After the horrible experience of waiting in line at the Bailong Elevator in Zhangjiajie national park, we made sure our guide explored all options. When we arrived at the cable car station in the morning, the lines were very long, probably 2-3 hours long. Fortunately, there is the option to take a minibus outside the station to the lesser peak entrance and then change to another park bus to the stairs leading up to Heaven’s Door cave. We only had to wait for about 20 mins for the minibus.
The switchback road leading up to Tianmen cave. If you look carefully, you can see some buses on the winding roads.
There are 999 steps up to the Tianmen Cave but you can cheat and take a very long escalator which is what I did! After reaching the cave, there are more escalators taking you up to the walkways hugging the cliff and the famous Glass Walkway which was unfortunately (or fortunately) closed for repairs while we were there….. After the leisurely walk around the mountain, we took the cable car back to the city. Strangely enough, there was barely any line going down.
Coming up the 999 steps.
Or cheat and go up by escalator :)
We had to wait quite a while for this large tour group to pass.
Red ribbons with auspicious sayings and wishes tied to trees on Tianmen Mountain.
The mist cleared only briefly for us to see the pathway.
Chair lift up to Tianmen Temple.
A very long cable car ride down the mountain.
After our visit to Tianmen mountain, we had a late lunch at a san xia guo restaurant serving the local favorite which is basically a spicy hotpot without the soup.
Cute little bar at the san xia gou restaurant that reminded me of a tiki bar.
