Student Budget Seven-Day Six-Night Tour of Hunan Xiangxi (Changsha—Zhangjiajie—Fenghuang Ancient Town): The Latest Comprehensive Guide for Three Destinations
It has been a few weeks since I published my last travel journal. Although I am still a rookie, I have been continuously absorbing the writing experience of my predecessors during these weeks. My previous journals, though slightly amateurish, received a small recognition from the editor, earning a star rating. I was very excited and happy. To write better travel journals, I first break down the content, writing about each destination separately, and then combine them. This trip is another long journey, so the article will be quite lengthy, but it will definitely be a comprehensive guide. Every time I go to a new place without prior research, I feel confused and scared, and sometimes encounter small pitfalls (but luckily I was with friends). So I hope to provide some reference and suggestions for friends who want to take a similar route. That was also my original intention for starting to write travel journals.
The starting point of this trip: Nanchang—Changsha—Zhangjiajie—Jishou—Fenghuang Ancient Town—Jishou—Huaihua—Nanchang
Day 1: Meet in Nanchang — Changsha — Orange Isle Scenic Area
Day 2: Yuelu Mountain Scenic Area — Yuelu Academy — Hunan University
Day 3: Hunan Provincial Museum — Taiping Street — Take train from Changsha Railway Station to Zhangjiajie
Day 4: Zhangjiajie National Forest Park
Day 5: Tianmen Mountain — Zhangjiajie Grand Canyon — Take train from Zhangjiajie Railway Station to Jishou (evening)
Day 6: (Next morning) Jishou — Fenghuang Ancient Town
Day 7: Return from Fenghuang Ancient Town — Jishou — Huaihua (transfer) — Nanchang
Small Tips:
1. Since we are still students on a budget, we mostly chose green trains (slow trains) for long journeys, and we always scheduled the train rides at night to arrive the next morning, thus saving one night’s accommodation. Budget travelers can travel this way; it can save a considerable amount along the way.
2. If you don’t have seven days to play, you can also selectively visit a few attractions. The reason we spent so much time was largely because we took green trains; if you use other means of transportation, you will save a lot of time. Adjust according to your specific situation.
Changsha is probably a place that many friends dream of visiting. Hunan TV, which accompanied our childhood, is here. Changsha's cuisine is also quite distinctive. It is not only a youthful and vibrant city but also a famous historical and cultural city. For these reasons, Changsha has been rated as the 'City with the Highest Sense of Happiness' for several consecutive years.
[Transport Tips] Bus: download 'Xiangxing Yikatong'; Metro: download 'Changsha Metro'
[Accommodation Guide] It is recommended to stay near the main attractions (Wuyi Square, Taiping Old Street, IFS International Finance Center). Taxis and rides are very cheap and convenient. Below I will list a few must-visit attractions.
Detailed address: Yuelu Mountain Scenic Area (No. 58 Denggao Road, Changsha City, Hunan Province)
Opening hours: 08:30-17:00
Main attractions: Yuelu Academy, Aiwan Pavilion
Ticket price: Free entry
Cable car: Upward 30 yuan/person, Downward 25 yuan/person. Yuelu Academy: 50 yuan/person (half price with student ID)
Yuelu Mountain Scenic Area is located in Yuelu District, Changsha City, Hunan Province. It is 300.8 meters above sea level, covering an area of 35.20 square kilometers. It is the last peak of the 72 peaks of Mount Heng in Nanyue, and is part of the Orange Isle Tourist Area. It is an urban mountain scenic area and one of the four best places in China to enjoy red leaves.
Unlike the cable cars we took before at Mount Huangshan and Mount Sanqing, the cable car at Yuelu Mountain is an open-type gondola. As shown in the picture above, it can only carry two people at a time. It is thrilling and exciting. At first, we were quite scared, but gradually we found the air becoming fresher and the view wider, so we slowly became less afraid. However, be sure to keep your belongings secure; if you drop something carelessly, it may fall into the jungle and be hard to find.
Aiwan Pavilion was originally called Red Leaf Pavilion, also known as Love Maple Pavilion. Later, Bi Yuan, Governor of Huguang, renamed it Aiwan Pavilion based on Du Mu's poem: 'A path winds up the cold hill, deep in the clouds there are homes. I stop my carriage to admire the maple grove at dusk, the frosty leaves are redder than the February flowers.' It is listed together with the Zuiweng Pavilion in Chuzhou, Anhui, the Huxin Pavilion at West Lake in Hangzhou, and the Taoran Pavilion in Taoran Pavilion Park in Beijing as the four famous pavilions in China. When visiting Yuelu Mountain, this is a must-see attraction.
