Two nights in the city that stacks itself up a cliff, then four among the sandstone towers that gave Avatar its floating mountains. A bullet train between them, and Heaven’s Gate at the top of 999 steps.
FromUS$420per person, twin share — six nights' hotel with breakfast, a guided day of Chongqing, and two guided days in Zhangjiajie covering Tianmen Mountain, the Grand Canyon glass bridge, the national forest park and the Bailong Elevator. Budget separately for flights, the bullet train between the cities, and most meals. Compare the three hotel tiers
Fly in and out of Chongqing Jiangbei (CKG). Zhangjiajie has its own airport, Hehua (DYG), but it is small and almost entirely domestic — the train back to Chongqing is the reliable way home. Tell us your departure city and we will price the flights with the tour.
Confirmation
Tell us your dates and a hotel tier → we confirm both hotels and all three guided days within 24 hours → a deposit holds them → vouchers by email before you fly. Departs any day. Book at least 7 days before departure.
Three things that catch people out.Both mountain days are long and steep — Heaven's Gate is 999 steps, with an escalator alongside, and the forest park is several hours on your feet. The cableways close in high wind, ice or thunder, at Tianmen and in the park; the operator reschedules or refunds the ticket, and we help you rearrange the day. And install a VPN before you arrive — Google, WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram are all blocked, and you cannot download one once you are inside.
The trip at a glance
Chongqing
Days 1–2 · the cliff city
01
Chongqing
Show route
Into Chongqing, and Hongya Cave after dark AT LEISURE
Into Chongqing and a hotel around Jiefangbei, which puts most of the next two days on foot. The 18 Steps drop away behind the monument into the older city.
After dark, Hongya Cave — eleven storeys of stilted timber pinned to the cliff and lit gold. Walk out along the river for the view back at it.
Set up Alipay or WeChat Pay before you do anything else. Both take foreign cards now, and almost nothing in either city takes a card directly.
Nothing is scheduled against this evening, deliberately.
Overnight in Chongqing.
Add to this day — approximate gate prices
Jiefangbei and the 18 StepsFreePublic square and stairway.
Hongya CaveFreeFree to walk and to photograph from the riverside. Interior levels can require timed entry when it is busy.
We can book any of these with your tour. Tell us which you want when you confirm and the tickets travel with your documents.
02
Chongqing
Show route
The monorail, the cliff park and Ciqikou GUIDED
A guide and transport for the whole day. Chongqing is vertical and dense, and it is the one city here where a guide earns the fee.
Liziba first, where the monorail runs straight through the middle of a nineteen-storey block of flats. It was built that way, and people live above and below the line.
Eling Park for the height — both rivers at once from the top of the peninsula, with the old Second Factory below it now full of cafes.
Ciqikou in the afternoon, a Ming and Qing porcelain port turned to stone lanes and tea houses.
End on the Yangtze cableway in the last of the light — four minutes over the river on a working commuter line. The fare is not included.
Overnight in Chongqing.
In your price today — with your guide
A guided day of Chongqing — Liziba, the monorail, Ciqikou, with a guide and transport
Zhangjiajie
Days 3–7 · the towers, and home
03
Chongqing → Zhangjiajie
Show route
To Zhangjiajie, and 72 Qilou in the evening AT LEISURE
Morning train from Chongqing East, two to three hours. The train is not included — we book the seat and quote it with your trip. There are roughly thirty a day, so the departure fits around you rather than the other way round.
In at Zhangjiajie West, about twenty minutes from the middle of Zhangjiajie itself. The hotel is near the Tianmen cable car station, which is where the next morning starts.
In the evening, 72 Qilou — seventy-two deliberately strange towers in Tujia style, lit after dark. New and unapologetically odd, and the one thing to do in town at night.
A short day on purpose. The next two are long.
Overnight in Zhangjiajie.
Add to this day — approximate gate prices
72 Qilou, eveningUS$14.50Book aheadThe one evening thing in town, and it is at its best lit. In walking distance of the town hotels.
We can book any of these with your tour. Tell us which you want when you confirm and the tickets travel with your documents.
