Zhangjiajie China TourTianmen Mountain, Zhangjiajie: Which Route to Buy and What the 999 Steps Really Ask of You
Tianmen Mountain, Zhangjiajie's second big-ticket mountain, is not part of the national forest park, and buying a ticket for one gets you nothing at the other. It rises straight above the city, 30 kilometres from Wulingyuan, and sells a single ¥288 ticket that already includes the cableway. What that ticket does not tell you is which of the three routes you are buying, and the routes differ by hours. Our Zhangjiajie national forest park tours and tickets all use one of them.
Quick answer
A Tianmen Mountain ticket costs ¥288 and includes the round-trip cableway, the summit loops, the cliff walkways and the seven free escalator sections between Tianmen Cave and the top. Three routes differ only in what carries you up and what brings you down. Budget 5 to 6 hours for the shortest and close to 10 if you walk all three cliff paths.
Key takeaways
- The 999 steps are real, and optional: a ¥32 escalator runs beside them from the road up to the cave
- The glass walkways cost ¥5 for shoe covers, payable at each of the three sections
- A ticket with the cable car and shuttle bus sells at about $59 per person online, which saves the counter queue
- A two-day guided itinerary that puts Tianmen on day two starts at $99, tickets included
- Tongtian Avenue, the 99-bend road, closes when snow and ice arrive, and the cave route closes with it
- There is no hotel on the mountain, so this is a one-day visit whichever route you take
Tianmen Mountain Tickets and Guided Days
The ticket listing covers the mountain alone and lets you pick the route. The two-day itineraries pair it with the Avatar peaks in the national park, which is the usual way people fit both into one trip.
from $59Tianmen Mountain Ticket Tianmen Mountain Ticket with Cable Car and Shuttle Bus
- Three route options — pick which direction you ride the cableway
- Includes the glass skywalk and the cliff-side trails at the summit
- Free seven-section escalator between Tianmen Cave and the summit
- Shuttle bus along the 99-bend mountain road
from $99Top Rated — 4.9★, 666 Reviews 1–2 Day All-Inclusive Zhangjiajie Tour: Avatar Mountain, Glass Bridge & Tianmen Mountain
- Day 1: Bailong Elevator, Yuanjiajie, Hallelujah Mountain, Yangjiajie, Tianzi Mountain
- Day 2: Grand Canyon Glass Bridge, then Tianmen Mountain cableway and 99-bend road
- All entry tickets, park shuttles, elevator and cable cars included
- Hotel pickup near the Forest Park East Gate or in downtown Zhangjiajie
from $59Top Rated — 4.8★, 226 Reviews 1–2 Day Small-Group Zhangjiajie Tour: Avatar Peaks, Glass Bridge & Tianmen Mountain
- Groups capped at about 12 people, English-speaking guide plus audio headsets
- Two glass walks: Grand Canyon Glass Bridge and the Tianmen cliff walkway
- Ten Miles Gallery and the Three Sisters Peaks on day one
- Guaranteed no shopping stops
Route A, B or C
Every route includes the same summit: the sightseeing loops, the free escalators between the cave and the top, the glass skywalk and the cliff trails. What changes is the transport, and with it the time and the queueing.
| Route | Up | Down | Book | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | Downtown cableway | Tianmen Cave express cableway | 5 to 6 h | |
| B | Shuttle bus up the 99 bends | Downtown cableway | 6 to 7 h | |
| C | Cave express cableway | Downtown cableway | 5 to 7 h | |
| Full day | Any route | Any route | Up to 10 h |
What You Are Riding, Climbing and Walking
The Cableway Is the Attraction Before the Summit Is
The French firm Poma built the main cableway in 2005, and the tourist literature calls it the longest high-mountain passenger cableway in the world: 7,455 metres of cable, 98 cars, 1,279 metres of vertical gain and a maximum gradient of 37 degrees. It starts in the middle of Zhangjiajie city, near the railway station, and that is unusual enough on its own. You board in traffic and step out on a ridge.
The ride takes close to half an hour. It passes over rooftops, then farmland, then the switchbacks of Tongtian Avenue, which you look straight down onto. A second, shorter express cableway opened in 2020, running from near the mountain entrance up to the car park by Tianmen Cave. Routes that use it save the road but skip the long view over the city.
