Zhangjiajie from Luoyang: Wulingyuan, Tianmen Mountain and Fenghuang, 7 Days

Leave Luoyang by rail with one change at Zhengzhou or Changsha, reaching Zhangjiajie West toward evening, then forty minutes by road to the town outside the park gate. Drop the bags and walk Xibu Street, where stalls sell kudzu powder and cured pork and the stream runs along the edge of the town. Dinner is sanxiaguo, tripe, pork and radish stewed in one pot, hot enough to make you sit up. Sleep early, because tomorrow goes down into the ravine.

Attraction introduction: Wulingyuan lies north of Zhangjiajie city and takes in Zhangjiajie National Forest Park, Tianzi Mountain, Suoxiyu and Yangjiajie, famous for quartz sandstone pillar landscapes and listed as a world natural heritage site and global geopark. The town outside the gate is the transport and lodging base, with Xibu Street running beside the Suoxi stream as the evening promenade.

Tips: Mountain damp seeps into rooms, so open the window as soon as you arrive. Guests generally find restaurants weigh fish by the jin, so confirm the price before ordering. In practice, day one is only for transfer and rest; the ticket runs by the day, and entering late wastes it.

Enter at the forest park gate in the morning and take Golden Whip Stream first. It runs over seven kilometres on flat path with the water on your right, low in winter so the stones show through. Cliff walls stand on both sides and the sky narrows to a slot; macaques wait along the path for food, so keep the bag zipped. Lunch at the Four Gates where the streams meet, then a shuttle to the Ten Mile Gallery. Skip the little train and walk in, forty minutes each way, each peak named for what it resembles. Back to town at dusk.

Attraction introduction: Golden Whip Stream takes its name from the rock spire beside it, running about seven kilometres between sandstone walls under dense forest, passing shaped rocks such as the Eagle Guarding the Whip. The Four Gates is the meeting of four streams, water on all sides. The Ten Mile Gallery is a gorge roughly five kilometres long with a small train and a footpath running side by side beneath tightly packed pillars.

Tips: The macaques grab at plastic bags, so do not carry food in your hand. Guests generally find the stream walk takes a little over two hours and recommend grippy shoes, since the flagstones stay damp. In practice, darkness comes early in November, so be out of the gallery before four or the gorge goes dim first.

Reach the lower station of the Bailong lift in the morning and rise from the valley floor in a little over a minute, the glass car looking down as the pillars drop away. Yuanjiajie begins at the top: follow the cliff walkway and the Qiankun Pillar stands at the bend, showing only its tip when cloud boils up from the ravine. Lunch on the mountain, then a shuttle to Tianzi Mountain, where the ground near Helong Park opens out and the pillars recede rank after rank. When the wind tears the mist apart, the whole valley lights up for a few minutes. Down by cable car at dusk.

Attraction introduction: The Bailong lift is built against the cliff near the Four Gates with a vertical rise of more than three hundred metres, an outdoor glass elevator. Yuanjiajie is a core viewing area of Wulingyuan, its pillars such as the Qiankun Pillar widely known since a film used them, and the walkway runs along the cliff facing the stone forest. Tianzi Mountain stands above twelve hundred metres and is known for cloud seas, pillars and sunrise, with Helong Park the main platform.

Tips: The summit runs five or six degrees colder than the valley with strong wind, so bring a shell. Guests generally find cloud seas most likely on clear mornings after rain and treat them as luck rather than a plan. In practice, the lift and cable car queue worst between nine and ten, so half an hour earlier saves forty minutes.

Check out and drive to the city in the morning, forty minutes to the lower cableway station. The cable car climbs straight out of the built-up area, seven kilometres of it, roofs first and then the switchback road folding below like a creased ribbon. The summit splits into an east and a west route, the glass walkway pinned to the cliff with shoe covers sold separately. Tianmen Cave lies on the far side, nine hundred and ninety-nine steps rising to it, steep enough that the escalator is a reasonable choice. Down in the afternoon and stay in the city.

