10-Day Fanjingshan, Zhangjiajie & Ethnic Village Tour

The water of Huangguoshu Waterfall plunges from a cliff as high as a twenty-storey building, and on clear days a rainbow often appears in the spray. Even more special, you can step behind the falls into the Water Curtain Cave — the home of the Monkey King Sun Wukong in the classic Chinese TV series Journey to the West — and touch the rock walls damp with mist all year round, watching the water hang like a curtain before your eyes through the cave windows. Nearby, Tianlong Tunpu is a stone village built six hundred years ago for military purposes, with stone foundations, stone walls, stone-slab roofs and stone watchtowers still perfectly preserved; locals also perform their distinctive folk opera, Dixi, in full costume.

Guizhou is home to dozens of ethnic minorities in China. Step into a Miao village and see how locals use what is at hand: making paper by hand from tree bark and wood pulp, drawing resist patterns on cloth with a wax knife and dipping it into indigo — this ancient batik craft still continues in the dye vats by the door. You will see with your own eyes how exquisite batik is made and take part under the guidance of artisans; you can also visit a small village famed for the women's ornate mini-skirts and a unique way of storing grain passed down for centuries, observing ethnic-minority daily life up close on the blue-stone lanes.

Zhenyuan Ancient Town stretches along both banks of a horseshoe-shaped river and boasts a history older than many similar towns. Beyond the main street, wander the four ancient alleys away from the river and you discover a perfectly preserved Ming-dynasty labyrinth of an old town; by night red lanterns hang high, as if a single step took you back in time. Across the river, a whole cliff-face of temples, grottoes and cave dwellings rises vertically up the mountain, dedicated respectively to Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism — climb up and the entire tranquil town spreads out below.

Mount Fanjing was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2018; its name means "the sacred land of Buddhist Brahma" and it is an important Buddhist pilgrimage site in China. The most popular area is made up of two main peaks: Old Golden Peak at 2,494 m, topped by a giant Mushroom Rock; and Red Cloud Golden Peak at 2,336 m, its summit split in two by a fissure and linked only by a bridge at a perilous mountain pass. It is also home to abundant wildlife — as you hike, look around, and with luck you may meet rare animals.

Over three thousand quartz-sandstone pillars rise from the valley floor, with clouds and mist drifting between them — the very inspiration for the "Hallelujah floating mountain" in the film Avatar. Take the shuttle bus to the Bailong Elevator and ride a 335 m vertical ascent straight to the summit of Yuanjiajie, then walk the "No. 1 Bridge under Heaven"; Tianzi Mountain is known as the "king of peak forests", and a cable car up and down saves the most effort. The best season is April to October each year — April to June brings misty rains, while September to October paints the forests in full colour.

Tianmen Mountain is hailed as the "soul" of Zhangjiajie and is the highest peak of this mountain range. Ride the world's longest cableway, a gentle 30-minute ascent, as the old town and peak forests unfold beneath your feet; the mountain scenery keeps changing — from towering ancient trees and karst hills to the winding mountain road hewn into the cliff face. Not to be missed is the world's highest natural arch, Tianmen Cave, like a gateway to heaven, and the glass walkway suspended 1,430 m above the ground.