After enjoying the mountain, if you don't want to walk, you can buy a downhill ticket at the ticket office. There are two options: one is to take the sightseeing bus down, and the other is to take the slide. The video above shows the slide. It's like a big slide where you sit on a small cart and can control forward movement and braking yourself. It's very easy to operate. We were also attracted to it by short videos, but actually riding it is not as scary as it looks; the safety factor is very high!
Yuelu Academy and Hunan University are actually at the foot of Yuelu Mountain. There is also a sightseeing bus from Yuelu Mountain directly to Yuelu Academy. However, in order to ride the slide, we went to the East Gate and then took a taxi to Hunan University. Hunan University is very large, and unlike most of our universities, it is semi-open, with colleges and schools far apart from each other.
China Academy Museum is the only thematic museum in China displaying the history of Chinese academies and cultural education. It is located within Yuelu Academy, the largest, best-restored, and best-preserved ancient academy in China.
Detailed address: Hubei Provincial Museum (160 Donghu Road, Wuchang District, Wuhan City)
Opening hours: 9:00-17:00 (last entry at 16:30), closed on Mondays
Ticket price: Free. Make a reservation on the 'Hunan Provincial Museum' official WeChat account one or two days in advance; on-site requires queuing.
Hunan Provincial Museum is the largest historical and art museum in Hunan Province, covering an area of 49,000 square meters with a total building area of 91,000 square meters. It is one of the first batch of national first-class museums, one of eight nationally key museums co-built by the central and local governments, a national advanced collective in the cultural system, and an advanced collective with outstanding contributions to the construction of a culturally strong province.
Quju plain silk garment, early Western Han Dynasty. Length 160 cm, full sleeve length 195 cm, cuff width 27 cm, waist width 48 cm, weight 48 grams. Unearthed in 1972 from Mawangdui Han Tomb No.1. The garment has crossing collar, the curved front (triangular lapel) wraps from left to right, the garment is long, similar in style to the popular robe of that time with upper and lower garments connected. Most scholars believe that Xin Zhui, the wife of the prime minister, wanted to show off the patterns of her gorgeous outer garment, so she wore this single-layer robe over it.
It is recommended to come here in the evening. It basically includes all of Changsha's internet-famous snacks: stinky tofu (the black one is the best), Chayan Yuese (strongly recommend Youlan Latte), Banxian Doufu, Mama Tea, Wenheyou Old Changsha Sausage, Hu Ji Fried Foods, Shao Ji Meigan Cai Kou Rou Bing (preserved vegetable and pork pie).
Zhangjiajie, formerly known as 'Dayong City', is one of the most famous tourist cities in China. It is the birthplace and central area of the Hunan-Hubei-Chongqing-Guizhou Revolutionary Base. The most famous attractions in Zhangjiajie are Wulingyuan Scenic Area, Tianmen Mountain, Zhangjiajie Grand Canyon, etc. In Zhangjiajie, you will notice an abundance of Korean tourists, accounting for 70% of foreign visitors. Even a bottle of mineral water is printed with Korean. There is even a widely circulated saying in Korea: 'If you haven't been to Zhangjiajie by the time you are 100, can you call yourself an old man?' Koreans consider bringing their parents to Zhangjiajie as a compulsory course of filial piety.
During holidays, there are many tourists. Queues are long for buying tickets, taking scenic area buses up the mountain, and any other step on the mountain. So it is necessary to book tickets online in advance.
[About Tickets] Full price: 245 yuan/person (allows multiple entries to the scenic area and use of eco-friendly buses within four days)
Discount ticket: 160 yuan/person (for minors over 1.3m, full-time students under 24, seniors aged 60-70, active military, urban minimum living security recipients)
Annual pass: 298 yuan, unlimited entries within one year.
Free: Children under 1.3m, seniors over 70, first- and second-degree disabled, dependents of martyrs (except for children, other free ticket holders need to purchase eco-bus ticket at 65 yuan/person)
[Main Attractions] Main attractions in Wulingyuan: Golden Whip Stream, Yuanjiajie, Yangjiajie, Tianzi Mountain, Ten-mile Gallery, etc. After buying tickets, queue for the bus to go up the mountain. Sightseeing buses go to Bailong Elevator, Ten-mile Gallery, Tianzi Mountain. Choose the correct queue. Shuttle buses between attractions are included in the ticket price.
Golden Whip Stream is a naturally formed beautiful stream, named after Golden Whip Rock. Sunlight filters through the forest gaps, casting mottled shadows on the water, giving a serene and beautiful natural enjoyment. The valley has lush vegetation, and the stream water is clear all year round, known as 'Mountain and Water Gallery' and 'Heaven on Earth'. A poem praises: 'Clear water flows in green mountains, the mountains are like a screen and people are like immortals; if immortals walk in the painting, every step and every look reveals a new sky.'
