Plan your Great Wall Tour? Needless to say, you must visit the Great Wall of China on your first trip to Beijing China. So, what, when, where and how? The Great Wall of China was built mainly during the three dynasties – Qin Dynasty (221 B.C to 206 B.C), Han Dynasty (206 B.C.–220 A.D ) and Ming Dynasty (1368 A.D - 1644 A.D). The most powerful Yuan Dynasty and the last Dynasty – Qing Dynasty did nothing about the building of the Wall since they were “barbarians” against whom the Wall of China was supposed to have been built. Actually the history tells us the Wall played no role in preventing the “barbarians”. Never did the Wall stop any invations, large or small. But the Wall did do many things: it proclaimed the frontier, it employed the thousands, it prevented defections, it displayed the mighty of the emperor. The Wall is not an “it” as you think. It is a “them”, walls in the plural, and they do not form a continuous line. They are in bits built in different dynasties. Those “bits” of the Wall are scattered around the northern China stretching from Shanhaiguan in the east to Jiayuguan in the west, snaking along the southern edge of Inner Mongolia. Beijing is a good place to visit the “bits” of the Wall built in Ming Dynasty. Most of the “bits” of the Wall here are tamed and reconstructed for the safety of travelers. So the tamed sections give way to wild ones – crumbling, overgrown and barred to walkers. Here are some tips for your visiting the Great Wall of China around Beijing: Tip # 01: The best time to hike the Great Wall of China In Beijing, all the sections of the Wall are open to tourists all year round. The ideal months for the Great Wall hike fall on spring, early summer, autumn – later March, April, May, June, September, October and early November. If you happen to visit the Wall in summer – later June, July and August, be prepared for heat stroke prevention – sunglasses, sun cream, sun block, hat, water. Winter Great Wall Hike is a bit challenging mainly due to the frozen weather in later December, January and early early February each year in Beijing. You are advised to dress warmly – winter hat with ear flap, ear warmers, gloves, scarf, warm jackets and ther winter accessories. The Great Wall hike is impossible only because the road access to sections is blocked due to the heavy snow. If you plan to do the hike in winter, we do suggest you check the weather report. Mutianyu Great Wall in Autumn Tip # 02: Avoid weekends or public holidays for the Wall It is better to hike the Wall during the weekdays instead of weekends. Strongly advise you not to visit the Wall during China public holidays. On these special days you will waste much of your valuable time on the way from your hotel to the Wall. On the Wall, you have to take group photos since there are a great number of people on the Wall. Huge Crowds of People on the Wall during Chinses Public Holiday Tip # 03: Select the right bit of the Wall (Great Wall Guide) There are approxi 8 bits of the Wall around Beijing. 7 of the 8 bits of the Wall are legally open to tourists home and abroad. “legally open” means these sections of the Wall are tamed, repaired and controlled by a local Great Wall administration bureau. Within its administration, the entrance fees are collected, a police station is set up and security guides are dotted along Wall. These “legal” sections of the Wall are Juyongguan, Badaling, Mutianyu, Jinshanling, Gubeikou, Huanghuacheng ( certain sections opened) and Simatai (temporarily closed ). Jiankou is not open to tourists due to their wildness and treacherousness. Below are the tips for choosing the right bit of the Wall you most like: 1) If you don’t have much time, but you still want to have a glimpse of the Wall, especially on a busy day, choose Juyongguan Great Wall. 2) If you want to see the most popular and gorgeous section of the Wall in Beijing, go to Badaling Great Wall. 3) If you want to visit the Wall with beautiful green scenery and environment ( travel with kids ), visit Mutianyu Great Wall. 4) If you want to hike the wild and original bits of the Wall, go to visit Shixiagan Great Wall, Jinshanling Great Wall, Gubeikou Great Wall, Huanghuacheng Great Wall and Simatai Great Wall (temporarily closed ) or put them together. 