Tianmen Danxia Mountain locates at the north of Ziyuan County, Guilin, Guangxi, China. It’s about 110km away from Guilin downtown. As the essential part of the Zijiang River, Tianmen Danxia Ecological Tourist Area is not only a national geological park of Ziyuan County, but a national forest park of Ziyuan County. The scenic area is typical Danxia landform. In 1997, the government invested to develop it into an ecological tourist attraction.
Tianmen Mountain Scenic Area is famous for the Tianmen Mountain, which is magnificent and steep. Tianmen Mountain is like a heaven door, standing on the Zijiang River. There are many peaks around it. The scenic area covers an area of nearly 10k㎡, and consists of four parts: Eastern Line, Western Line, Peach Blossom Island, and God Stockade. The shape of the mountain is particular. The mountain grew from proterozoic era, then geological process made the typical Danxia landform. There are frescoes much more vivid than the nine-horse fresco hill drift in Li River.
Natural landscape and cultural landscape are the two major themes of the scenic area. There are 38 grottos, 18 ravines, 2 deeps, 6 springs and 8 rare stones. Tianmen Mountain Danxia Ecological Tourist Area is also a medical plant garden. Hundreds of Chinese herbs grow there. It’s said that the area is even “the first herb valley in the world”. Some Chinese ancient famous herbalist doctors’ statues stand here, such as: Huatuo, Zhang Zhongjing, Bianque and so on. And there are pavilions, granges and promenades. When you stand at the God Stockade, you will find that the mountains around you are steep. If you want to climb the mountain, there is a 1098-step stone stairs straight to the top of the mountain. More than 37,333 k㎡ forests at the top mountains are rarely seen in China.
Shenlong Grange is situated at the foot of mountain and beside a river. Gurgling water, bamboo forests, wooden cabin, all of these made the area quiet and secluded. You can enjoy climbing, fishing and barbecue at the fairyland.
How to get to Tianmen Mountain in Guilin
The best way to get there is by car rental from Guilin. The driving takes about 4 hours. You can book the car rental service with driver through a local travel agent, and off course, the cost would be a little expensive. It is not recommended to take bus at regular bus station, as there is no direct bus to take you to the entrance of Mount Tianmen, and you need to do transfer for a few times, which is not easy for a foreign visitor who can not speak Chinese.
Tips Before You Go
It’s a little bit far away from Guilin downtown, tourists to the area is few. So related infrastructures are not very developed, you even can’t see enough staff and business in the scenic area, you’d better prepare enough food and water to get there.
The passenger cableway in Tianmen Mountain Scenic Area doesn’t run sometimes if there are few tourists travel there in the day. In that case, You’d better wear sneakers, for you have to hike all the time at the spot.
Tianmen Danxia Mountain in Ziyuan County of Guilin is quite near to Bajiaozhai Geography Park. You can drop in to visit Bajiaozhai during the trip. But to visit both of them, it usually takes about 2 days from Guilin. But do not worry, there are quite a few hotels or guesthouse nearby. You can choose one according to your budget for over night stay. The recommended two day tour itinerary would be like this. Day 1, travel from Guilin to Ziyuan Tianmen Mountain in the morning. Upong your arrival, spend 3-4 hours tour inside the mountain scenic area, and then stay overnight in a nearby hotel or guesthouse; Day 2, after breakfast, travel to Bajiaozhai Geography Park for about 4 hours. After that, come back to Guilin downtown.