First Time Tourists Guide in Changsha, China
SIGHTSEEING
Welcome to the heaven of Hunan China called Tianmen Mountain that has the meaning of Heaven’s Gate Mountain. This mountain is located within Tianmen Mountain National Park, Zhangjiajie in the northwestern part of Hunan Province. What’s interesting about this mountain is tourists can walk on kilometers of paths that built along the cliff face at the top of the mountain. Walk the sections with glass floor while witnessing the most breathtakingly gorgeous scenery right in your surroundings. This is one of those moments in your life that will stay forever. The highlight of this mountain would be the mystic views of the fogs and clouds. Watching them constantly changing is like traveling in a mysterious place. You just can’t stop admiring it.
Tianmen Mountain
DOWNTOWN
Hunan Opera and Dance Theater is a famous theater in the busy downtown area. This is a perfect place to see what Hunan has to offer at night. Create some good-looking pictures while enjoying various classic attractions with their traditional clothes.
Hunan Opera and Dance Theater
SHOPPING
Come and shop at a modern-looking shopping mall with its colorful building, La Nova. This mall has some of your favorite brands like Zara, H&M, and Pull & Bear. You can find things like clothes, shoes, accessories, children toys, and many more. Try their tasty food in the restaurants here, they are quite popular.
La Nova
FOOD & DRINK
Some of the popular dishes of Hunan are steamed fish head with chopped chili, chairman mao’s red braised pork, fried pork with chili, goldfish, Hunan rice noodles, and more. For alcoholic beverage, baijiu is the national drink of Chinese. In Hunan, though, drinks like tea and orange juice are popular.
CULTURE
Hunan has long been known for its natural beauty. Its mixture of mountains and water makes it among the most beautiful province in China. And for thousands of years, Hunan has been a major center of agriculture, growing rice, tea, and oranges. Hunan province has Xiang language and Hsiang language. The two major varieties of Xiang are New Xiang and Old Xiang.
BEST TIME TO VISIT
Best time to travel in Hunan is in spring and autumn, especially from April to June. Spring is moist and rainy in Hunan. The weather changes a lot in this season. Summer, though, is long and extremely hot while autumn is dry and cool.
HOTEL
Standing tall in the most beautiful way, Hilton ZhuZhou is ready to be your place to stay in the heart of Hunan. Just a kilometer from the ZhuZhou Bridge over the Xiangjang River, this modern-looking hotel is giving you all 4-star quality. Chic, airy and great rooms, its club rooms include lounge access with tasty breakfast and refreshments, while suites add living areas. They also have many dining options like Italian and Southeast Asian restaurants. Their sleek bar is not to be forgotten. For relaxation, there are spa and a heated indoor pool. A 24-hour gym is ready for your exercise. Sheraton Changsha Hotel is another high-class hotel for you. This 5-star hotel comes elegantly with modern and stunning visualization. They have four restaurants; two of them offer global dishes, two bars, fitness center, sauna and spa, business center, and 11 meeting rooms. Make sure to relax at their glass-roofed indoor pool.
Hilton ZhuZhou
Sheraton Changsha Hotel
RESTAURANT
Welcome to Huogongdian, a traditional restaurant that has been existed since the olden times. As the oldest and one of the famous restaurants in the area, this Hunan restaurant comes with all things Chinese. From decoration, furniture, design, style, to the traditional dishes. Try one of their signature dishes, Stinky Tofu while the atmosphere of Hunan style is strongly felt. Another good restaurant is Tangshifu. This restaurant is known as one of the best traditional restaurants in Hunan. With its quite large portion, this restaurant is an ideal place for you to enjoy the taste of Hunan menu. Their menu comes with pictures and in English. This would make your experience easier. Vegetarian options are also available for you. You can feel all this with the surrounding of a beautiful river nearby in a Hunan village.
Huogongdian
Tangshifu
CAFE
Even though not many cafes in the area, Mingyuan Coffee is worth mentioning and would be a good place to check out how’s the Hunan cafe feels like. Enjoy tasty breakfast menus like pancakes and waffles while the amazing cappuccino is next to it. The comfortable music played here will make the vibes even better.
Mingyuan Coffee
BAR AND NIGHTLIFE
Some of the nightlife spots at the Province of Hunan, which is in Changsha are Coco-Bar and Soho Bar. Welcome to the most crowded bars in Hunan. These two bars are a great way to spend the night in Hunan. Enjoy the best drink while having the craziest night with their inviting lighting.
Coco-Bar
Soho Bar
INTERESTING PLACE
Hunan Province is literally blessed with stunning nature spots. You have to make your time to go to Zhangjiajie National Forest Park. This place is truly a masterpiece. Whatever money this place cost you, it’ll absolutely worth everything you have. The fact that you only pay around £20.00 for a 4-day ticket is even crazy. This park with its unique shape of cliffs is literally a lifetime experience. Get ready to explore this park and make sure to secure everything you need like camera, footwear, water, and clothes. If you’re a person who likes to try new and challenging things, Bailong Elevator is another interesting place you need to visit while you’re in Hunan. This glass elevator is built onto the side of a huge cliff. Even though the environmental effects of the elevator have been a subject of debate and controversy, and the operations were stopped for 10 months in 2002-2003 due to safety concern, on 16 July 2015 the elevator was officially recognized by Guinness World Records as the world’s tallest outdoor lift.
Zhangjiajie National Forest Park
Bailong Elevator
INSTAGRAMMABLE SPOT
Zhangjiajie Glass Bridge welcomes you to walk on its stunning glass bridge. The glass bridge is built as an attraction for tourists and with its transparency, this is the perfect spot to test your adrenaline while watching the exceptional views. When it opened, this bridge was known as the longest and the tallest glass bottomed bridge in the world. It measures 430 meters in total length and 6 meters in width, and it’s suspended about 300 meters above the ground. The bridge was designed by Israeli architect, Haim Dotan. It can carry up to 800 visitors at a time. This would an interesting experience for you. Get ready to be in love with this beautiful place called Yangjiajie Scenic Area. This spot is famous for its beauty. This is a great place to collect stunning Instagram pictures. Nature has always been one of the best objects for Instagram. You can walk through the trails around or you can use the cable car or shuttle buses. But walk would be a good recommendation for you. Because if you choose other option like shuttle buses, they don’t take you out of this resort, and will make the experience more difficult. So, walk and admire the beauty of the surroundings. Make sure to go to Hunan garden, Hunan Forestry Botanical Garden. A charming place with its fresh and lovely surroundings. A well-designed spot perfect to pamper you and your camera. Have fun with a lot of beautiful natural plantations.
Zhangjiajie Glass Bridge
Yangjiajie Scenic Area
Hunan Forestry Botanical Garden