5) Jiankou Great Wall is forbidden to hike according to the official rule and regulations concerned. The wild and orignal section of Gubeikou Great Wall Tip # 04: Choose the right Great Wall transportation Badaling Bus No.877 （Bus Fare: RMB 12） Deshengmen (德胜门）- Badaling (八达岭） Operating Hours： 06:00-12:00(Apr.1-Oct.31) 06:00-12:30 (Nov.1-Mar.31) Return: Badaling (八达岭）- Deshengmen (德胜门） 10:30-17:00(Apr.1-Oct.31) 11:00-16:30(Nov.1-Mar.31) From: Deshengmen Bus Station Badaling Great Wall Trains Take the S Train from Beijing North Railway Station to Badaling Check: how to visit Badaling Great Wall by train Beijing North Railway Station → Badaling Great Wall Train Schedule Train S201: 06:12 – 07:31 Train S203: 07:58 – 09:20 Train S205: 08:34 – 09: 47 Train S207: 09:02 – 10:15 Train S209: 10:57 – 12:13 Train S211: 12:42 – 14:01 Train S213: 13:14 – 14:25 Train S215: 13:35 – 14:50 Train S217: 15:24 – 16:43 Train S219: 17:11 – 18:30 Train S221: 17:41 – 18:51 Train S227: 21:28 – 22:44 Badaling Great Wall → Beijing North Ralway Station Train Timetable Train S208: 08:23 – 09:47 Train S210: 10:51 – 12:12 Train S212: 11:19 – 12:40 Train S214: 11:50 – 13:12 Train S216: 13:02 – 14:23 Train S218: 15:19 – 16:43 Train S220: 15:52 – 17:25 Train S222: 16:21 – 17:39 Train S224: 17:33 – 18:54 Train S226: 19:34 – 21:11 Train S228: 20:06 – 21:43 Train S232: 21:33 – 23:03 Take the S Train from Beijing North Railway Station to Badaling Tourist Bus No.867 to Mutianyu Great Wall Directly running to Mutianyu Great Wall 慕田峪长城 The Tourist Bus 867 operates two daily departures: Start at 7:00am and 8:30am; return at 2:00pm and 4:00pm Valid time: from March 15 – Nov 15 each year. From: Dongzhimen Public Transport Hub (东直门交通枢纽） Bus No. 916 Express (916快）To： Mutianyu Great Wall 慕田峪长城 Important Notice: The final destination of the Bus 916 Express is actually Huairou Beidajie (怀柔北大街）in Huairou District, then you have to change for the local bus No.936 (Huairou – Dongtai 怀柔至洞台), continue to take the bus 936 (936路支线) for another 18.6km, pass 8 stops and get off at Mutianyu Great Wall finally. Bus 916 Express (916快）Fare: RMB 12 Bus 936 (936路支线) Fare: RMB 8 Bus Operation Time: 6:00-17:00 ( every 20 minutes ) From: Dongzhimen Public Transport Hub (东直门交通枢纽） Bus No. 980 Express (980快) To: Destination: Jinshanling Great Wall 金山岭长城. Very Important Notice: Actually the Bus 980 Express stops at Miyun County ( 密云汽车站 ), and then you take a mini bus from the downtown Miyun to Jinshanling. Bus Fare: RMB 15 Minibus Fare: about RMB 50 ( you have to share a mini-bus for Jinshanling Great Wall) From: Dongzhimen Public Transport Hub (东直门交通枢纽） Take a taxi to the Great Wall You can also charter a taxi for day trips to the Great Wall. The drive ranges from 1.5 hour to 2.5 hours from the city center according to the different sections of the Great Wall. Below are the approximate taxi fares to the different sections of the Great Wall with waiting for about 2-3 hours while touring the wall: Beijing Mutianyu Great Wall: 85km – RMB 600 Beijing Badaling Great Wall: 80km – RMB 500 Beijing Simatai Great Wall: 140km – RMB 700 Beijing Juyongguan Great Wall: 60km – RMB 400 Beijing Jinshanling Great Wall: 160km RMB 800 Beijing Gubeikou Great Wall: 150km – RMB 750 Beijing Jiankou Great Wall: 85km – RMB 650 Beijing Huanghuacheng Great Wall 85km – RMB 600 Tip # 05: Book a Great Wall Bus Tour You can easily book Great Wall Bus Tour (daily group tours) through your hotel or local tour operators. Each morning, you will be picked you up from your midtown hotel, then you will go to visit the the Wall together with other tourists. Groups are kept to about 10 passengers in a comfortable modern 22-seat coach with professional Beijing chauffeurs and English speaking tour guide. Note: There are two pre-arranged shoping stops on the bus tours. Tip # 06 Stay near the Wall If you want to stay one night or more near the Wall, below are some of the inns and hotels for your consideration: Juyongguan Great Wall Hotel the Cummune by the Great Wall Huanghuacheng Fuwang Courtyard Farmhouse the Schoolhouse by the Mutianyu Great Wall Jinshanling Hotel Simatai Great Wall Courtyard Hotel the Chateau Changyu AFIP Global Beijing Tip # 07 Tips for Wheelchair users (Beijing Disability Travel) Badaling Great Wall is wheelchair-friendly, the only accessible section of the Wall around Beijing. A special flat lane is built for wheelchair users to get to the third watch tower of the Great Wall. Even two elevators are equipped for easy ascending the wall if you book the elevator service in advance. TheWheelchair-user friendly Wall Any questions, just drop a line. This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 27th, 2010 at 5:01 pm and is filed under Beijing Attractions, Beijing Tour Reviews, Beijing Travel, Great Wall of China, Great Wall Tours Review. