Day 1 Guiyang Arrival
Your tour guide will wait for you at the arrival hall of airport with a smile and name plate. Travel to your hotel by private van and driver.
Hotel: Hotel Novotel Guiyang Downtown or similar
About Guiyang:
Meals: breakfast, lunch at local restaurant
Drive from Guiyang to Kaili (4 hours by car). When you arrive at Qingman Miao village, friendly villagers will hold a welcoming ceremony dressed in their traditional clothing, and greet you with home-made wine. You might have the chance to see their old way of dying fabric.
Not far from Qingman is Shiqiao Village where their method of making paper from tree bark has a history of over 1,000 years.
Hotel: Heaven Sent Dragon Hotel or similar
The greeting wine:
Prepare for basic facilities and food:
Meals:breakfast, lunch at local restaurant
Half an hour's drive north from Kaili is Matang Gejia Village, home to some 400 Gejia people.
The Gejia are a very special ethnic group with a small population of only about 10,000 people, living scattered among several towns and villages. It was not classified as one of the 55 minority groups by the government.
Hotel: Heaven Sent Dragon Hotel or similar
They are unique in many ways, including lifestyle, language, and costumes. They're known for singing, dancing, and making wax printings. Their costumes and headgear are all hand-made. The capes worn by their men make an imposing impression, like a general in ancient war time.
Head back to Kaili and drive south for another half an hour to Jidao Miao Village, nestled in idyllic surroundings by the mountain side and flowing river. People live in wooden stilted houses of two or three levels, with domestic animals on the ground level and people on upper levels. They are a branch of the Miao ethnic minority, and their costumes are unique as women all wear long skirts.
Meals:breakfast, lunch at local restaurant
Drive about 3 hours from Kaili to Zhenyuan Ancient Town, then relax yourself and enjoy limestone mountain scenery as you boat on Wuyang River.
Visit Green Dragon Cave's old architectural complex, a rare combination of Buddhism, Daoism, and Confucianism built 500 years ago.
Enjoy your free time strolling in Zhenyuan Ancient Town, where many hundreds-of-years-old buildings, folk houses, and piers are well preserved.
Hotel: Zhenyuan Fucheng Hotel or similar
Meals:breakfast, lunch at local restaurant
About 3½ hours by road from Zhenyuan is Fenghuang Ancient Town, home to Tujia and Miao ethnic groups. Wooden tilted houses line the banks of the Tuo River. The town is secluded and tranquil by day, and it becomes a place of liveliness with bars along the river at night.
Hotel: Phoenix Grand Hotel or similar
Evening suggestion:
Meals:breakfast, lunch at local restaurant
Hotel: Wulingyuan Hotel or similar
Enjoy morning free time in the ancient town. A short boat ride of 10 minutes on the Tuo River is a good experience to relax, and you can also explore the small museums and former residences inside the town.
After lunch, hit the road and head for Zhangjiajie, about 4 hours away by car. After arrival at your Zhangjiajie city hotel, have a good rest.
Flexibility and early starts can help you avoid standing around:
Meals:breakfast, lunch at local restaurant
Hotel: Wulingyuan Hotel or similar
Breakfast at a 4-star hotel at Zhangjiajie is very basic, so our guide will prepare bread, coffee, and fruit for you.
It's about 40 minutes by car to Zhangjiajie National Forest Park, a World Scenic Heritage Site since 1992. Take a cable car Tianzi Mountain and walk on the trails to admire large areas of grotesque peaks. Viewing platforms along the way allow you to see the scenery at different angles.
Lunch on the mountain is very basic, and it is suggested that you bring some snacks. Local villagers sell fruits and food along the way, which are also good to try. If you prefer, we can arrange to have lunch at a McDonald's on the mountain, and have a break in the air-conditioned building.
In the afternoon, take the public shuttle bus to Yuanjiajie Scenic Area, where recently-named Hallelujah Pillar, one of the inspirations for Avatar's floating rocks is located.
World's Tallest Outdoor Elevator Option:
Meals:breakfast, lunch at local restaurant
Hotel:Best Western Grand Hotel Zhangjiajie or similar
This area is a relatively newly discovered gem in Zhangjiajie National Forest Park, with pristine beauty and fewer crowds. It's a bit of an adventure, climbing steep and narrow steps to see the breathtaking scenery. Besides taking cable cars up and down the mountain, you will need to climb for about one hour on narrow mountain paths.
Less Strenuous Option:
Meals:breakfast, lunch at local restaurant
You will knock on 'Heaven's Door' at Tianmen Mountain. Tianmen literally means 'heaven's door', and the scenery of this area does match its name.
To reach Tianmen Cave (a 30-meter-high, naturally-formed hole in the mountain) you will need to ride the world's longest cable car, walk on a glass walkway suspended 1,430 meters up, and ride on a mountain road with 99 turns. And that's not all: there's still a 999-step 'stairway to heaven' before you reach the hole.
You will get back to the city at around 2 pm in the afternoon. After which is your airport transfer for your departure flight.
Historic/ethnic recommendation:
This tour is very flexible. You can extend it with an extra day to Fenghuang Ancient Town, near Zhangjiajie, where the daytime is picturesque and charming, and the night is lively; or add one more day to discover more at Zhangjiajie's national park (the entrance ticket is valid for three days). If your time is limited, shortening can also be arranged.
We have included all the meals in some destinations, because restaurant choices and cuisine choices are very limited. We will try to arrange the best available at local authentic restaurants.
This tour package in Guizhou section focuses on the undeveloped minority culture. Though the carefully selected accommodations are the best available, keep your expectations low. Your Guizhou tour guide will be available during the day until after dinner to help you. He/she can provide some things, e.g. disposable slippers, so that you enjoy the most possible comfort and relaxation.
Star-rated hotels in Zhangjiajie might not be up to the standard of those in big cities like Beijing and Shanghai. The hotels we use in the tour are carefully selected based on criteria like hotel environment, location, service, and previous customer feedback.
There are some hostels in the national park, with very basic facilities. If you would like to stay in a local guesthouse, we can arrange it. In this way you can save time on transportation, avoid tourist groups, and also cut the cost.
Tianmen Fox Fairy is an outdoor musical telling an old Chinese love story, with Tianmen Mountain and its deep valleys as the backdrop. It has received good reviews on TripAdvisor. The show is on every night. If you are interested, please ask your guide to book tickets for you, at extra cost.
In remote areas local people are very curious, and their kids gather around travelers for photos or small gifts (you might like to bring e.g. sweets for them).
You may encounter minority festivals in Guizhou, please fit it in! Generally, on these days people will get together for singing, dancing or attend for bullfight with colorful dress. Lushen Festival held on Feb. 17-19 at Zhouxi county (20km from Kaili), Sister's Meal Festival held on Apr.14-16 at Shidong county (90km from Kaili), Dragon Boat Festival held on Jun.22-24 at Shidong county (90km from Kaili), for more information please consult your travel advisor.
Price includes:
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