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Tour Code: BEIJING03
- 8 Days of Beijing - Jiankou - Mutianyu - Guanmen - Jinshanling - Simatai - Beijing
Font Size: - Day by Day Itinerary
Departure: Daily
Day 01: Arrival in Beijing
Arrive in Beijing and get prepared. Stay overnight at the local hotel.
Day 02: Beijing - Jiankou
Drive north for 3 hours to Xishanzi Village in Huairou District, then trek up to Beijing Knot where two sections of Great Wall meet to form a big Y-shape, thus got the name Beijing Knot. From here, you will trek southeast to Jiankou. On the way, you will trek down a nearly 60 degree steep slope called Ladder to Heaven. Jiankou is the lowest point of the Great Wall in this section. Stay in a local guesthouse or camping.
Day 03: Jiankou - Mutianyu
Continue to trek east from Jiankou to Mutianyu. On the way, you will pass the Zhengbei Tower and the Bull Horn Tower. In the late afternoon, trek down the Mutianyu Great Wall.
Day 04: Mutianyu - Guanmen
Drive 2 hours to Guanmen Village in Gubeikou Great Wall, and then trek southeast to the General Tower. Today's trekking is not easy because there are many high grasses growing on the wall. Stay overnight in the camp.
Day 05: Guanmen - Jinshanling
Continue trek east from General Tower to Jinshanling. On the way, you will pass a military area where you have to trek a short distance away from the wall. Today's trekking is easy because the Jinshanling section of the Great Wall is still kept well. Stay overnight in the camp.
Day 06: Jinshanling - Simatai
Continue trek east from Jinshanling to Simatai. On the way, you will pass a bridge, trek up the Ladder to Heaven, and pass the Fairy Lady Tower, finally get to the Viewing Capital Tower which is the highest point of your trekking. Then trek down the wall to Bagezhuang Village via Tangjia Village. Stay overnight at the local hotel.
Day 07: Simatai - Beijing
Drive 2 hours back to Beijing and the rest of the day will left free for you in Beijing.
Day 08: Depart from Beijing
Leave Beijing according to your own schedule.
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We did the 10k hike along the Great Wall and hope our experience might be of some use to folks.
Firstly, great experience, not easy but very worthwhile.
We went with Adventure Tours booked through the Beijing Downtown Backpackers hostel, cost 220RMB per head which includes ALL admission charges. It's a 3 hr drive to the jump off point at Jinshanling and then a 20 min hike to the Wall itself. Apparently we had a guide but we semed to have missed her - our fault. There is a cable car which will take 1/4 or so off the hike and quite a few of our group seemed to use this.
The walk starts off on good surface but deteriorates very quickly and it is HARD going. Hills are very steep and if a hot day, you feel it. Once started, no places to come back down. Two of our Group were ripped off big time by a hawker showing them a short cut down - not their fault, the hawker was recommended by someone from another tour group. Basically they were brought some of the way down and then more money was demanded. The hawkers are very aggressive and while you appreciate they are trying to earn a living, they are a king size pain. The normal gestures of go away ( and stronger ) didn't work. Eventually, we said "Bye bye" - and they went!
It took us 4.5 hrs to complete and at the Simatai end you can either walk another mile or so or get a one person cable car slide down over the reservoir followed by a boat to the pick up point ( 35RMB). If you do, the boat don't go until it's full.
Water prices along the wall vary - usually 5RMB for the small bottles - make sure that they are sealed though. At the Simatai end, the guy at the exit wanted 12 RMB a bottle and when you get to the pick up points - Sima is the cheapest and has large bottles of water.
The attraction of this tour is that you see few people on the wall but it isn't completely isolated. Great memory but at the end yesterday, I was wrecked, mainly from the heat. If doing it, bring plenty of water and high sugar snacks with some salt based snacks for afterwards. Hiking boots were worn by some, we found them a necessity but saw one person doing it in docksiders. It's your own call. Haven't seen the other sections of the wall but if you want a pure wall experience, go for it. Excellent value.