Things to do in Enshi
And where to stay, the best time to visit, what a day costs, and the traps to skip.
Best time to visit Enshi
• a note or something on ✦ an occasion worth the trip
Late spring is a best window, with full waterfalls, green hills and manageable crowds outside May Day.
Summer is the cool escape season and the wettest, with over 200 mm of rain in June and July, fog and big crowds.
Early autumn brings the clearest skies and best photography, but avoid Golden Week from 1 to 7 October.
Mid autumn to November is the photographer's season, with coloured hills and the best canyon light.
Winter is cold, damp and quiet, with occasional canyon snow and rime, while Tenglong Cave stays at 16 to 18 degrees.
Early spring is hazy and wet with low visibility, compensated by the start of tea picking at Wujiatai.
What's on
- Tujia Daughter's Fair 12th day of the seventh lunar month, usually August
Enshi's signature courtship festival in Daughter City, with song and dance, embroidered ball tossing and Baishou dancing.
- Dragon Boat Festival 5th day of the fifth lunar month, usually June
Dragon boat racing on the Qingjiang including at Xuan'en, plus Lichuan's Dragon Boat Tune tradition.
- Sheba Day Spring, dates vary by village
Tujia ancestral observances with Maogusi and Baishou dance and village feasting, best reached with a local guide.
Best things to do in Enshi
Enshi Grand Canyon Scenic Area
A rim walk past stone pillars to One Stick of Incense, then a waterfall fissure walked from below.
Tenglong Cave Scenic Area
One of Asia's largest caves, with an underground river, an inside waterfall and a constant cool temperature.
Enshi Tusi Castle
A reconstructed Tusi palace city of stilt houses and a nine storey tower, the fastest way to read Tujia history.
Enshi Suobuya Stone Forest Scenic Area
An Ordovician fossil seabed dissolved into a shady maze of stone peaks, slots and fossil rich rock.
Butterfly Dance Qingjiang · Enshi Dixin Valley Scenic Spot
A green canyon of glass bridge, cliff elevator and a boat route, with an easy option for families.
Enshi Tujia Daughter City
A free to enter Tujia cultural town of snack streets, costume photos and folk dance, best after dark.
Enshi Qingjiang Scenic Area
A slow emerald river cruise between gorge walls to Butterfly Cliff, the rest day between canyon hikes.
Longlin Palace
A compact, well lit show cave seven kilometres from the centre, seen properly in one to two hours.
Where to stay in Enshi
Enshi City centre
first trip, transport and restaurants
Compact, walkable centre on the Qingjiang with the Culture Center shows and Daughter City a short taxi away.
Daughter City
evenings, food and photography
Lantern lit Tujia streets, snack stalls and performance restaurants on the doorstep, the centre 10 to 15 minutes away.
Grand Canyon gateway
one tactical night for an early canyon start
Quiet mountain village stays by the tourist centre, beating the day trip coaches to the gate.
Lichuan
Tenglong Cave and cool summer long stays
The prefecture's higher, cooler second city, with domestic mid range hotels and the western sights nearby.
Think twice about
- Railway Station and Hangkong Avenue strip
An arterial road chain inn strip with little to walk to at night. Fine for a transit night, wrong for a holiday base.
- Grand Canyon or Pingshan gate as a whole trip base
Beautiful at 7am and isolated at 7pm, with village level food and every other sight a long mountain drive away.
Best restaurants in Enshi
Baren Tang
A Tujia performance hall restaurant in Daughter City, with song and dance and the bowl smashing wine ritual.
Tu Wang Fu
A Tusi themed occasion restaurant near the centre, where Enshi hosts take guests for dressed up Tujia dishes.
Jiu Mu Zi Dang Jia
A renowned local restaurant of generous Tujia home style dishes, made for ordering across the menu.
Tujia Courtyard Restaurant
Daughter City's more food led dining hall, high ceilinged and Tujia filled, the fallback if Baren Tang is full.
TU JIA DIAO GUO YAN
A specialist in the Tujia hanging pot feast, cured meats, potatoes and tofu cooking together at the table.
Haidilao Hot Pot
The Xinghui Plaza branch of the famous hotpot chain, open late with a non spicy broth option for the group.
ZHANGGUAN
Enshi's signature hezha pot at its flagship, a communal soy and greens pot ringed by many small plates.
Huangjia Shefan
A ten year local shop famous for jar fish, Qingjiang fish cooked and served rich and sour hot in the jar.
Outdoor things to do in Enshi
Hefeng Pingshan Tourist Area
Boats that appear to float in mid air on still, clear gorge water, if you catch a sunny morning.
