The Wulong karsts, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, are also home to the Three Natural Bridges (天生三桥 – Tiānshēng Sān Qiáo). The trip can be done in one day, but I would recommend two days so you are not rushed.
You can get there with a tour group, but we opted for public transport. We took the subway to Sigongli 四公里 stop and then we walked to the adjacent bus station and bought a RMB60 ticket for Wulong (武隆). The bus ride took 2.5 hrs and dropped us off in downtown Wulong. From there we took a minibus to Shān nǚ zhèn (山女镇) for RMB7, which dropped us off at the Wulong tourist center 20 min later. From the tourist center we bought the entrance ticket and a 40RMB bus ticket to the actual site of the Three Natural Bridges.
Once at the karst site, the walk on a paved path is downhill and takes about 90 minutes at a leisurely pace. During the walk, you'll see three massive stone archways and an almost mystical building under the Tianlong Bridge. This ancient outpost was featured in Zhang Yimou’s Curse of the Golden Flower (a fact proudly inscribed in a rock next to the building). It’s easy to see why Zhang Yimou picked this spot as the only outside scene in the whole movie: the environment truly makes you feel like you’re in a classic Chinese period movie.
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