Tianmen Mountain rises straight out of the city of Zhangjiajie in northwest Hunan, and almost everything about a visit is built on a grand scale: one of the world’s longest cableways, a road with 99 hairpin bends, a staircase of 999 steps and a natural arch 131.5 metres high. The most famous few metres of all are the glass skywalk bolted to the cliff, where visitors walk on a transparent floor more than 1,400 metres above sea level.

Visitor on Tianmen Mountain’s narrow glass skywalk with the cliff face and open drop beside

The Tianmen glass skywalk

The glass skywalk is a 60-metre section of cliffside path with a floor of clear glass. It is 1.6 metres wide and reaches about 1,430 metres above sea level, so the view straight down is of rock, treetops and drifting cloud far below your feet. Staff often hand out fabric shoe covers to protect the glass, and the walkway can close in heavy rain, ice or snow.

It is one of several cliff walks on the summit. The Guigu Cliffside Path runs for about 1,600 metres at an average height of around 1,400 metres, and three of its sections have glass floors, each with a small extra fee of 5–10 yuan. The walkways cling to the cliff on brackets, with a rail on the outside and the rock wall on the inside, which is what makes photographs of visitors appear to hang over thin air.

Glass walkway known as the Walk of Faith, Tianmen Mountain, China
Cliffside glass walkway overlooking cloud-covered mountains

Tianmen Cave, the “Heaven’s Gate”

The mountain takes its name, “Heaven’s Gate”, from Tianmen Cave, a huge natural opening that pierces the ridge from south to north. Shaped by water erosion, it measures 131.5 metres high, 57 metres wide and 60 metres deep, and sits at around 1,300 metres. On clear days the arch frames the sky like a doorway; in mist it seems to float.

Reaching it is a climb in itself. The 999 steep, narrow steps known as the Ladder to Heaven lead up to the cave mouth, and an escalator built into the mountain alongside offers an easier way up for an extra charge (32 yuan in 2025). In the south of the mountain, the Tianmen Temple in the Tianjie Foguo scenic area is the centre of the mountain’s Buddhist heritage.

Tianmen Mountain above Zhangjiajie, Hunan

Getting up: the cableway and the 99 bends

Tianmen is unusually easy to reach. The lower cableway station is in downtown Zhangjiajie, about 1 km from the railway station and around 5 km from the airport. From there the cableway runs 7,455 metres and climbs 1,279 metres, a ride of 30–40 minutes that passes over rooftops, fields and then the sheer flanks of the mountain.

The alternative is Tongtian Avenue, the “Avenue toward Heaven”: a 10.77 km road with 99 tight turns that climbs from about 200 to 1,300 metres. Sightseeing buses cover it in about 25 minutes and drop visitors near the foot of the 999 steps. Many itineraries go up by cableway and come down by bus, or the reverse, so you see both. On the summit, a separate 800-metre Peak Forest cable car links viewpoints in about ten minutes.

Tickets, season and practical tips

  • Tickets: in 2025 the standard one-day ticket cost 278 yuan and covered the scenic area, the cableway, the express cableway and the sightseeing bus. The escalator, the Peak Forest cable car, the glass-path fees and VIP fast-track passes cost extra.
  • Best season: April to October is the most reliable period. In winter the cave approach, the road and the skywalk can close for ice and snow, although a dusting of white on the cliffs is spectacular when paths are open.
  • Time: plan a full day. Ticket sales have typically stopped in late afternoon, around 16:00–16:30, with visitors leaving by 18:00.
  • Clothing: the summit is more than 1,000 metres higher than the city, so bring a warm layer and rain gear even in summer.

Tianmen is a different attraction from Wulingyuan, the sandstone-pillar landscape that inspired many photographs of the Zhangjiajie area, and from the Zhangjiajie Grand Canyon glass bridge. All three can be combined in a few days based in the city.

Tall forested sandstone pillars rising through haze in the Zhangjiajie region

For a slower Hunan stop, our Fenghuang guide follows the old town’s riverfront and lanes. China’s other famous high paths include Shiniuzhai’s glass bridge and the plank walk on Huashan, while Meghalaya’s living root bridges show a very different kind of crossing.

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