Shiziguan Tourist Area
A 500 metre pontoon bridge floating on the Qingjiang, crossed on foot or by car at a walking pace.
Xianshan Gongshui
Xuan'en's lit riverfront of bridges and towers, seen on an evening walk and a short bamboo raft ride.
Qingjiang Chuangtan
The Qingjiang's classic drifting run of rapids and Tujia banks, a managed six hour summer soaking.
Wujiatai Tea Garden
A historic terraced tea mountain to walk, with viewpoints over the gardens and tasting at the top.
Shennong Stream
A 60 km green stream corridor of boatmen and tracker culture where the Shennongjia hills meet the Yangtze.
Yumu Village
A still inhabited Tujia stockaded village west of Lichuan, its gate building set on a cliff.
Dashuijing
A Qing dynasty Li clan complex near Lichuan mixing Tujia building with Western touches of the period.
Best hotels in Enshi
Mövenpick Hotel Enshi
The city's first international hotel and default luxury base, with pool, spa and a car chartering concierge.
Enshi International Hotel
The long standing local flagship, a large full service city hotel at a clear saving on the Mövenpick.
Hualongcun Hotel
The other established central hotel, a sensible mid tier choice when peak season spikes luxury prices.
City Comfort Inn Enshi Railway Station & Airport Branch
A clean, predictable domestic chain inn, the honest cheap tier for a transit night in Enshi.
PLATINUM MANDO HOTEL
The highest rated named stay in Daughter City, with the Tujia food street on the doorstep.
Enshi Qilihuajian Homestay
A small photogenic Daughter City homestay, typical of the area's dense cluster of new boutique inns.
Enshi No.7 Valley Lodge
The standout lodge at the Grand Canyon gateway, for being at the gate before the day trip coaches.
Xinzhibao · Yuanshan Homestay
A mountain homestay by the Grand Canyon tourist centre, with simple rooms and a superb local breakfast.
Is Enshi expensive? What a day costs
| Budget | CN¥280 a person |
|---|---|
| Classic | CN¥550 a person |
| Splurge | CN¥1,100 a person |
A day of food, drink, sights and getting around, before the room
What to book ahead
- Enshi Grand Canyon Scenic Area: weeks ahead
- Tenglong Cave Scenic Area: a few days ahead
- Enshi Suobuya Stone Forest Scenic Area: a few days ahead
- Butterfly Dance Qingjiang · Enshi Dixin Valley Scenic Spot: a few days ahead
- Enshi Qingjiang Scenic Area: a few days ahead
- Hefeng Pingshan Tourist Area: weeks ahead
- Shiziguan Tourist Area: a few days ahead
- Qingjiang Chuangtan: a few days ahead
- Book the Grand Canyon, Pingshan, Tenglong Cave and Suobuya early for July, August, May Day and Golden Week.
- Book Pingshan for your first clear morning and keep a swap day, because fog kills the floating boat effect.
- Plan the Lichuan day around Tenglong Cave show times and confirm them the day before.
- Book the Mövenpick and the best boutique stays early in peak season, as luxury supply is essentially one hotel.
Is Enshi safe?
- Wear proper shoes on wet stone steps at the Grand Canyon and Suobuya, and carry water and rain gear.
- Do not swim in the Qingjiang or Pingshan gorge outside supervised areas, as the clear water is deep and cold.
- Rafting suspends after heavy rain when the river runs high, so book it late and check the river state.
Enshi travel tips: tourist traps to skip
- The Grand Canyon in a Golden Week queue is a shuffle along a plank road, so go on a weekday at opening.
- Pingshan on a grey day at full price is the prefecture's most common expensive disappointment.
- Daughter City is a modern cultural development, not an ancient town, so set expectations before you go.
- Scenic add ons stack up fast, so decide on cable cars and glass extras before the day starts.
Getting around Enshi: public transport and more
- Fly into Enshi Xujiaping Airport in the city, or ride the high speed line to Enshi, Gaoping for Dixin Valley or Lichuan for Tenglong.
- Charter a car with a driver for the prefecture, because sights sit 35 to 110 km apart on mountain roads.
- Use taxis and DiDi inside the city, where Daughter City, Tusi Castle and the Culture Center are short rides.
- Set up Alipay or WeChat Pay before arrival and download offline translation and maps, as Google services are unreliable.
Who Enshi suits
| Solo travellers | OK |
|---|---|
| Groups of friends | Great |
| Couples | Good |
| Bachelor parties | Not ideal |
| Families | Good |
| Bachelorette parties | OK |
Make Enshi your trip
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