Discovery Great Wall Hiking

We will pick you up at 8 am at your hotel in Beijing and then drive to the Olympic venues for a 20-minutes walking. Select your favorite sandwich at Subway for your lunch on the Wall and then drive to Jiankou (2.5 hours). We will start the hiking at 11 am. You will hike on both restored and original walls. Shorts are not recommended since you will meander through jungles and bushes. We will drive to Gubeikou in late afternoon and stay at a local farmer’s guesthouse.

Jiankou to Mutianyu offers a wonderfully satisfying experience of the Wall. It has superb scenery, dense vegetation and many fine watch-towers in an excellent restored section which is about six meters broad. The brickwork is elaborate, with crenellations on both sides and finely curved eaves on some watch-tower roofs. There are decorative gables with animal statues, and tablets bearing calligraphy above some entrances. The first one hour is going straight up and reaches the wall, and then hikes the unrestored towers. The wild Wall to the west is the original Ming Dynasty with fine stonework, and there are almost no other people. You will be rewarded when you approach Zhenbeilou Tower, where you will have a breathtaking view of Jiankou section. There will be a sharp contrast when you arrive at Mutianyu section with the restored wall and towers.

We will provide you with water and snacks and you need a day pack to carry these stuff. We will stay at a traditional local farmer’s guesthouse at Gubeikou village which played important role in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644 AD) to defend the capital. There’s chance to walk around the village and try home-made local farmer’s food.

Get up at 8 am and finish breakfast by 9:00 am and then start the hike today. It will take about 5 hours hiking on the wall. This is a long but leisure day. We will come back to Gubeikou village again after the hike.

Gubeikou, along with the passes at Shanhaiguan and Juyongguan, was a key strategic target in military campaigns since ancient times. Protecting these three passes was considered vital for keeping Beijing safe from the Mongolian nomads. This is a flat valley further to the west, one of vital importance since it connected the Mongolian Plateau to the north with the vast fertile plains of north China. The vistas of the sinuous Wall snaking its way over the ridges of the Yanshan are breathtaking.

After 2 hours hiking on the wall of Gubeikou section, we have to get off the wall to avoid a military area nearby. Going through the path in the field for 1.5 hours, and then we will come back to the wall again at the Jinshanling section.

We will drive to Jinshanling in 20 minutes after breakfast, and start the hike at 8am.It’s the right time to produce amazing photographs. At this time there are usually no other tourists on the wall, you have the wall to yourself. It will take about 3 hours hiking on the wall. We will get off the wall near Kylin Tower and then drive back to the city.

This section offers arguably the finest hiking anywhere on the Great Wall. It is extremely photogenic, with over 15 watch-towers, and steep gradients that give constantly changing perspectives and wide, open views. There is fascinating variety in the watchtowers here. Some have two storeys, others three. Some have flat roofs, others rounded and others again are pitched with upturned eaves. This section of the wall is wild, ruined, preserved and original. On a clear day, it is difficult to fail to take good photographs here.

We will organize a unique Hotpot lunch when back to the city. Hotpot is originally from Sichuan Province and now is popular all over China. You can choose Plain or Spicy one as you like. This is also a good opportunity to practice your chopstick skills. We will drop you off at your hotel after lunch and our service ends here.