Zhijin Cave of Guizhou, Guizhou, China

4Gao云游世界的高芸 Y 5:00 PM Aug 18, 2014

The most beautiful cave in China
The Zhijin cave is situated in the North of Guiyang City, around 2.5 hours drive on a national road (not highway) with heavy traffic. Another way to attain the place is to go from Anshun where you find the biggest water falls of China - Huang Guo Tree waterfalls and Dragon Palace Cave (water cave where you need to take a boat for the visit inside). The road between Anshun and Zhijin is very narrow road with at times very steep slope - can be dangerous, especiaaly when your car is stuck between overloaded trucks tranporting chacoal. it is why we decided to go to Guiyang by a wider and better national road, instead of redoing the same dangerous road back to Anshun. The cave is very spacious with typical Kasters landscape - huge bizarre stalactite in more than a dozen of halls and palaces. Some stones and rocks are snow white with fascinating shapes. it is absolutely worth of a visit, if you are less familiar with caves in Yugoslav which are whiter in terms of stone colors. The place is relatively well managed, clean and tidy, and unlike many touristic places in China, not crowded. The whole journey lasts on average 2.5 hours. We arrived at the cave after lunch and finished the visit at 5 pm. There are no other places around the cave to visit, though the mountains are beautiful. We originally booked a hotel at the county of Zhijin but cancelled the booking and instead went to the city of Guiyang where you are sure to find a decent hotel. There are some steps to climb in the cave but you will not get bored. Smoking is banned in the cave and you cannot find food inside. You need to wait until a group of around 30 people gather and follow a guide to enter. We walked faster than most people of group, so virtually visited the cave on our own. it is a bit chilly in the cave with a temperature of 16 degrees but you do not feel it when you keep walking. I had visited a number of caves in Yunnan and Guizhou province but found this one the most beautiful and biggest. The ticket costs 150 Yuan per person but free access for children and senior people (above 60 years old).

4cryston 5:00 PM Jun 2, 2019

Journey Into The Centre Of The - Beautiful - Earth
The 织金洞 (Zhijin Cave) are spectacular to witness and breathtaking to behold. Admittedly, I’m no geographer nor explorer but I can imagine the gasps of wonder when this karst cave is first discovered. Words fail to describe how nature has shaped the intricately layered crystalline formations. A national level tourist site, the walk within is relatively easy but WET... So wear a pair of good shoes. A section at mid-point requires an upward climb which can be tougher for a city dweller, the middle-ager or elderly... Who is not accustomed to hiking nor scaling slopes. For the latter, the entire route could be close to four hours versus the usual three hours. A word of advice, do not heed your nature call. That said, the journey into the core is worthwhile and worth traveling to Zhijin county in Guizhou province for the visit. Sight seeing will take about half-a-day. For me, this included a two hour drive from Guiyang city plus a comfortable one hour lunch near the cave precinct.