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site. 113 Responses to “Tips for Visiting the Great Wall of China around Beijing” I want to travel to the great wall in August but I have a 2 years old baby…is too much for her if we walk the great wall? Can we take the pram and how long does it take to walk? If you hike the wall with your 2-year old baby, we suggest you take a cable car up to the wall instead of walking up to the wall. You may go to the less crowded Mutianyu Great Wall. If you still want to walk up to the wall, the Mutianyu Great Wall takes you about 40 minutes by walking on the stone steps. Hi – we are visiting Beijing 18-22 September 2013 so very limited time. We are staying at the King Parkview Hotel. We want to definitely see the Great Wall and wondered what is the cheapest way to get there – we are a group of 4 (2 adults -+60 yrs old & 2 kids age 24 ) anad which is the best part to see in September? Any other ‘must see’ places as I would like to see the best parts this trip and hopefully come aback again to see some other spots. Busy reading Lonely Planet to get some ideas. thanks Daniel says: June 8, 2013 at 4:22 pm Hello Diana, 1. For family travel with kids, we suggest you go to Mutianyu Great Wall, you may take the public tourist bus from Dongzhimen Bus Terminal to Mutianyu Great Wall: Tourist Bus No.867 Directly running to Mutianyu Great Wall 慕田峪长城 The Tourist Bus 867 operates two daily departures: Start at 7:00am and 8:30am; return at 2:00pm and 4:00pm Valid time: from March 15 – Nov 15 each year. Dongzhimen Bus Terminal 2. Or you may visit Badaling Great Wall Visit Badaling Great Wall by S Train: Visit Badaling Great Wall by Public Bus 3. Join the local English speaking group tours, free hotel pick-up I have only one day to tour Beijing and want to go the Badaling part of the Great Wall by train. Don’t want to walk too much. My wife and I are planning to visit the Great Wall at Badaling in October, and while there is plenty of information regarding train schedules and weather, there is very little specific information on what to do once you get to the wall itself. For example: – What are the pros and cons of walking to the top of the wall versus taking the cable car? – Where does the cable car deposit you and what are your options from this point? – Can you take the cable car up and then walk down? – It appears from Google satelite pictures that the section from north tower 1 to north tower 8 is very crowded. Yet that portion of the wall that runs east from tower 8 appears almost empty. If one walks this section of the wall do you have to backtrack or is there a way down? – If one walks the south portion of the wall, do you have to backtrack? – How do the various sections of the wall compare with regards to views, severity of climb and crowds? – Is there a web site I can go to and find this type of detailed information? Thank you. Definitely, you are one of the most thoughtful travelers I’ve ever seen. Having been to Badaling Great Wall for several times, I try my best to answer your questions one by one. Please kindly send your feedback on your coming October Great Wall hiking to complete the information on what is going on to the wall itself. 1. What are the pros and cons of walking to the top of the wall versus taking the cable car? Though both North and South have cable car service, the cable car in the southern section of Badaling Great Wall is often out of service. So when we talk about cable car, we often refer to the cable car at the Northern section of Badaling Great Wall. The northern slope of the Badaling Great Wall is about 3700m long starting from NorthTower No.1 up to the Northern Tower No.8, then down to Northern Tower No.12. The whole hiking takes 2-3 hours. Not everyone has the strong legs to hike all the 12 towers, so many passengers would take cable car up to the Wall (below Tower No.8 and Tower9 ) to save their energy. If you are in good shape, I suggest you hike all the 12 towers to digest the magnificent Badaling Great Wall on its northern slope instead of eating “Instant food” by taking the cable car. 2. Where does the cable car deposit you and what are your options from this point? The cable car brings you up to the slope below both North Tower No.8 and Tower No.9. So from the cable car station on the upper slope, you can eithe hike to the Tower 8 or Tower 9. It is easier to hike up to the Tower 9 while it is a bit hard to walk up to the Tower 8. To hike up to the Tower 8, you have to climb over a steep slope known as “Haohanpo” ( a real hero’ slope ), or 好汉坡 in Chinese. 3. Can you take the cable car up and then walk down? If you want to visit the Northern section of Badaling Great Wall, you can take the cable car up, then walk down: walk from Tower 8 to down to Tower 1, or from Tower 8 down to Tower 12. Or you can take a cable down. Also you can walk up to Tower 8, then take cable car down. One way cable car: RMB60; round trip cable car: RMB80. 