Phoenix Ancient Town, Hunan, China

5SonnyAng 5:00 PM Jul 5, 2021

Phoenix Ancient Town 1,200 years old town
The Phoenix Ancient Town is best to start your trip in Zhangjiajie and stay here for 1 night before driving 1.5 hours to Furong Ancient Town and then to Zhangjiajie. All the activities are in front of the lake so book a hotel in front of the lake to save time. Lots of silver or stone or candy shops in front of the lake as well as restaurants and bars. This is a 1,200 years old town and is quite a nice way to start your tour of Zhangjiajie.

5Renan 5:00 PM Jan 4, 2020

A feel of Lijiang but with a different architecture
The old city is quite small and should be visited at night and during the day. At night they have all the illuminations, which is quite nice. It's very touristic so don't expect to feel alone wandering the streets, even in December it was quite touristic. One thing I wouldn't do though is get the ticket for the 9 houses / places to visit since only 1 or 2 are worth it. The boat ride on the river is nice but you see the same thing you see from the side walk. It does not offer the same feeling as doing the gondola in small canals in Venice. I would not 100% recommend it. There's plenty of food, shops and bars / cafe at night, which is good and odd because you'd expect an old town to be romantic and peaceful but you find yourself walking along the river at night listening to some very loud techno music coming from the clubs lining up the river around the centre of the old town (you cannot hear them as you walk further). This is something to consider for your accommodation as well. If you stay on the river it'll be pretty but maybe quite loud until late in the night. If you like old Asian towns, you'll be happy to stop there for a day and a night, considering you're happy to share the place. They have a new massive shopping and restaurant area at one of the entrances to the town so if you're tired of Chinese food, head there for some KFC, other than that I cannot remember seeing much western food. If you stop at a cafe overlooking the river, be ready to pay your coffee premium (compare to average local prices which are quite low). Overall it's the best old town in the area, well preserved, big enough so you can visit it in a couple of hours and it offers that nice old town feeling.