Day 13: Chengdu - Chongqing: Flight to Zhangjiajie - Wulingyuan
Alarm clock at 4 in the morning? Yes, today we have a most productive day and that is that we will spend the whole day of transfers to reach one of the jewels of China: the Zhanjiajie National Park or Avatar Park, as many know him. We will explain how to get to Zhangjiajie, since there is not much information on the network and it is not easy "understand"How to get to the park.
To get there from Chengdu we will have to combine train, plane and bus, so today is expected to be distracted.
Yesterday we asked at the reception of the Ibis Chengdu Hotel to call us in a taxi for 5:30 in the morning since our train from Chengdu to Chongqing It leaves at 8 am from Chengdu East Train Station.
Initially we had this part of the trip to China for free in another way, but Helen from ChinaDIYTravel arranged it in such a way that the sense of the visits was much more logical and part of it we saved a flight and a couple of trains and so without a doubt We chose this option.
How to get to Zhangjiajie: From Chengdu the fastest way to get to Zhangjiajie is to take a train to Chongqing and from there a flight to Zhangjiajie. We find the best prices thanks to OneTwoTrip, a sought after that includes in its searches all Chinese airlines.
So that's what we do, take our taxi at 5:30 in the morning and in less than 20 minutes we planted at the station for 17RMB and without crossing any traffic, something that seems to lie here in China. It is clear that in the Chinese cities you also sleep ...
We pass the security checks, we go for a couple of cafes to Dicos for 18RMB and a few minutes from the train exit we access the tracks.
Chengdu train station. How to get to Zhangjiajie
We are back in a fast train and although we go in second, first there were no seats for this journey, as we said the day we went from Pingyao to Xi'an, I wish the planes were like that. Space to stretch your legs, recline almost to be lying down. Come on, a full blow.
The train takes 2 hours to reach Chongqing, which we spend between reading and reviewing the planning of these days, crossing landscapes dotted with villages still wrapped at this time in a mist that makes them even more idyllic. We love these China landscapes.
We arrived at the station at 9 in the morning and how we still do not know how to connect to the airport, we have our flight from Chongqing to Zhangjiajie at 12:50 in the morning, we go in search of a link, be it bus or subway and We leave as a last option the taxi, since we have about 40 kilometers and we prefer to go by local transport.
But as we know, not everything you want is fulfilled and after several laps and several questions and seeing that in the CityMaps2Go it indicates that we are only 14 kilometers from the airport and not 40 as we had read, we decided to take a taxi and So stay calmer. By the way, we will not get tired of repeating how essential it is to take the Chinese addresses of all the places to go.
As in the rest of the cities, the taxi already leaves with a minimum amount. So far all of us who have taken the minimum were 8RMB and this morning of 9 we imagine that because it is nocturnal and here in Chongqing it has risen to 10RMB, we intuit that because it is the train station.
We arrived at the airport at 9:45 in the morning and paid 50RMB for a journey of about 30 minutes, so it really is not worth wasting much time looking for another type of transport.
More practical information to prepare your trip to China
- 10 essential places to visit in China
- 10 essential tips for traveling to China
Our Sichuan Airlines flight from Chongqing to Zhangjiajie It leaves at 12:50, so we still have a couple of hours to take advantage of retouching the notes we take to write the travel diaries and finish one of the books we bring 😉
But since we have been up for so long, we also take the opportunity to eat some dumplings of prawns, others of meat, others of Hong Kong more beer, water and two ice creams for 101RMB plus a coffee for 15RMB that bring us back to life after the early morning that we carry .
At 12:35 we embark on time in an environment of the noisiest, something that is surprising us a lot and that is that here in China the silence is something that we are not enjoying much, if not the other way around. The screams are a constant that sometimes, we have to recognize, surpass us.
At 13:50, just an hour after taking off we are landing in Zhangjiajie, which will be our entrance to the Zhanjiajie National Park or Avatar Park. And as soon as we get off the plane we are in an environment so different from what we have seen so far that we can not stop looking from one side to another, seeing ourselves surrounded by mountains with such capricious forms that it seems that we are already in the heart of Zhangjiajie Park .
Zhanjiajie airport. How to get to Zhangjiajie
After collecting the bags, at an airport as much simple That reminded us of Borneo airport when we were in Indonesia.
After collecting the suitcase we went out to the street and we were in a few minutes wrapped in a tide of people who get on the two buses that take to the train station and buses of the city of Zhanjiajie.
