Zhangjiajie Alternative Activities for People With Fear of Heights

[amytheorangutan]

Hello hello. I’m unsure if this would be an appropriate forum to ask for holiday related advice. My family and I are heading towards Zhangjiajie and I’m the only one who has debilitating fear of heights so I wonder if there are other activities in the area that are a bit more on flat lands and relaxing while my family visits the popular attractions? Thank you in advance and apologies if this is way off topic. 

[abcdefg]

Hello, Amy. I never went to Zhangjiajie; always wanted to but kept putting it off. So I cannot really answer your question. I did want to suggest, however, that you try asking it on Tripadvisor. It is hit or miss there these days. You might get a solid reply from someone who really knows and you might get some "internet warrior" just rehashing something he "borrowed" from somebody else's blog 3 minutes before. It was a decent forum before Covid. I used to answer questions there about Yunnan and Kunming. Hope you have a wonderful trip! 

[markpete]

Hmm, I was in Zhangjiajie last spring. My recollection is that even at the famous areas with high-up glass bridges and such, there were also some nice walking paths. So you might be able to go with your family but just abstain from the especially fear-inducing spots. There was also this cave, if that's your thing: https://www.chinahighlights.com/zhangjiajie/attraction/yellow-dragon-cavern.htm . It was nice, as those things go. Or, there are some tourist shows in town. Sorry I can't say more, I was there for the high-up attractions!

 

As an aside, I was there just shortly after China re-opened to tourists, and so I found that even at a hotel that I think used to have many overseas visitors, there was not a single person who spoke any English. It's probably changed a bit, but if your family doesn't speak Chinese, then you'll want to do more planning ahead of time. Also, your family may want to get tickets for the attractions ahead of time, or at least ASAP upon arriving-- even then without any foreign tourists, the attractions would sometimes sell out.

[anonymoose]

I was in Zhangjiajie just a couple of months ago.

 

I can't give much helpful advice as I was only there for a couple of days. The town is fairly pleasant, and you could easily spend a day just walking around the town, but probably not a lot more than that.

 

For what it's worth, though, it was cloudy when I was there. I went up Tianmen Mountain (天门山), and most of it was just like walking in a city park - you couldn't see anything below so you wouldn't know you were high up (for most of the time). So I didn't bother going to Wulingyuan (武陵源). I'm sure it would be very spectacular on a clear day though.