Queues at the downtown station are the reason to arrive early. Mid-morning in October the wait alone can run over an hour, and the ticket does not reserve a boarding time.
Tongtian Avenue and Its 99 Bends
The road climbs 11 kilometres from the valley floor to the cave car park with 99 hairpin bends, most of them stacked in view of each other. Shuttle buses drive it as part of routes B and C, and the drivers take the corners at a speed that makes the ride the story of the day for some people.
It closes in winter. Snow and ice on those bends shut both the road and access to the cave, sometimes for days at a time, and no ticket route substitutes for it while it is closed. Check the mountain's status before booking anything between December and February.
The 999 Steps, and the Escalator Beside Them
Tianmen Cave is a natural arch through the mountain, 131.5 metres high and 57 metres wide, and the staircase to it is genuinely 999 steps. It is the single most photographed climb in Hunan and the reason half the visitors come.
How hard is it? Fit walkers do it in about 20 minutes without stopping. Most people take 30 to 40 with photo breaks, and the steps are steep, uneven in places and fully exposed to the sun. There is no shade and no water fountain on the climb.
A ¥32 escalator runs from the car park up to the cave for anyone skipping it, and it is not a defeat: plenty of people ride up and walk down, which is easier on the knees than the reverse. Above the cave, seven free escalator sections carry you inside the mountain to the summit, and those are included in the ¥288.
- 999 steps, about 20 minutes at a steady pace, 30 to 40 with photos
- ¥32 for the escalator that skips them, each way
- Seven escalator sections between the cave and the summit, free
- No shade on the staircase; carry water bought at the bottom
- Hand rails on both sides, but the treads get slick in rain
The Glass Walkways
Three glass sections hang off the cliff at the summit, each around 60 metres long: one on the West Line, one on the East Line and one at Coiling Dragon Cliff. They are bolted to a vertical rock face with several hundred metres of air underneath, and they are short enough that even nervous walkers finish them.
Shoe covers cost ¥5 and are compulsory on each section, so carry small notes. The covers are sold at the entrance to each walkway, not once for all three.
The rest of the summit is ordinary cliff path, wide and railed, running through pine forest between viewpoints. Tianmenshan Temple sits at the top of the central route, a Tang-dynasty foundation rebuilt from 1949, and it is the quietest part of the mountain on a busy day.
Tianmen Mountain by the Numbers
The figures that explain why the day takes as long as it does.
- 1,518 m Summit Roughly 1,200 m above the city you boarded the cableway in
- 7,455 m Main cableway 98 cars, 1,279 m of ascent, 37° at its steepest, built by Poma in 2005
- 11 km Tongtian Avenue 99 hairpin bends from the valley to the cave car park
- 131.5 m Tianmen Cave The natural arch is 57 m wide; the staircase to it has 999 steps
- 60 m Each glass walkway Three of them, West Line, East Line and Coiling Dragon Cliff, ¥5 shoe covers each
- ¥288 One ticket Includes the round-trip cableway, summit loops, cliff trails and the summit escalators
Prices from the Zhangjiajie 2026 fee list, checked 3 August 2026.
Planning the Day
Hours, and the Shape of a Sensible Day
Gates open at 07:00 and admission closes in the late afternoon, well before the cableway stops running. The mountain has no accommodation, so everyone comes down the same evening.
The efficient order is to ride up first while queues are short, walk the summit loops, then descend to the cave and finish with the steps or the escalator. Doing it the other way puts you on the staircase at midday.
Allow 5 to 6 hours for route A, which is the shortest. Walking all three cliff routes and the temple pushes the day toward 10 hours, which is what visitors who post detailed reviews tend to report.
Getting to the Lower Station
The main cableway station sits in Zhangjiajie city centre, a short taxi ride from the railway station and about 40 minutes from hotels in Wulingyuan, where most visitors to the national park sleep. That drive is the reason people who try to combine Tianmen and the park in one day usually see less of both.
