Zhangjiajie Bailong Outdoor Elevator has the highest altitude, the fastest running speed and the largest load capacity in the world. It has also won honors such as one of 'International Top Ten Artificial Landscape Projects' as well as one of " the Top 11 Creative Elevators in the World" . Anyway, when you travel to Zhangjiajie, the Bailong Elevator is one of the must see attractions in the forest Park and is worth experiencing. On the other hand, since it runs in just 66 seconds with the ticket fare of CNY 72 Yuan, meaning a visitor spends 1 Chinese Yuan and 9 Fen per second on average, Bailong Elevator is joked by some tourists as "the most expensive elevator in the world."
☝ Zhangjiajie Bailong Elevator
Zhangjiajie Bailong Elevator was listed in the Guinness World Records as the "outdoor elevator with the highest altitude".
The Elevator is overall magnificent, and its whole shaft is divided into the lower part and the upper part. The lower is a 156.1 meters long vertical shaft located inside of the mountain and the upper is a steel structure derrick of 171.4 meters long built alongside the mountain. The Elevator comprises of three double-layer transparent glass lifts running in parallel. The main parts of Bailong Elevator are produced by German Janzhoff Aufzüge GmbH.
Zhangjiajie Bailong Sky Elevator has the lifting height of 326 meters or 1,070 feet with the vertical height difference to be 335 meters or 1,099 feet. It runs at the speed of 5 meters per second with the total duration of 66 seconds. The capacity allows it to transport 7,000 people up and down the mountain for each hour.
Bailong Sky Elevator, together with the Tianzi Mountain Cable Car, Yangjiajie Cable Car and the Yellow Stone Village (Huangshizhai) Cable Car, build a convenient "air corridor" in Wulingyuan Scenic Area. It has solved the bottleneck problem of transportation that has puzzled the management team of Zhangjiajie National Forest Park for many years.
☝ A Close Up Shot for Zhangjiajie Bailong Elevator
Bailong Elevator has never had any accident since it started operation and maintained a record of zero accidents for safety record. Therefore, there is no doubt that it is the safest and the most reliable means of transportation. Unlike other methods of transportation, the operation of Bailong Elevator is not affected by the weather conditions. When it rains or snows, the scenic roads will be closed and the sightseeing shuttle bus and even the cable car will be out of service. In that case scenario, Bailong Elevator becomes the only means of transportation that tourists can count on to go up and down the mountain and everyone has to rely on it.
The construction of the Bailong Elevator started in September 1999 and it came into use in April 2002. It took a total investment of up to 180 million Chinese Yuan. Since then, the elevator operator has also been continuously investing money to further improve its physical conditions and upgrade services, such as to increase its speed in order to improve overall experience for travelers. It takes about two hours to walk to the top of the mountain of Yuanjiajie Scenic Area from the canyon area where the Golden Whip Brook (Jinbianxi) is located at. On the contrary, it takes only two minutes to go between the two places by taking the Bailong Elevator. Therefore, Bailong Sky Elevator is very popular among tourists, and it can be the best choice for the elderly, children, the disabled, the physically challenged persons as well as visitors with tight schedules.
☝ A Wide Shot for Bailong Sky Elevator
Zhangjiajie Bailong Elevator is located in Yuanjiajie Scenic Area. The lower station of it is adjacent to Golden Whip Brook and Ten Mile Natural Gallery. Close to the upper station of Bailong Elevator is the top of Yuanjiajie Mountain. Yuanjiajie is where sceneries clustered in Zhangjiajie National Forest Park. The so called World 's First Natural Bridge, Hallelujah Mountain (formerly known as South Sky Pillar or Qiankun Pillar), Enchanting Terrace, the Gathering of Soldiers and other most exciting attractions are all located around here .
The east entrance of the Forest Park, offers free environmentally friendly sightseeing shuttle buses going directly to the lower station of Bailong Elevator with driving time of 30 to 40 minutes. The south entrance also has free sightseeing shuttle bus service going to the lower station of Bailong Sky Elevator with driving time to be 20 to 30 minute.
Bailong Elevator cannot be reached directly from the other three entrance.
