Zhangjiajie: Pillars of the Avatar Mountains

Zhangjiajie is best experienced early. We enter the national forest park before the crowds, ride the Bailong elevator and walk the ridge paths while mist still moves between the pillars.

The journey also includes Tianmen Mountain, with its long cable car and cliff-hugging glass walkway, plus a day in the quieter valleys and villages below the sandstone peaks.

Guiding is private throughout, with a vehicle for transfers and flexible walking distances. Expect long views, stairways and forests rather than a checklist of viewpoints.