And so, without realizing it, we stayed at the gate of Zhangjiajie airport pulled like two butts. Seeing that here buses do not link with the city until more flights arrive, we have to go to the taxis and this is when the battle of a haggling begins and a sum of people who raffle us until we plant ourselves and say to the people who move away a little and leave us space, since some take us to the suitcases by putting them in the trunk of the cars without even asking.
Seeing that this is what we have left, we breathe a couple of times and begin to haggle. In the end there is no way to get off 30RMB for the journey from Zhangjiajie airport to the city (on the website of the hotel where we will be staying it says that you have to pay between 20-30RMB), so we take it and so we take another step .
On the way we took the opportunity to ask how much we would be charged for taking us to Wulingyuan, which is the town where we went to stay and where is one of the main entrances of the Zhanjiajie National Park or Avatar Park. It tells us that it takes us for 230RMB (in the hotel they put 120RMB for an hour approximately), so we declined the offer and in about 15 minutes we planted in the Zhanjiajie bus station.
There we go inside and directly we go to a counter that puts information and a girl tells us that the mini buses to Wulingyuan leave from the platforms after passing the security check and the tickets are paid on the same bus.
We take the opportunity to ask the schedules of the next trip that we have to do in a couple of days that is from Zhanjiajie to Fenghuang and brings us to one of the vending machines to show us all the schedules.
Bus schedules from Zhangjiajie to Fenghuang
The one that suits us best is the last one, which leaves at 17:30 in the afternoon and so we can take advantage of a more complete day in Zhangjiajie Park. We confirm with her that as we had read there is also a direct bus from Wulingyuan to Fenghuang, but there is only one and this leaves at 8:30 in the morning so we discarded it because that way we would lose the whole day to spend it in the park and take it out, with the help of the girl, since the machine is only in Chinese , Zhangjiajie to Fenghuang bus tickets for the day after tomorrow for 75RMB per person.
With our tickets already saved we pass the security check, do not imagine that it is nothing modern, the other way around, just like the mini buses and once on the platforms and with our role of the name where we go, a woman indicates the mini bus and there we go for 12RMB per person, in the company of chili bags and boxes of kiwis.
Bus from Zhangjiajie to Wulingyuan
Suitcases fitted on the bus from Zhangjiajie to Wulingyuan
We leave at 3 in the afternoon, so we see them leave every little time and in this case with us alone, but little by little it is filled with all the stops it makes on the way. We arrived in Wulingyuan at 4 pm, an hour later, with a blue sky and more heat than we expected in this area of China.
From the Wulingyuan bus station we have to walk a few hundred meters and ask several times for our accommodation since, as in the other cities, the names are in Chinese and it is difficult to recognize them for much paper we carry with the name.
Here we begin to realize how mass tourism is taking effect and that Wulingyuan is practically complete in works, creating new hotels, restaurants ... reminding us of Aguascalientes in Peru for a few moments, where a dedicated and uniquely dedicated town has been created for the tourism.
We ended up with our Hostel, the Destination Youth Hostel, in a street parallel to the main one and a few meters from the entrance of the Zhangjiajie Park and after checking in and resting for a while in the room, we went for a walk and dinner.
Streets of Wulingyuan
After a walk around Wulingyuan we see that here all the restaurants are the same, but so same that they have even the same photos at the door and the same cards, so we have no choice but which of them we stay for dinner .
Restaurants in Wulingyuan
And we choose badly. We sit in one that we recommend in the accommodation where we are, which by the way is the same owner. We ordered a plate of chicken, which more than chicken are just chicken bones and legs and some french fries that we asked several times, even showing photos, and that confirmed us by active and passive that they were that and in the end they turned out to be totally vegetables Unknown to us, boiled, without more. And for nothing more and nothing less than 118RMB. It is very clear that we have just arrived in a town that is beginning to open up to tourism and prices have risen like foam.
Restaurant where we dined at Wulingyuan
So with the stomach still empty, we have left almost all the food, and knowing that tomorrow we will not be able to have breakfast, we go to a store where we load a few sweets and drinks and we go to the hotel to rest that tomorrow we have a day of the most complete in the scenario in which the Avatar movie.
Think that the Zhanjiajie National Park or Avatar Park It has several entries, logically and counting that it is the most "logical", you will enter through Wulingyuan. We recommend that you reserve the accommodation here, since in this town is where the main entrance of the park is.
In Zhangjiajie, the city, you will find more infrastructure, but it is nothing more and nothing less than 1 hour from Wulingyuan, so you will have to make this route every day you want to come to the park.
Day 14: Wulingyuan - Zhanjiajie National Park