☝ A Close Up Shot for Zhangjiajie Bailong Elevator
Since the opening of Bailong Elevator in 2012, it has successfully transported more than 50 million passengers. In 2019, the number of passengers it served has reached a record-breaking of 7 million. By now, the Bailong Elevator has maintained an excellent safe operation record of zero accidents. As the ladder with the highest altitude, largest load and fastest speed in the world, Bailong Sky Elevator is for sure one of the must try spots in Zhangjiajie National Forest Park.
Off Season (December 1st to February 28th): 08: 30-18: 00 Peak Season (March 1st to November 30th): 08: 00-18: 30 Holiday: 07: 00-20: 00 Under special circumstances, it can provide 24 hours service.
One-way ticket during off season: CNY 65 Yuan per person One-way ticket during peak season: CNY 72 Yuan per person Two-way ticket during off season: CNY 130 Yuan per person Two-way ticket during peak season: CNY 144 Yuan per person Note*: Visitors who purchase two-way tickets do not need to wait in line. Instead, they can take the VIP fast lane to go up/down the mountain quickly.
Children who are under 1.3 meters (including 1.3m) tall can go free without any charge; Youth under 18, full-time college students, senior citizens over 60 years of age (including 60 years old) can purchase discounted tickets. Price for discounted ticket is CNY 43 Yuan per person during peak season or CNY 39 Yuan per person during off season.
☝ A Wide Shot for Zhangjiajie Bailong Elevator
If visitors come to Zhangjiajie with the elderly or children in their families, climbing the mountain together as a family will definitely be a great challenge. In this case scenario, Bailong Sky Elevator is indeed worth to be checked out. From bottom to top, the first half of the elevator journey is be running through the closed mountain tunnel; the second half is being making alongside the cliff. The capacity of the elevator is 64 people at a time. It is recommended that visitors line forward and stand as front as possible. A good spot not only allows you to experience the thrill of the ladder, but also allows you to appreciate the quickly changing appearance of the scenery beauty outside of the glass lift. However, the operation speed of the ladder is too fast that visitors may experience short-term tinnitus and other discomfort along the way.
☝ A Bird Eye View of Bailong Elevator
Zhangjiajie Bailong Elevator is a perfect combination of natural attraction and artificial landscape. The completion and operation of the ladder represents the new philosophy from the scenic area administration and the new concept for environmental protection, which can be concluded as "uphill for travel, downhill for living". This concept is also consistent with the overall sustainable development goal.
Before the opening of Bailong Sky Elevator, it took more than three hours to reach Yuanjiajie Scenic Area from the mountain base. It took even more time and energy to go to Yuanjiajie Mountaintop from Water Around Four Gates or the so called Shuiraosimen, tourists had to use the sightseeing bus and drive more than 170 km through the winding, dangerous mountain roads, the journey can take as long as five hours! Now with the Bailong Sky Elevator, it takes only one and a half minutes to reach the summit from the bottom of the mountain. Besides saving physical strength, Bailong Sky Elevator can also help travelers to free up more time for sightseeing.
☝ A Wide Shot for Zhangjiajie Bailong Elevator
Bailong Elevator is the one that pushes the unparalleled beauty of Yuanjiajie from behind the scenes to the up front. The convenience it brought improves the travel experience and stimulates the booming of travel industry here. As previously introduced, Yuanjiajie is a scenery gathering place in Zhangjiajie National Forest Park. It was not that well known to the general public until the opening of the Bailong Elevator. Ever since then, the number of visitors to Yangjiajie has increased dramatically.
Bailong Elevator has facilitated the movement of guesthouses and hotels down to the bottom of the mountain. In the past, there were a large number of hostels, hotels and etc. in Yuanjiajie, Water Around Four Gates, and Tianzi Mountain scenic areas producing a large amount of household garbage and catering wastewater every day and posing a great threat to the environment. The opening of Bailong Elevator helps to relocate accommodations off mountain. Today, travelers can no longer find even a hotel room on the top of the mountain, which helps to protect the environment to the greatest extent possible and to keep water clean and mountain green. On the other hand, we must acknowledge that the construction of an electric ladder in the scenic area did objectively destroyed the original landscape. However, in general, the advantages of Bailong Elevator has overweighed the disadvantages.
