Tianmen Mountain

The easiest will be to go to the Cable-Car in Zhangjiajie, which you can find by using the AMap link in this article. From there you will go up the mountain.

There are multiple routes available, and your route (and ticket price) depend on your chosen type. When we visited this area, there was only 1 route available, and there seemed to be a lot of maintenance periods. My advice would be to ask for advice at your accommodation. We also got our information, and tickets, through the accommodation. Everybody that comes to this area, also goes to Tianmen Mountain, so the accommodations in the area are all catered to this.

When visiting this area you have a lot of options. The first thing you will probably see when arriving at the top of the mountain is the “999 step sky ladder”, which takes you to the actual top of the mountain, right next to the hole in the mountain called “Heaven’s Gate”. You also have the option to use an escalator through the mountain if you don’t want to walk the steps.

Next when arriving at the Heaven’s Gate, you will have the option to go even further into the mountain, by taking another 7 escalators through the mountain. This takes you to another mountaintop. There you have multiple routes, but we decided to walk a full circle, which combines two of the routes.

These routes will bring you across the glass walkways. To enter these walkways you have to pay an additional small fee.

You have the option to walk around a lot, but you can also take more cable-cars and skip the walking, so it’s up to you. All the paths are paved, so walking should be easy. For the weather keep in mind that you are higher up in the mountains, so it can be colder.

Bring your passport for the tickets. It can be extremely busy, especially during Chinese holidays, or weekends, so keep this in mind. The busiest parts will be centered around the escalators through the mountain, if you decide to walk you will be mostly alone, with the exception of the glass walkways.