Attraction introduction: Tianmen Mountain rises south of Zhangjiajie city to over fifteen hundred metres, with a natural arch, Tianmen Cave, punched through the summit more than a hundred and thirty metres high. The cableway runs from the city to the top over seven kilometres. The glass walkway hangs along one cliff face while the Guigu walkway hugs the other, and the stair of nine hundred and ninety-nine steps climbs to the cave mouth.

Tips: Tickets come as routes A, B and C with different entrances and directions, so check which one you hold. Guests generally find the summit seven or eight degrees colder than the city and windy, so a thin jacket is not enough. In practice, anyone uneasy with heights can bypass the glass walkway, since the view beyond it is the same.

Head toward Cili in the morning, an hour to the grand canyon. The glass bridge spans two hills, four hundred and thirty metres long, the gorge and the treetops visible under your feet, and it sways slightly in a strong wind. Cross and take the walkway down to the valley floor, where the stream runs between boulders and drops into waterfalls where the grade steepens. Lunch outside the site, back to Wulingyuan in the afternoon with a stop at Baofeng Lake, the water a deep green. A last sanxiaguo in town for dinner.

Attraction introduction: Zhangjiajie Grand Canyon lies in Sansi township of Cili county, a deep cut with a stream on the floor and cliffs on both sides. The glass bridge across it is four hundred and thirty metres long and three hundred metres high, the deck entirely transparent. Baofeng Lake is a mountain lake fed by springs, ringed by hills and navigable by boat.

Tips: No high heels on the bridge and no lingering, since traffic runs one way when it is busy. Guests generally find the deck reflects the sky so dark glasses make the drop harder to read, and pocketing them is easier. In practice, the steps into the gorge are wet, so use the handrail on the descent.

Drive to Zhangjiajie West in the morning, about an hour by rail to Fenghuang Ancient Town station, then a short transfer into the old town. Walk in the afternoon, from the North Gate wharf up onto the Rainbow Bridge, a timber gallery with windows on both sides. Stilt houses line the Tuo River, their posts standing in the water. Find a riverside restaurant at dusk for blood duck, and after dark the whole river turns into reflections.

Attraction introduction: Fenghuang sits on both banks of the Tuo River in western Hunan and is a Miao and Tujia town, its walls, gate towers, stilt houses and Rainbow Bridge forming the outline of the old town. Entry to the town itself is free, while nine sights including the former homes of Shen Congwen and Xiong Xiling share a combined ticket. The Rainbow Bridge dates from the Ming, its gallery looking down on the river and the stilt houses.

Tips: Riverside guesthouses are noisy at night, with bar music running to midnight. Guests generally find six to eight in the morning the quietest hour, mist on the water and only the women washing clothes. In practice, the flagstones make wheeled luggage miserable, so choose a place near a gate rather than deep in the lanes.

Out early to the river. Just after six there are no visitors, mist floating on the surface, women washing clothes on the stepping stones and the sound of a wooden paddle carrying a long way. Walk downstream and look back at the Rainbow Bridge, half dissolved in the mist. Buy ginger candy and silver in the morning, a bowl of rice tofu for lunch, then to the station for an afternoon train from Fenghuang or Huaihua South, reaching Luoyang the same day.

Attraction introduction: The Tuo River runs past the town and its stepping stones are the most everyday image of Fenghuang. The stilt houses along the bank mostly date from the late Qing and early Republic, timber posts holding the floors over the water, and their construction shows best when the river rises. Silver work and ginger candy are the traditional crafts, and most shops still work behind the counter.

Tips: The riverside is damp at dawn and the flagstones slippery, so watch your feet. Guests generally find tour groups arrive after seven, so earlier is the only way to shoot an empty frame. In practice, the last day covers a lot of ground, so leave before noon and allow time for the change and the security check.