Most people who book a private driver in Zhangjiajie do it for one of two reasons: they have already watched the morning taxi situation at Wulingyuan, or they read about it before they flew and decided not to risk it. Both are good reasons. This page is what you are actually booking.
Why a car here, and not just taxis
On a map Zhangjiajie looks compact. It is not. The airport, the high-speed station and the two main park clusters sit in different directions, and the thing that catches visitors out is not the distance. It is seven o’clock in the morning.
Wulingyuan has a genuine shortage of ride-hailing cars early in the day. The apps show nothing available and empty taxis cruising the street are rare. Travellers write about this again and again in their own trip notes. If you have a park entry slot booked and you are standing at the roadside at seven refreshing an app, the day has already started to slip.
And the day trips everybody wants from here do not sit next to each other. Wulingyuan to Tianmen Mountain is about an hour. Wulingyuan to the Grand Canyon is about another hour. Stringing two of them together on public transport is possible, and it costs you most of a day.
Then there is the question of who is driving. Inside the airport terminal you will be approached by men offering a car who will not say how the fare is worked out, and whose car has no meter. Walk past them. That is not us being protective of our own business — it is the same thing the airport information desk will tell you.
What you are booking
- One car and one driver, for the day. Usually 08:00 to 18:00. You are chartering the vehicle, not buying a seat in it, so nobody else gets picked up on the way. We agree the hours before you arrive rather than discovering them at half past six.
- He waits. At the park gate, at the cable car station, outside the restaurant. You are not booking a new car every time you come down a mountain.
- Pickup where you land. Hehua Airport, Zhangjiajie West high-speed station, Zhangjiajie railway station, or your hotel lobby.
- Drop-off wherever the day ends. A different gate, a restaurant across town, the night train. Not where a bus timetable happens to stop.
- Fuel, tolls and parking are included. Ask any operator about that one. We put it in writing.
- No shopping stops. We do not take commission from shops, so we do not drive you into them.
Where we pick you up, and how long it really takes
These are the drives we do most often. The times are the ones we plan around, not the best case.
| You arrive at | To Wulingyuan (Forest Park) | To Tianmen Mountain |
|---|---|---|
| Hehua Airport (DYG) | about 35 km, 40–50 minutes | about 10 km, 15–20 minutes |
| Zhangjiajie West (high-speed) | about 35 km, 50 minutes | about 20 minutes |
| Zhangjiajie railway station (regular trains) | about 40 km, 50–60 minutes | the cable car station is a short walk |
| Your hotel in Wulingyuan | — | about 1 hour |
The Chinese names, because sooner or later you will need to show one to somebody: 荷花机场 is the airport, 张家界西站 is the high-speed station, 张家界站 is the regular train station, and 武陵源标志门 is the Wulingyuan Sign Gate. Screenshots of those four save a lot of pointing.
The airport run to Wulingyuan is the one we are asked about most, so it has its own page with the shuttle bus, the taxi queue and what each of them actually costs: Zhangjiajie airport transfer.
One thing worth knowing before you choose a hotel: navigate to the gate you plan to enter by — Wulingyuan Sign Gate, or the exact name of your hotel — and not to “Zhangjiajie National Forest Park”. Searching the park name can send you to a different entrance entirely, or to a plaza that is not where you are sleeping.
Our cars
Buick GL8 — seven seats, the standard business van in China. Comfortable enough for a full day in the mountains, with real luggage space for four.
Mercedes-Benz Sprinter — for larger families and small groups, or for the longer runs to Fenghuang and Changsha where you want room to spread out.
Both are our own vehicles and both photographs were taken in Zhangjiajie, not taken from a manufacturer’s website. You are welcome to check the plate on the car that turns up against the one in the photo.
Who is driving
Every driver we put on a booking has been driving for at least eight years, and most of those years are on these particular roads.
What that is worth in practice: he can drive the ninety-nine curves up to Tianmen Mountain in cloud without thinking about it, he knows which gate car park fills up first in July, and he knows which road the tour buses take at eight in the morning — which is why he will suggest you leave at half past seven instead.
Our drivers are not guides, and they will tell you so themselves. They speak enough English for times, places and ordering lunch. If you want somebody to explain what you are looking at, that is a licensed guide, and the three we work with are on our team page.
Day trips we actually drive
If you are working out what to do with the days rather than how to get around, our two-day Zhangjiajie itinerary is the plan we give people who only have a weekend.
A Forest Park day
Collect from your hotel in Wulingyuan, usually around 07:00 in summer. In at the Sign Gate, up to Yuanjiajie, back down by the Bailong Elevator if the queue is sane or by road if it is not. The driver stays with the car and moves it when you tell him which gate you are coming out of — that instruction, sent on WeChat, is the difference between a ten minute wait and a forty minute one. Most people finish between 17:00 and 18:00.
A Tianmen Mountain day
This one starts in the city, not in Wulingyuan, because the cable car station is there. We collect you from a city hotel or from Zhangjiajie West, drive to the lower cable car station, and come back at the time you agree. On a fog day the top of the mountain is inside a cloud. That happens often enough that we always agree a fallback the night before.
A Grand Canyon and Glass Bridge day
About an hour out from Wulingyuan. The bridge is timed entry and the good slots go first, so we book it when we book everything else. Everyone wears the red shoe covers over their shoes — that is how the glass stays clear enough to see through, and it is why every photograph taken on that bridge has people in red overshoes.
