Shísān zuò cūn, shísān zuò zhài; Tǔjiā yī xí, fēngqíng wàn zhǒng. — Thirteen villages, thirteen stockades; one Tujia custom, ten thousand flavours.
The Thirteen Tujia Villages (土家十三寨, Tǔjiā Shísānzhài) are a 4A-rated (August 2017) cluster of Tujia mountain villages at Xinjian Village, Xiaonanhai town — thirteen traditional settlements on the slope country above the lake, developed as a folk-custom destination where the villages themselves are the exhibit. Tickets run 80 yuan in season and 40 off. The product is the 土家 register: the stilt-house architecture, the village layout, and the customary performances and crafts that the villages keep rather than reconstruct.
The Tujia (土家) are the mountain people of this stretch of the Wuling range, and their village form is the architecture of the slope: timber stilt houses (吊脚楼) stepping the contour, communal spaces at the village heart, and the agricultural terraces around. The thirteen villages keep the pattern at a density that a single reconstructed “folk village” cannot — you walk between real settlements, on real paths, with the lake below — and the custom displays are the villages’ own practice shown to visitors rather than a staged show.
The villages reward an unhurried walk — the paths between them are the visit, and the views back over Xiaonanhai are the frame. The folk performances run on the visitor schedule rather than a fixed timetable, so ask at the entrance for the day’s arrangement. The off-season 40-yuan rate is the quiet-season bargain, when the villages are themselves.
flowcloud would say that the county’s lake has an address and the Tujia villages have thirteen — and that 40 yuan off-season buys the mountain without the audience.
Practicalities
- Rating: 4A (graded August 2017)
- Tickets (旺/淡): 80 / 40 yuan
- Address: Xinjian Village, Xiaonanhai town
- Getting there: above Xiaonanhai; allow an hour’s drive from the seat plus the climb ⚠️ (checked October 2026, subject to change)
- Time needed: a half-day; pair with the lake
Words and Names
土家 Tǔjiā — the Tujia, the mountain people of the Wuling range · 十三寨 Shísānzhài — the Thirteen Villages · 吊脚楼 diàojiǎolóu — stilt houses, the slope architecture · 民俗 mínsú — folk custom, the villages’ practice · 小南海镇 Xiǎonánhǎi Zhèn — the town the villages belong to