If you are staying in Wulingyuan, a guided day handles the transfer and the ticket, and the two-day itineraries put the park first and Tianmen second, which is the order that works.
| From | Time | How |
|---|---|---|
| Zhangjiajie city centre | 10 to 15 min | Taxi to the cableway station |
| Zhangjiajie West railway station | 20 to 25 min | Taxi, or city bus plus a short walk |
| Wulingyuan hotels | About 40 min | Taxi or the pickup on a guided day |
| Hehua Airport (DYG) | About 30 min | Taxi; the airport fogs in from November to March |
The Temple and the Quiet Half of the Summit
Tianmenshan Temple stands at the top of the central route, on landscaped grounds well away from the cliff paths. A monastery has stood here since the Tang dynasty; the current buildings went up from 1949 in Tang style after the original was destroyed early in the twentieth century.
It is the one part of the mountain where the crowd thins on a busy afternoon, partly because tour groups run the glass walkways first and partly because it needs either a chairlift or a walk on foot to reach. Incense is sold at the gate and burned in the courtyard.
The forest around it is the other thing people miss. Above 1,400 metres the mountain carries old trees and hanging vines, and the paths between the temple and the East Line run through them rather than along a cliff edge. If the glass sections are queued out, this is where to spend that hour.
Tianmen or the National Park, If You Only Get One
They are not versions of the same day. The national park is a landscape of 3,000 sandstone pillars that you walk among for two days; Tianmen is one mountain with a cave, a cableway and cliff walkways, done in one.
For a first visit to the region, the pillars win. They are what Zhangjiajie is known for, and no photograph from Tianmen substitutes for standing at Yuanjiajie. Tianmen wins on a short trip with a fixed schedule, because it starts in the middle of the city, needs no gate reservation strategy and finishes the same evening.
With three days, do both, and put Tianmen last. Arriving at the park after the mountain makes the pillars feel smaller than they are.
What to Carry
Small notes for shoe covers and the escalator, since counters take cash or Chinese payment apps rather than foreign cards. Layers, because the summit runs several degrees colder than the city and the cableway is exposed. Shoes with grip for the steps and the wet cliff paths.
Your passport, which is checked on entry the same way it is at the national park.
Tianmen Mountain Questions
Is Tianmen Mountain really 999 steps?
Yes. The staircase from the car park to Tianmen Cave is 999 steps, known as the Stairway to Heaven, and it is counted rather than rounded. A steady climb takes about 20 minutes, 30 to 40 with stops for photographs. A ¥32 escalator runs alongside for anyone who would rather skip it, and riding up and walking down is a common compromise.
How long does it take to climb Tianmen Mountain?
Nobody climbs the mountain itself: the cableway or the shuttle bus does the 1,279 metres of ascent for you. The climbing you do is the 999-step staircase, about 20 minutes, plus the walking on the summit loops. A whole visit runs 5 to 6 hours on the shortest ticket route and up to 10 hours if you walk the West Line, the East Line and Coiling Dragon Cliff.
What is special about Tianmen Mountain?
The arch. Tianmen Cave is a natural hole through the mountain, 131.5 metres high and 57 metres wide, with a 999-step staircase running up to it and an 11-kilometre road of 99 bends below. Add the 7,455-metre cableway that starts in the middle of the city and three glass walkways bolted to a vertical cliff, and the mountain is an engineering day out as much as a scenic one.
How long are the stairs on Tianmen Mountain?
The Stairway to Heaven climbs about 150 metres of height over its 999 steps, in one steep flight with no shade. Above the cave the climbing stops: seven escalator sections run inside the mountain to the summit and are covered by the ¥288 ticket.
How much does Tianmen Mountain cost?
¥288 for the one-day ticket, which includes the round-trip cableway. Add ¥32 for the escalator to the cave and ¥5 per glass walkway for shoe covers. Bought online with the cable car and shuttle bus arranged, the ticket runs about $59, which is the same ticket without the counter queue.
Is Tianmen Mountain part of Zhangjiajie National Forest Park?
No. It is a separate national forest park with its own ticket, about 30 kilometres from Wulingyuan and directly above Zhangjiajie city. The ¥240 four-day park pass does not admit you, and the Tianmen ticket does not admit you to the Avatar peaks. See our ticket breakdown for how the three scenic areas price separately.
When is Tianmen Mountain closed?
The mountain stays open year round, but Tongtian Avenue and access to Tianmen Cave close when snow and ice hit the 99 bends, mostly between December and February. Cableways also stop in high wind. Nothing about a winter visit is guaranteed, which is why the shoulder seasons draw the crowds.