Date of Visit: 7 Nov 2019
Tianmen Cave 天门洞
Tianmen Mountain 天门山 (Pronounced in Mandarin as “Tian-men-shan”) – translated literally it means “The mountain of the door to heaven”. How appropriate! Especially when you view it at the start of the stairway leading to Tianmen Cave 天门洞. As you walk up the stairway, it is really like you are walking towards heaven!
Tianmen Cave was formed by a crack of the rock mountain as a result of water erosion over time to create this huge through-hole to form an arch. The cave might have been formed back in 263 AD.
At 1524 metres above sea level, Tianmen Cave is the world’s highest naturally formed arch. The cave measures 131.5 metres tall and 57 metres wide.
99-Bend Road to Tianmen Cave
Nine is the largest of the single integers and is an important number in Chinese numerology. Nine is pronounced similarly to the Chinese word “long-lasting” and represents “longevity” and is often used to describe the sky and heaven. It is a miraculous coincidence to find that it takes exactly 99 steep and sharp ascending bends as you travel in a shuttle bus from Tianmen Mountain Entrance Gate to the start of the stairway leading to Tianmen Cave. The shuttle bus journey is around 11 kilometres and the road rises steeply by 1100 metres in elevation.
999-Step Stairway to Heaven
Another coincidence. It takes 999 steps to climb the stairway to reach Tianmen Cave. The climb would take around 30 minutes of exhaustive effort.
Tunnel Electric Elevators
You can avoid the exhaustive climb by taking electric escalators to get to Tianmen Cave.
The electric elevators, opened in 2015, was completely hidden within the mountain tunnel. The elevators run in sections from the bottom of the Tianmen Cave to the top of the Tianmen Mountain. The drilling of the tunnel within the rock mountain and the installation of the electric elevators in the tunnel was expectedly a huge and complex engineering undertaking. The carrying capacity of the electric elevators is 3600 people/hour single-way.
Entrance to the electric elevators was a small door to the right of the 999-step stairway.
Tianmen Mountain Cableway
Tianmen Mountain is only 8 kilometres from Zhangjiajie city 张家界市, where most visitors use it as a base to explore Tianmen Mountain and Zhangjiajie National Forest Park 张家界国家森林公园. If you would like to skip the 99 bends roadway and 999 steps stairway, then the easiest way to get to Tianmen Mountain is to take Tianmen Mountain Cableway right from Zhangjiajie city. Tianmen Mountain Cableway has a length of 7455 metres and a height gap of 1279 metres and takes visitors right to the top of Tianmen Mountain. The cableway ride takes around 40 minutes.
Tianmen Mountain Glass Walkways
There are 3 glass walkway sections throughout the road to get up to Tianmen Mountain top. It is a great experience to “walk in the air”. However, you may avoid the glass walkways by taking an alternate path.
Unfortunately, the walkways are always busy and crowded. Selfie of only yourself is difficult. You may find you need to fight for a place to take photos.
The scenery is best on a clear day and you need some luck to have a clear day on your day of the visit.
Want to explore more?
Tianmen Mountain is located within Tianmenshan National Forest Park 天门山国家森林公园. Tianmenshan National Forest Park’s scenic areas are divided into Tianmen Cave, the central line, the eastern line, and the western line scenic spots. Have more than one day and want to explore more sights of Tianmenshan National Forest Park? Check out the official Tianmen Mountain tourism website.
Mission: Human Flight and Tianmen Cave
Expo 2020 Dubai is promoting technological innovation through Mission: Human Flight, a programme that aims to achieve 100 percent autonomous human flight. Mission: Human Flight’s Jetmen did stunt flying through Tianmen Cave on 14 Nov 2019, to demonstrate their aerial capabilities. Tianmen Mountain was chosen because of its unique and dramatic natural beauty. Watch the video on Mission: Human Flight website.
Want to discover more interesting travels and destinations? Check out the “Travels and Destinations” blogs.
Tianmen Mountain 天门山 (Pronounced in Mandarin as “Tian-men-shan”) – translated literally it means “The mountain of the door to heaven”. As you walk up the stairway, it is really like you are walking towards heaven!