If someone is asking for best places for hiking in China, the answers usually focus on the Great Wall, Tiger Leaping Gorge, Yangshuo, etc. Very few people know Wulingyuan – a breathtaking scenic area hidden away in the northwestern extremities of Hunnan Province.
Wulingyuan Scenic Area consists of three parts: Zhangjiajie National Forest Park, Suoxiyu Nature Reserve and Tianzi Mountain Natural Reserve, covering over more than 26,000 hectares.
Home to more than 3,000 narrow sandstone pillars and peaks (over 1,000 rise at least 200 meters), Wulingyuan has been arguably praised as one of the most beautiful place in China. Often misted in low cloud and scored by countless streams, sixty percent of the park still has its original vegetation. Among the 550-odd tree species (twice Europe's total) are rare dove trees, gingkoes, and dawn redwoods, these last identified by their stringy bark and feathery leaves – a now-popular ornamental tree but believed extinct until 1948. The wildlife list is impressive too, including civets, giant salamanders, monkeys and game birds.
It was included in the World Heritage sites in 1992.
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