Three days, booked properly
Three days is long enough for the four big names: the Avatar peaks at Yuanjiajie, the Grand Canyon glass bridge, Yellow Dragon Cave and Tianmen Mountain. If that is the length of your trip, our three-day Zhangjiajie itinerary is the route we build around it — two nights in Wulingyuan, no hotel change, pickup and drop-off included.
Arriving by air or by train?
The Forest Park four-day pass and a car from the airport or the station, booked together, is USD 90 a head for two or more. It is the shortest version of what we do — see the pass and pickup page.
Where the car usually goes
The Grand Canyon glass bridge is 60 kilometres out and runs on timed slots, which is why most people take the car rather than the bus. Ticket lines and slot rules are on our glass bridge tickets page.
What people say afterwards
We are not going to put star ratings on this page, because we cannot show you where they came from and we would rather not ask you to take that on trust.
What we can do is print the messages we actually keep. This one came in on WeChat from Eli, after he and Shimon, Orly and Luzy had spent more then a week with us. It was written to Alina, their guide, and we are printing it exactly as it arrived:
“after more then a week tougher we had the honor to meet a special lady that became friend. We ask to thank u for all u did to make our time so perfect. In the name of shimon, Orly, luzy and my self — we LOVE YOU!”
He means “more than a week together”. We left every spelling mistake where it is. Tidying it up would have made it less true.
There is a longer note from the same trip on our team page, along with photographs of that group at the Wulingyuan sign gate and on the glass bridge.
Park tickets, booked separately
Some people want the car and nothing else. Some want the passes and will sort the rest out themselves. We do tickets on their own, at the parks’ published prices with no fee on top, and with refund terms that are worth reading before you book anything. That side is on our Zhangjiajie tickets page.
Before you fly, sort out how you will pay for everything else. Money questions — Alipay, WeChat Pay, cards, how much cash to bring — are answered on our paying in China page.
What it costs
We do not publish a price list, and it is worth saying why rather than just writing “contact us”.
A day with a car depends on which car, how far you go, whether a guide comes as well, and which month. A quote for four people going to the Forest Park is a different job from eleven people going to the Grand Canyon, and one flat rate on this page would be wrong for both of them.
What we do instead: one number, in writing, within 24 hours, before you fly. It says what is included — fuel, tolls, parking, the driver’s own meals — and what is not. No new line items appearing at the end of the day.
For a sense of scale, the going rate in Zhangjiajie for a seven-seat car with a driver for a full day is roughly RMB 500 to 900 depending on season and distance. We are inside that range, and we will tell you where.
What we will not do
- Shopping stops. Not as a “cultural visit”, not as a “tea tasting”, not at all.
- Tell you your hotel is closed and drive you to a different one that pays us. It is an old trick in China and it still happens.
- Quote one number and add fuel at the end. If a price changes, it changes before you fly, in writing, and with a reason.
- Send a different car from the one you agreed. If the Sprinter is not free on your date, you hear that before you book, not at the kerb.
Questions people ask before they book
How much does a private driver in Zhangjiajie cost?
A full day with a seven-seat car and a driver usually runs RMB 500 to 900, depending on the season, the distance and how many hours. We send one fixed number in writing before you fly, with fuel, tolls and parking already inside it.
Does the driver speak English?
Enough for the job: times, places, food, where to meet him. Conversational English is what our licensed guides are for, and you can add one to any driving day.
Do you pick up at the airport or the high-speed station?
Both, plus Zhangjiajie railway station and any hotel. Your driver waits inside arrivals with your name on a sign. If your flight is late we move the pickup — waiting for a delayed flight is not an extra charge.
How do I get from Zhangjiajie Hehua Airport to Wulingyuan?
Three ways, and they are not close in effort. The airport shuttle bus runs to Wulingyuan Bus Station for about RMB 15 a head and takes around 50 minutes — but the bus station is roughly two kilometres short of the Sign Gate, so you still have a twenty minute walk or a local bus. A taxi from the rank to the Sign Gate runs about RMB 80 to 120 and takes 45 to 50 minutes; agree the fare before you get in. A pre-booked airport transfer is a car waiting in arrivals with your name on it, priced per car rather than per person, which is usually the point once you are three or more with luggage. Full comparison with current fares on our airport transfer page.
Can the driver buy our park tickets?
He can drive you to the gate, but the tickets are real-name and need your passport details, so we sort those out days before. That is a separate part of what we do, and it goes in the same quote when you ask for it.
How many people fit in the car?
Seven seats in the Buick GL8 including the driver, so six passengers — or four adults with four large suitcases, which is the combination that usually decides it. The Sprinter takes more. Tell us the headcount and the luggage and we will put the right car on it.
Is the driver also a guide?
No. Drivers drive. Guides hold national licences and work in English every day. Plenty of operators will sell you a “driver-guide” — it usually means neither job gets done properly.
Do we pay a deposit?
Yes, once the price is agreed, with the balance when you land. We tell you which payment method we are using before you send anything.
Book a car
Send us your dates, how many of you there are, and roughly what you want to see. A rough plan is enough — if it does not work we will say so, and we will say what would work instead.
WhatsApp — +86 180 7449 1863. We answer in English, usually within a few hours and always within 24.
Email — lianjizhi0744@hotmail.com. Same 24 hours, and easier if you are sending a passport list or a flight number.
Or just send us the six things we need to quote properly: dates, headcount, how much luggage, your hotel, what you want to see, and your flight number if you already have it.
If you are staying several days rather than booking one, the trip we run most often is our four-day Zhangjiajie private tour. And if you want to know who is behind this first, that is on the about page, including our inbound travel licence number L-HUN-303754, which you can look up.