During our trip through Hunan, we stopped at several incredible places, and Tianmen Mountain (Tianmenshan / 天门山) was definitely one of the highlights.
After spending a few days at Zhangjiajie National Forest Park, we headed back to Zhangjiajie city, dropped our luggage at our hotel in the backpacker area, and went straight to Tianmen Mountain.
Arriving at Tianmen Mountain
At the entrance, we had our passports and phones ready in case we needed to translate anything into Chinese.
As foreigners, we had to fill out a fairly long form with information about where we lived, when we had entered China, and a few other details. A few minutes later, we had our tickets and were ready to enter.
One thing we hadn't considered was our drone. Drones weren't allowed inside the park, so we had to leave ours at the entrance in a large, rather exposed-looking locker. Definitely keep this in mind if you're travelling with one.
From there, we headed to the cable car. The ride to the top takes around 28 minutes, and the views get more impressive the higher you go. It was easily one of the most beautiful cable car rides I've ever experienced.
Our route to Heaven's Gate
There are several routes you can take around Tianmen Mountain. We chose to take the cable car up, explore the top, walk down the famous 999 steps, take another cable car down on the opposite side, and finally take a minibus back to Point A.
You can also do the route in reverse, but that means walking up the 999 steps instead!
Once at the top, there are temples, viewpoints and different areas to explore. Unfortunately, we didn't have much time, and it rained throughout our entire visit, so we decided to head straight towards Heaven's Gate.
Something I didn't realise beforehand is that the gate isn't at the highest point of the mountain. To reach it, we had to make our way down several staircases—we counted more than seven. Much of this section was indoors, so it did become a little repetitive.
Seeing Heaven's Gate
When we finally arrived, the fog was so thick that we couldn't see anything.
But as we started walking down the stairs, some light appeared, and the clouds slowly began moving through the enormous opening in the mountain.
It was a magical moment and probably made the experience even more memorable.
We spent some time enjoying the view before continuing down the stairs and heading towards the second cable car. This one is much larger, with space for more than 50 people.
Once at the bottom, we took the minibus back to Point A and then a taxi to our hotel. After spending most of the day walking around in the rain, a hot shower and some rest were very much needed!
Despite the weather, Tianmen Mountain and Heaven's Gate ended up being one of our favourite experiences in Hunan.
5 interesting facts about Tianmenshan:
1. Tianmenshan cable car is one of the longest in the world.
2. There are red ribbons hanging from the trees; in Chinese culture is believed that by doing this, your wishes will come true.
3. There are 999 steps to the heaven door.
4. With 99 curves on the Tongtian Highway, the road that takes you to this place instead of the cable car. There are many videos online of Formula 1 guys driving here.
5. Tianmen Cave is the highest hole of its sort in the world.
Check out the travel guide to Zhangjiajie, covering Fenghuang and Furong.
We did the job researching so you don't have to!
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