on the mundane earthly reality.
The park is very large and easy to access, both in terms of getting to the park itself (about 50-90 minutes by bus from Zhangjiajie City) and within the park. The paths are paved, shuttle buses take you from one part of the park to another, and there is even a 326 metres tall elevator to whisk you to the top of the cliff. There is certainly enough to see to spend two full days at the park.
Despite the superlative landscape, the experience is marred by the incredibly large crowds. I am well aware of the hypocrisy of this tourist lamenting about the existence of other tourists. However, the problem of how many tourists visit the park is worsened by the types of tourists who visit, that is to say, hordes of tour groups. And I am about to tell you something that makes it even worse. They all have selfie sticks.
If you think taking a good photo is difficult where there are 20-30 people in front of you, then try doing it when they are all sticking selfie sticks into the air.
Especially with the park being so large, you would hope that the usual theory that …
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WHS#72
In June 2019, I joined a big group package tour for the first time with my family to Zhangjiajie. We spent 2 days exploring the Wulingyuan area and the last one for Tianmen. The plane from Shanghai arrived at the airport at night, so we stayed in a hotel in Zhangjiajie City, formerly Dayong, for the night before driving about half an hour to Wulingyuan in the morning. The drive, to me, was a highlight in its own right. Soon after coming out of a tunnel, the road emerged in a narrow valley surrounded by beautiful forested sandstone peaks. As the drive went on, the views became more and more dramatic as peaks started to become pillars, and at one point, a huge wall of sandstone looms over the highway. Finally, the town of Wulingyuan comes into sight as the valley widens into a basin, surrounded by fog-capped lush green mountains on all sides.
We were dropped off at the park entrance where everyone gets on the designated park tourist buses. Another maybe 20 minutes riding past an artificial lake and kilometers of pristine subtropical forest brought us to the end of the bus route at the Bailong lift. The flat valley we had been following was giving way to the huge mountains on either side, and as we got out of the bus, it was hard not to notice these mountains. They were exactly those forests of huge sandstone pillars that inspired the movies, but we …
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Wulingyuan, the first national protected forest park of China which most of the Chinese and tourist industry called it after the name of the nearby city, Zhangjiajie, is the world of countless bizarre, shaped rock pillars, and, in my opinion, one of the most enchanting landscapes that hardly believe to be existed in the real world except in the classic Chinese painting. Located deep in western Hunan, the land of mystery Tujia people, and even today it takes 4-5 hours for travelling from Changsha, the provincial capital, on superhighway to reach this place.
The park is very large and has many interesting places; it takes at least 3 days to see all the MUST sites inside the park and nearby. Most of tourists stay in the booming town of Wulingyuan which is located in the middle of the national park. The main attraction of the park is the Yangjiajie Scenic Zone; the area becomes famous after many scenic spots have been used in the film “Avatar” as the planet of Pandora, and you will see many advertisement billboard of the Avatar film in the area especially at the Hallelujah Rock (very un-Chinese name), they even have the large statue of bird-liked creature that the Na’vi ride for photo. Apart from the much-commercialized area, the scenic is truly wonderful.
Tianzishan and Marshal Helong Scenic Areas are also worth mentioned. At Tianzishan we need to use cable car to admire the gorgeous landscape of numerous pillar rocks with …
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This site is mostly of karst formations, hundres of them, if not thousands of towers of rock, with dense vegetation covering the towers due to the humidty and temperate weather. As opposed to Arches in Utah, where the dry weather kept the rocks red and bare. Do bring a wide-angle lense of 18mm minimum, telephoto of 200mm and and polarizing filter for the waterfall with your camera.
Cable cars and well laid out paths allow you to see most of the sites. It could get monotonous after 2 days, though. Due to lower elevation climbs and walks are not demanding asin Huanglong or Jiuzhaigou, the other two more sites in the region.
There is now a direct flight from Hong Kong, so you can be spared of the long drive from other provincial cities, if you have no interest in them. As it is just being developed as a tourist area, accommodations, especially restroom facilities in restaurants are primitive, and can be turn-off to US or EU visitors. Besides the national park, there is also interesting local ethnic minority villages and customs to take in.
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