04
Zhangjiajie
Show route
The Grand Canyon glass bridge, then Tianmen Mountain GUIDED
An early start — picked up at eight. A guide, transport and both admissions are included, and the day runs out to the canyon first and back to the mountain after.
The Grand Canyon glass bridge from nine: 430 metres across, 300 above the floor of the canyon, with a glass deck. It is thirty-five kilometres out of town, which is why this half comes first.
Back for the Tianmen cableway — seven and a half kilometres from the middle of town to the summit, climbing 1,279 metres. The ride is most of the reason people come.
On top, the cliff walkways, the glass sections, and Tianmen Mountain Temple on the plateau.
Then Heaven’s Gate — a hole straight through the mountain, 131 metres high, at the top of 999 steps. An escalator runs alongside the whole way for anyone who would rather not climb them, and nobody will think less of you.
Overnight in Zhangjiajie.
In your price today — with your guide
The Grand Canyon glass bridge and Tianmen Mountain — guided, with the cableway and both admissions
05
Zhangjiajie
Show route
Zhangjiajie National Forest Park GUIDED
A guide, park entry and the Bailong Elevator are all included. The park is vast and badly signed, and this is the day a guide is worth most.
The Bailong Elevator — a glass lift bolted to the cliff, 326 metres in under two minutes. It saves an hour of climbing and is worth doing for itself.
Yuanjiajie at the top: the sandstone pillars that were photographed for Avatar’s floating mountains, and the First Bridge in the World spanning two of them.
Golden Whip Stream for the other view of the same rock — seven flat kilometres along the valley floor with the towers standing over you. The easiest ground in the park and, for a lot of people, the best of it.
Mist is normal here and is not a wasted day. The towers moving in and out of cloud is what most of the photographs you have seen actually are.
Overnight in Zhangjiajie.
In your price today — with your guide
Zhangjiajie National Forest Park — guided, with park entry and the Bailong Elevator
06
Zhangjiajie
Show route
A day of your own AT LEISURE
Nothing is scheduled. Two full days on steep ground is enough for most people, and this is the day that makes the trip seven rather than six.
If you want to be out: Huanglong Cave has an underground river with a boat through it, and Baofeng Lake sits held up among the peaks nearby. Both are about thirty kilometres out at Wulingyuan, and neither ticket includes getting there — ask us and we will arrange a car.
The hot spring at Jiangya does include its transfers, and is the obvious answer if the last two days have finished your legs.
Or stay in town. The cured pork and the beef noodles here are western Hunan cooking rather than Sichuan, and they are properly different.
Overnight in Zhangjiajie.
Add to this day — approximate gate prices
Huanglong Cave, with the boatUS$20Book aheadAn underground river with a boat through it. Out at Wulingyuan, about 30 km — the ticket does not include getting there.
Baofeng Lake, with the boatUS$17Book aheadA lake held up among the peaks, with a boat and a shuttle inside the gate. Pairs with the cave in one trip out to Wulingyuan, and the same travel applies.
Jiangya Hot SpringUS$98Book aheadThe one option here that includes its own transfers, and the obvious answer if the two mountain days have finished your legs.
A second day in the forest parkUS$64.62Book aheadTianzi Mountain and Yangjiajie, the parts day 5 does not reach. Day 5 already includes entry, so this is a second ticket rather than an upgrade.
We can book any of these with your tour. Tell us which you want when you confirm and the tickets travel with your documents.
07
Zhangjiajie → Home
Show route
The train back, and home AT LEISURE
Morning train back to Chongqing, two to three hours. Not included, and booked with your trip.
Zhangjiajie has its own airport, Hehua, and we deliberately do not use it — it is small and almost entirely domestic, so the train and a flight out of Chongqing is the reliable way home.
The train gets in with time to spare on most flights. If you have several hours, Eling Park and the Yangtze cableway are the two things worth going back for.
Then Jiangbei — about 40 minutes on metro line 10, or half an hour by taxi outside the peak. Transfers are not included.
One more hotpot before you go is the local advice, and we pass it on without comment.
