You cannot turn up at a Zhangjiajie park gate and buy a ticket any more. Since 2026 every major park here runs real-name booking: a date, a time slot, and a name that matches the document you are carrying. For most visitors that is a small inconvenience. If you are holding a foreign passport, it is two extra steps that nobody writes down in English.
This page is the ticket side of a trip — what each pass costs, what it does and does not include, and what we do differently about changes. If you want the car, the driver and the plan as well, that is over on the private tours page.
The tickets, side by side
| Park | Price | Valid | What it covers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Zhangjiajie National Forest Park | RMB 236 | 4 days | Entry and all park buses |
| Tianmen Mountain | RMB 288 | 1 day | Tianmen Cave express cable car and the escalator inside the mountain |
| Grand Canyon glass bridge | RMB 128 | 1 day | The bridge and the canyon walk |
| Yellow Dragon Cave | RMB 118 | 1 day | The cave and the underground river boat |
Those are the parks’ published rates for 2026. They change, and they are not the whole cost of a day — the lifts and cable cars inside the Forest Park are extra, and they add up fast. We confirm the current figure for your dates before you pay anything.
Why you have to book before you arrive
Do I need to book in advance? Yes. Every major park runs real-name booking with a date, a time slot and a gate, and the popular slots go days ahead in season. The gates hold very little spare for people who turn up.
Three things changed, and they all point the same way.
Entry is real-name. The ticket is tied to a passport or ID number and it does not transfer. You cannot buy a spare and hand it to somebody.
Entry is timed and gated. You pick a date, a time slot and which gate. In season, the good slots are gone days out.
Entry is capped. Each park has a daily number. When it is gone, it is gone, regardless of how far you have flown.
Official advice is to book three to seven days ahead. We tell people to send passport details as soon as the flight is booked, because the slot is the thing that disappears — not the money.
The foreign passport problem
This is the one that bites, and it is the reason most of our ticket enquiries exist.
A Chinese ID card scans straight through the turnstile. A passport does not. Book with a passport and you arrive at a staffed window instead, with the physical document in your hand, and someone checks it against the booking before they wave you through. Four seconds becomes a queue.
Then there is the second one. Every booking page, every app, every mini-program — all in Chinese. If you do not read it, you are working a booking system you cannot read, for an entry rule you were never told about, on roaming data that may or may not be working.
Neither is a disaster. Together they are a genuinely annoying way to start a morning, and you can avoid both.
Can I book with a foreign passport? Yes, and it changes how you get in. A Chinese ID card scans through the turnstile; a passport has to be taken to a staffed window at the gate and checked against the booking. Bring the physical document.
Can I buy tickets at the gate with cash? Not in any useful way. Real-name booking has to happen before you arrive, and the gates hold very little spare. With a foreign passport you also need a staffed window rather than a turnstile.
What we do with it
We hold an allocation with the parks, so we are not refreshing a page at 8pm hoping a slot appears. You send us passport details, we book the dates and the gates in one go, and we tell you which window to walk up to and what to have in your hand.
Do you charge a fee? No. You pay the face value of the ticket, with no booking fee and no markup. If a cheaper rate is available for your dates, that is the rate you pay.
The one thing we ask for is a way to reach you while you are travelling: a WhatsApp number, or an email you actually open. Everything in the next section depends on it.
If your plans change
These are the terms, and we would rather you read them here than discover them later.
Before the ticket is issued: cancel any time, no charge.
After it is issued, if you never enter the park that day: we can still refund it. The park keeps 5%, you get the rest.
If your flight is delayed or cancelled: we move the booking to another day at no charge. Send us the flight record.
What time counts: the time we receive your message. Not when a system logs it. If your connection drops, or the app will not load on hotel wifi, or it is 3am where your phone thinks it is — our timestamp is the one that matters. That is the point of there being a person on the other end instead of a form.
If you arrive early and want to move a booking to today: if there is availability we book it for you, at whatever the rate is that day. It is a new booking rather than a transfer, so tell us before you travel rather than at the gate.
What happens if my flight is delayed? We move the booking to another day at no charge. Send us the flight record and we will do it. The time that counts is when we receive your message, not when a system logs it.
Can I get a refund if I do not use the ticket? Cancel before we issue it and it costs nothing. After it is issued, if you never enter the park that day we can refund it and the park keeps 5%.
Things that go wrong
- The four-day pass is not four walk-ins. Every entry needs its own slot, and the first day’s slot is locked when you book.
- The lifts inside the Forest Park are extra. Budget more for a day in the park than the ticket alone suggests.
- Tianmen Mountain’s cableway is closed. It shut on 13 October 2026 for a full rebuild, with no date given for reopening. Only the Line C route runs, and the 7,455-metre ride from the city is not operating.
- The glass bridge caps daily numbers. In season it sells out days ahead.
- Insurance at RMB 3. It is optional on Forest Park entry. Decline it if you want.
- Anyone offering a cheap paper ticket at the gate. There is no such thing. Entry is real-name and tied to your document.
What to send us
Your dates, the parks you want, how many people, and for each traveller the full name exactly as printed in their passport. Passport numbers too, if you have them to hand. That is the whole list.
If you are not sure which park or which gate, say what you want to see and we will tell you what it needs. And if you want the ticket, the car and someone who speaks English standing next to you, that is a tour — the three-day itinerary is the one we build most often around these passes.
WhatsApp — +86 180 7449 1863. We answer in English, usually within a few hours and always within 24.
Email — lianjizhi0744@hotmail.com. Passport details are easier this way.
And a contact that works while you are here. WhatsApp or email. It is the condition the refund terms run on.
Pass and pickup, in one booking
Flying in and going straight to the park? We sell the Forest Park four-day pass together with a private car from the airport or the station — from USD 90 a head, paid by PayPal link or to the driver when you land. Details on our Forest Park pass and pickup page.
The bridge sells out first
Of everything in Zhangjiajie, the glass bridge is the one that runs out. It caps at around 8,000 a day and the gates hold nothing for walk-ups. Lines, prices and what you are allowed to carry onto it are on our glass bridge tickets page.
Booking is only half of it. Here is how to pay in China: Alipay, WeChat Pay, PayPal and cash, set out before you arrive.
Questions people ask
Do I need to book Zhangjiajie tickets in advance?
Yes. Every major park runs real-name booking with a date, a time slot and a gate, and the popular slots go days ahead in season. The gates hold very little spare for people who turn up.
Can I book with a foreign passport?
Yes, and it changes how you get in. A Chinese ID card scans through the turnstile; a passport has to be taken to a staffed window at the gate and checked against the booking. Bring the physical document.
Do you charge a fee for booking tickets?
No. You pay the face value of the ticket, with no booking fee and no markup. If a cheaper rate is available for your dates, that is the rate you pay.
What happens if my flight is delayed?
We move the booking to another day at no charge. Send us the flight record and we will do it. The time that counts is when we receive your message, not when a system logs it.
Can I get a refund if I do not use the ticket?
Cancel before we issue it and it costs nothing. After it is issued, if you never enter the park that day we can refund it and the park keeps 5%.
Can I buy tickets at the gate with cash?
Not in any useful way. Real-name booking has to happen before you arrive, and the gates hold very little spare. With a foreign passport you also need a staffed window rather than a turnstile.