Luoyang 5-Day Tour: Zhangjiajie & Ten Mile Gallery

Take the morning train from Luoyang Longmen to Zhengzhou East and change south, reaching Zhangjiajie West in the afternoon, then forty minutes by car to Wulingyuan. The hotel is near the flag gate; drop the bags and walk to Xibu street, short, lined with shops selling cured pork and kudzu powder, a channel of water down the middle. Dinner is the three-in-one pot, tripe, pork stomach and radish stewed together, hot without apology. Afterwards walk along the Suoxi, loud with water, lights from the far bank lying on it.

Attraction introduction: Wulingyuan lies north of Zhangjiajie city and comprises the National Forest Park, Suoxiyu, Tianzi Mountain and Yangjiajie. Quartz sandstone dominates the geology, silica-rich with near-horizontal bedding and strong vertical joints, which is why the rock stands as columns rather than hills.

Tips: The first day is transport, arriving at dusk. Guests generally find the three-in-one pot on the hot side, so say so early if you do not take chilli. In practice the hotel is at the flag gate, so no transfer is needed on day two.

Enter at the Forest Park gate at eight and walk up the Jinbian stream. Water on the left, the path level, dense forest on both sides, macaques sitting on the rail and closing in at the sight of a plastic bag. The Golden Whip rock stands mid-way, a column straight up and down with sun on one face only. Four Gates, where four streams meet, is about two and a half hours on. Lunch, then the cableway up Huangshizhai, whose summit loop runs three kilometres, looking down from Star Picking Terrace onto a field of stone shoots.

Attraction introduction: The Jinbian stream takes its name from the Golden Whip rock and runs seven kilometres to the Suoxi. Peaks on both banks rise two hundred metres above a valley floor of five hundred, so walking here means looking up. Huangshizhai was the first part of Wulingyuan opened to visitors, its summit a platform with a loop that takes in both Yuanjiajie and Tianzi Mountain.

Tips: Wild macaques live along the stream, so do not walk with food in your hand. Guests generally find they grab plastic bags, so keep the zip closed. In practice snacks stay in the pack and nothing is unwrapped on the move.

Enter by the west gate in the morning, where the Yangjiajie ticket station is quiet, and walk to the cableway. Ten minutes up, then the Wulong stockade: a path cut through a rock fissure, narrow enough to turn sideways, and a final iron ladder almost vertical with hands on the rail. Tianbo Fu at the top is a small platform ringed by sheer walls of rock, one slab after another receding into the distance. In the afternoon walk One Step to Heaven and the Sky Corridor, the path built along the cliff with nothing underneath. Down by cableway at four.

Attraction introduction: Yangjiajie occupies the northwest corner of Wulingyuan, facing Yuanjiajie across a valley, steeper than the rest. Rock walls are its signature, the bedding sliced by vertical joints into thin slabs standing on edge. The Wulong stockade was a bandit stronghold, sheer on three sides with one fissure for access, and Tianbo Fu is the lookout behind it.

Tips: The ladders are narrow, so tighten the pack, and anyone uneasy with height can turn back at the gate. Guests generally find Yangjiajie half as busy as Yuanjiajie with scenery no worse. In practice it comes in the morning, when light from the east gives the walls depth.

Reach the gallery entrance at half past eight; the train is open-sided, cars coupled one behind another, running up the valley floor with peaks ranged on both sides, the Herb Gatherer and the Three Sisters each with their own shape. Ride to the terminus, walk a kilometre to the monkey garden and take the train back. Back at the hotel for an hour at noon. In the afternoon Baofeng Lake, halfway up the hill, a climb of steps to the pier, then a boat around the water between cliffs while a Tujia singer works the deck.

Attraction introduction: The Ten Mile Gallery is a gorge in Suoxiyu about five kilometres long, with a road and open train along the floor and dense peaks to either side, most named for their shape. Baofeng Lake is a reservoir held by a dam high in the hills, its surface above four hundred metres, over seventy deep, fed by springs in the rock.

Tips: The train is sold one way or return, so walk in and ride out. Guests generally find Baofeng has a lot of steps and older visitors take it slowly. In practice the lake comes in the afternoon when the sun is off the water.

Check out and drive into the city to the Tujia folk park. Built against a slope, its main building is the Nine Heavens stilt house, stepping inward as it rises, high enough at the top to see the whole park. Inside are the hand-waving hall and a rice mill, and the brocade loom is still in use with dyed thread. Lunch in the city, then Zhangjiajie West for the train to Zhengzhou.

Attraction introduction: The park in Zhangjiajie city displays Tujia building and domestic craft. The Nine Heavens house follows traditional stilt construction, beams and posts joined by mortise and tenon, each storey set back from the one below. The hand-waving hall is where the Tujia dance at festivals.

Tips: Performances run to a fixed timetable, so check it at the gate. Guests generally find the stairs steep and the railings worth holding. In practice the return train is booked after three, so the visit is unhurried.