In the story of Journey to the West, the Tang monk and his disciples originally numbered four, but strangely, at the 'Master and Disciples on a Pilgrimage' scenic spot in Zhangjiajie, only Tang Monk, Sha Monk, and Sun Wukong are seen, while Zhu Bajie is conspicuously absent. Later, we learned that Old Pig was carrying his wife ahead and couldn't come back! These scenic spots are full of character, both vivid and connecting ancient and modern, truly the wonders of nature!
He Long Park was built to commemorate Marshal He Long's campaign in Tianzi Mountain. It is located on Tianzi Mountain in Zhangjiajie City, Hunan Province, on the left side of the 1200-meter-thousand-layer rock, generally classified under the Shijiayan sightseeing line.
The bronze statue of He Long standing on 'Yunqing Rock' integrates with nature, forming a unique artistic style. Cast in 1986, it is 6.5 meters tall and weighs 9 tons, making it the largest bronze statue in China in the past century. The statue, with its back to the green mountains and facing Shengtang Bay, is solemn, dignified, and harmoniously unified in the painting of green mountains and clear waters, vividly reproducing the distinctive image of Marshal He Long: thick eyebrows and big eyes, a mustache, right forearm raised holding a pipe, smilingly gazing at his hometown's rocky peaks.
Standing on the observation deck of Yuanjiajie Scenic Area, you can see thousands of strange peaks within your sight, majestic, dangerous, beautiful, and wild, each with a different expression. Deep in the valley, hundreds of stone peaks and pillars stand upright and prominent. The steep rocks look like handsome generals; the towering peaks resemble brave warriors, vivid and lifelike, as if they might come to life at any moment.
The Bailong Elevator is magnificent, with a vertical height difference of 335 meters and an operating height of 326 meters. It consists of a 154-meter shaft inside the mountain and a 172-meter steel structure track attached to the mountain. It uses three double-decker fully exposed sightseeing elevators operating in parallel. It has been included in the Guinness World Records for the 'Highest Outdoor Elevator', a perfect combination of natural beauty and man-made marvels.
Tianmen Mountain, formerly called Yunmeng Mountain, also known as Yuping Mountain, is located 8 kilometers south of Zhangjiajie city center. In 263 AD, due to a mountain collapse, a door opened in the upper part of the mountain, connecting north and south. Sun Xiu, the King of Wu during the Three Kingdoms period, considered it auspicious and named it 'Tianmen Mountain' (Heaven's Gate Mountain). Tianmen Cave is located on a cliff at an altitude of over 1260 meters, with a height of 131.5 meters, a width of 57 meters, and a depth of over 60 meters.
[About Tickets] Full price: 258 yuan (75 yuan for admission, 183 yuan for the scenic area cable car and eco-bus)
Discount ticket: 155 yuan/person (for minors over 1.3m, full-time college students under 24, seniors aged 60-70, active military, retired military cadres, direct dependents of martyrs, urban minimum living security recipients)
Discount ticket: 110 yuan/person (for seniors over 70, disabled, active military)
Free: Children under 1.3m
Off-season ticket: 225 yuan/person, discount ticket 135 yuan/person, 110 yuan/person [Validity] Valid only for that day and that use, cannot re-enter. [Recommended playtime] One day or half a day.
Three ways up and down the mountain:
A: Cable car up - Road down
B: Road up - Cable car down
C: Road up - Road down
The cable car takes from the Tianmen Mountain Cable Car Station in the city to the mountain. For the road up, you queue for a shuttle bus to the Tianmen Mountain scenic area parking lot, then queue for tickets and then queue for the scenic area bus to go up the winding mountain road.
From Tianmen Cave to the mountaintop, you can take an escalator. This escalator is free, but there are seven sections, so the process may feel a bit long, but it’s definitely easier than climbing. The mountain air is fresh, and the scenery is exceptionally beautiful. Walking along the West Line, you can reach the West Line Glass Walkway. It costs 5 yuan, and you need to wear shoe covers provided on-site. The glass is somewhat scratched and less transparent because it was built earlier.
Zhangjiajie Grand Canyon features a clear stream down the valley, with a wooden walkway along the stream. The canyon not only has traditional natural beauty but also historical and cultural landscapes from multiple dynasties.
After passing through Yixiantian (A Thread of Sky), you come to the Tian Ti Boardwalk (Ladder Boardwalk). This section of the walkway has a steep slope, with narrow boards extending downward like a ladder to a fairyland.
Fenghuang Ancient Town, located in the southwest of Xiangxi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture in Hunan Province, covers a total land area of about 10 square kilometers. As of 2010, it had a population of about 50,000, composed of 28 ethnic groups including Miao, Han, and Tujia, a typical ethnic minority settlement.
