After our good experiences with Chinese trains, we were looking forward to taking a 17-hours train ride to Zhangjiajie, with exchange in Yichang. Unfortunately, things did not work out as planned…as our 12-hours night train reached Yichang city with 4 hours of delay, due to heavy weather conditions, we missed our connection and were stuck for roughly 10 hours. So we reached Zhangjiajie at 6 am the next morning instead of 6 pm the day before.

We stayed in a hostel in the city area and took the first day to relax from the journey and to plan the following days in the national park nearby.

The Zhangjiajie Forest National Park also known as the “Avatar-Mountains” was a must-do item on the bucket list for both of us and we were absolutely stunned by its beauty! The area is huge and offers several cableway stations to get up on the mountain plateaus and enjoy the breathtaking view of this unique landscape. On our first day, we visited the most popular spots and went up to Huangshi village, Yuanjiajie with the famous Avatar Halleluja Mountain and the recently opened area of Yangjiajie.

We took our second day in the park to explore the Tianzi area and where still amazed by the mountains shape. Definitely a masterpiece of mother nature!

Now we definitely understand why James Cameron took this magic landscape as inspiration for his movie.