Add to this day — approximate gate prices
Anything you missed in ChongqingVariesThe train gets in with time to spare on most flights. Eling Park and the Yangtze cableway are the two we would go back for.
We can book any of these with your tour. Tell us which you want when you confirm and the tickets travel with your documents.
Your Hotels
Two nights in Chongqing and four in Zhangjiajie, picked to be walkable to what the days are built around rather than cheap and far out.
Comfort · central and well-run
By the cable car in town, and by JiefangbeiWell-reviewed central hotels with breakfast, scoring 8.7 and up with their guests — Yuzhong in Chongqing, and in Zhangjiajie a short walk from the Tianmen cable car station, which is where every morning starts. We quote no star rating on this trip, and that is deliberate: not one hotel in either city carries an official one, so the guest score is the honest measure and the one you can check yourself.
Deluxe · a clear step up
Better rooms, and a river view in ChongqingA real step up in room and address rather than in badge — guest scores of 9.2 and better in both cities, and in Chongqing a room facing the water and Hongya Cave rather than facing inland.
Luxury · the best rooms in each city
High over the peninsula, and the best in ZhangjiajieThe best-reviewed rooms we can book in either city, scoring 9.3 and up, with the Chongqing nights on a high floor above the Jiefangbei peninsula and the Zhangjiajie nights in the one international-brand hotel in town.
You will know exactly where you are staying before you pay a balance. We name the property in your confirmation, in writing, as soon as the room is held — and if it is ever unavailable for your dates we substitute at the same tier or better, never below it.
Restaurants worth trying
Breakfast is in the price. Every other meal is yours to choose, so here is where we would eat. We do not arrange any of these and you would pay for them yourself. They are simply places we rate, near where the trip goes. Tick any you like and they appear on the map.
Suggested, not included. Opening hours and prices are theirs, not ours — and a place that is busy at eight will be busy whether or not you booked through us.
Tour Price
Every price is per person on twin share and covers six nights with breakfast, the guided day in Chongqing, and both guided days in Zhangjiajie with their cableways, park entry and admissions.
Hotel tier
Per person, twin share
Single supplement
Comfort — central and well-run, twin share
from US$420
+US$65
Deluxe — a clear step up, twin share
from US$510
+US$130
Luxury — the best rooms in each city, twin share
from US$610
+US$205
Included
2 nights in Chongqing and 4 nights in Zhangjiajie with breakfast · a guided day of Chongqing — Liziba, the monorail and Ciqikou, with a guide and transport · a guided day at the Grand Canyon glass bridge and Tianmen Mountain, with the cableway and both admissions · a guided day in Zhangjiajie National Forest Park, with park entry and the Bailong Elevator · a written self-guided plan for the other days
Not included
International flights · the Chongqing–Zhangjiajie bullet train both ways, excluded and quoted with your booking · airport transfers · entry to Eling Park, the Yangtze cableway, Huanglong Cave and Baofeng Lake · most meals · travel insurance · any visa, though we can arrange it
How the flexi tour works. Choose any departure date and a hotel tier → we confirm availability and the exact price within 24 hours → pay a deposit to hold it → your final documents and vouchers arrive by email a week before you fly. There is no group to join and no fixed departure day.
Seasonal pricing.These rates come from the low season — late autumn and winter, when Zhangjiajie is cold and often misty and the towers come and go in the cloud. Measured in August 2026, a mid-April room runs about 38% more in Zhangjiajie and 44% more in Chongqing, though most of that washes out of the trip price because the guided days do not move with the season. Avoid Chinese New Year and the National Day golden week outright — a Zhangjiajie room at New Year runs about half as much again, a Chongqing one close to double, and the Tianmen cableway queue runs for hours.
Budget separately for:the Chongqing–Zhangjiajie bullet train both ways, excluded and quoted with your booking · entry to Eling Park and the Yangtze cableway · anything you choose on the free day — Huanglong Cave, Baofeng Lake or the hot spring · airport transfers at both ends · most meals
Start your booking
Tell us who you are and when you want to go.
We’ll reply within a business day with the price and what’s available.
A deposit holds it, and comes back in full if we can’t get your dates.
✓
That is with us
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