During the day, you can stroll around the ancient town, admiring Hui-style architecture and local Miao stilted houses. At night, you can walk to Nanhua Bridge, stand on it to see the twinkling lights, and basically see most of the ancient town. The most recommended is a night cruise on the Tuojiang River, where the scenery from the boat is uniquely different.
Food guide: Fenghuang Ancient Town's specialty dishes include giant salamander, crusty rice, stone pot fish, smoked bacon... As everyone knows, the commercial atmosphere in such ancient towns is strong, so prices are several times higher than outside. Let me tell you a method locals told us: from the scenic area, just walk along the restaurants and you can exit the scenic area to the local residential area. The night snacks outside are much cheaper than inside.
Accommodation guide: There are many inns in the ancient town; don't worry about finding a place. Prices are quite affordable. If it's not the peak season, you can slowly look for one after arriving. If it is peak season, it's best to book an inn on Ctrip in advance.
Travel costs: The ancient town is free. If you want to visit scenic spots, it's better to buy a combo ticket for discount: nine scenic spots for 138 yuan/person. To take a boat, bring your student ID and ID card; student ticket only 80 yuan/person.
There is a saying: 'Above is heaven, below are Suzhou and Hangzhou, but the most beautiful night scenery is in Fenghuang.' Choosing Fenghuang Ancient Town as the last stop of our Hunan trip was very wise. Here, we felt the tranquility of the small town described by Shen Congwen, calming our entire hearts. If the morning Fenghuang is the purest beauty of the ancient town, then the night Tuojiang River is equally intoxicating. The bars on both banks are noisy in the murmuring water, which is another beauty of Fenghuang. As Shen Congwen said, 'I know you will come, so I wait.'
When traveling, be sure to bring your student ID and ID card. You will definitely encounter many small problems during the trip, but don't be afraid. Ask kind people and check maps and guides. List of precautions:
1. Bring a small medicine kit: Travel inevitably encounters some accidents, so having a small medicine kit on hand can be prepared for emergencies.
2. Pay attention to travel safety: In Zhangjiajie, you may pass through some dangerous areas such as steep slopes, dense forests, cliffs, paths, rapids, and deep caves. Try to travel in groups and never take risks alone.
3. Respect local customs: China is a multi-ethnic country, and many ethnic minorities have different religious beliefs and taboos. As the saying goes, 'When in Rome, do as the Romans do.' When traveling in ethnic minority areas, respect their traditional customs and taboos, and avoid hurting their national pride by thoughtless words or deeds.
4. Pay attention to hygiene: When traveling, tasting local famous dishes and snacks is undoubtedly a joy, but be sure to pay attention to food and drinking water hygiene, and avoid overeating.
5. Don't buy things randomly: In scenic areas, don't buy so-called specialties and expensive jewelry. I think everyone knows the reason!
One sentence summary of the places visited:
About Changsha: It is a happy city full of youthful energy and historical heritage.
About Zhangjiajie: It made me see the wonder of nature and human creativity.
About Fenghuang Ancient Town: It is a place where people dream of living.
Life is like a journey; you encounter both touching and sad things, both exciting and discouraging things, both beautiful scenery and places that are only wind. Life is about feeling beautiful and kind, and also ugly and sick. Only by always adjusting your mindset for viewing the scenery in the arduous journey of life can you be in the journey, comprehend life, and enjoy life.
This is a six-day five-night trip, from Nanchang—Nanjing—Hongcun—Huangshan—Nanjing https://m.ctrip.com/webapp/you/travels/Nanjing9/3937517.html?popup=close&autoawaken=close&hideBrandTip=1&openapp=5
You must go to Lushan once in winter to experience a different winter! For people who grew up in the south, being able to see a snow is enough to get excited. https://m.ctrip.com/webapp/you/travels/Lushan20/3936622.html?popup=close&autoawaken=close&hideBrandTip=1&openapp=5
Travel journal directory: 1. Author's rambling 2. Itinerary 3. Let's get into the attraction introduction! 4. — Changsha — 5. 1. Yuelu Mountain Scenic Area 6. 2. Yuelu Academy & Hunan University 7. 3. Hunan Provincial Museum 8. 4. Taiping Street 9. — Zhangjiajie — 10. 1. Zhangjiajie National Forest Park 11. 2. Tianmen Mountain 12. 3. Zhangjiajie Grand Canyon 13. — Fenghuang Ancient Town — 14. Travel tips 15. Travel reflections 16. Other travel journals of the author. Tourism information, hotel index, ticket index, website navigation, travel index, cruise index, enterprise travel index, franchise cooperation, distribution alliance, friend links, enterprise gift card procurement, insurance, agent cooperation, hotel franchising, destination and scenic area cooperation, more franchise cooperation. About Ctrip, Ctrip hot spots, contact us, careers, user agreement, privacy policy, business license, security center, Ctrip content center, intellectual property, Trip.com Group algorithm disclosure.