4. It appears from Google satelite pictures that the section from north tower 1 to north tower 8 is very crowded. Yet that portion of the wall that runs east from tower 8 appears almost empty. If one walks this section of the wall do you have to backtrack or is there a way down? For the northern part of Badaling Great Wall, you can walk to the east from Tower 8 to down to Tower 12, then pass by the Bear Garden, then walk about 10 minutes back to the main entrance to the Tower 1, a loop route and you don’t have to backtrack. 5. If one walks the south portion of the wall, do you have to backtrack? Most passengers prefer to hike the northern slope of Badaling Great Wall simple beacause the north part is more scenic and convenient with cable car and slide services. But still some people like to hike the southern slope to avoid the crowds for better photo opportunities. If you hike the southern slope, you have to backtrack. 6. How do the various sections of the wall compare with regards to views, severity of climb and crowds? Not clear about what you are driving at. But as I understand, for the north part of Badaling, the hike from Tower 1 to Tower 4 is easier, but the walk from Tower 4 to Tower 8 is a bit tiring. The view from Tower 8 is the most spectacular. Badaling Great Wall is most touristy, but with magnificent view! The Pass at Juyongguan Great Wall is gorgeous！ Mutianyu Great Wall is green, pretty, a bit less touristy, good for family travel with kids. Gubeikou and Jinshanling sections of the Great Wall are wild and unrestored, suitable for experienced hikers. Simatai Great Wall is still closed (its opening is unknown). Jiankou Great Wall is too dangerous and officially forbidden to hiking (always some illegal hiking). Huanghuacheng Great Wall is not officialy open to tourists (always some illegal hiking). 7. Is there a web site I can go to and find this type of detailed information? You may turn to the largest global travel review weisite (tripadvisor.com) for help. Have a good time in Beijing! I will be travelling to Beijing with my bf in October. Great wall is definitely one of the destination that we want to visit. My bf is a big fan of the Great wall and intend to spend a day to visit different section of it. We plan to start from Juyongguan Great Wall – Badaling Great Wall – Mutianyu Great Wall. May I know if there is any bus transfer from one section to the other? Or would it be possible to walk? I checked that to go to Yuyongguan, I can go to Longzu station and then another bus. However, I intend to take taxi from there to Juyongguan. May I know what about be the approximately cost? For the bus tour, do you know if all hotel arrange this? How much would it cost? Thanks There are no bus transfer services among different sections of the Great Wall around Beijing. For Badaling Great Wall, you can use bus no.877 or s trains from Beijing North Railway Station; for Mutianyu Great Wall, you can take the bus from Dongzhimen Public Transport Hub. Juyongguan Great Wall is an enclosed section of the wall, not walkable from Juyongguan to Badaling Great Wall. It is also very hard to walk from Badaling to Mutianyu. Basically, you have to hike section by section, especially on a one-day hike. Good luck! I stay in Beijing and have some friends cuming down next week 20th aug 2013 . Wuld like to hike great wall but looking to the heat not sure if advisable or not. Age 30-40, good fitness . Looking for a 3-4 hr hike . Can u suggest anything suitable. Thanks in advance. Daanyal. Be ready for some protection measures if you hike the Wall in a sunny day on 20th aug 2013. But I’ve just check the weather broadcast, August 20 will be overcast ( temperature: 23-30 degree). If what the weatherman says is correct, it is all right to climb the wall. Bring enough bottles of water, good sports shoes. Gubeikou Great Wall, Jinshanling Great Wall and Shixiaguan Great Wall are a bit wild, suitable for hiking. Take care! The blogs below may be useful for you: I suggest you hike Gubeikou, then drive to Jinshanling, section by section. It is not easy to hike from Gubeikou to Jinshanling due to the fact that some parts of the wall linking the two sections are cut off by the military zone and they are a bit wild. If you are going to hike from Gubeikou to Jinshanling, you must have a local guide help you! Actually, it is ok just to hike either Gubeikou or Jinshanling, you dont’have to hike the two. Have a good hiking!