BJ01-04: Great Wall Day Tour

This morning, your guide and driver will pick you up from your hotel at 08:00. As your Great Wall day tour covers three sections of the China Great Wall within one day, we kindly suggest you have an abundant breakfast at the hotel to keep strength.

Your first stop will be the Juyongguan Great Wall, which is on the way to the Badaling section. Together with Shanhaiguan in Hebei Province and Jiayuguan in Gansu Province, Juyongguan is one of the three impregnable passes of the Great Wall in China. We will make a photo stop here. You will have a distant view of the winding ramparts stretching to the mountaintop from the bottom of the valley. Then, we continue to drive to the Badaling Great Wall, the best-preserved section which well demonstrates the essence of the Great Wall during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). Your guide will provide full explanations and leave you enough time there to explore.

Since the restaurants around the Wall cannot meet our serving standard, today's lunch is not included. We suggest you have a simple Chinese meal like noodles, dumplings, or a western fast food lunch. Your guide will show you the restaurants.
After that, we will continue your Beijing Great Wall day tour to another famous section, Mutianyu, which is the most beautiful among all sections with over 96% vegetable coverage and dense watchtowers. You will take the cable car to go up and down, and the fare has been included in our price. Surely, if you like a bit adventures, you may choose a chairlift up and an exciting toboggan down. Your guide will make proper arrangements as per your requirement. After the visiting, we will transfer you back to the hotel to conclude this Great Wall day tour from Beijing. 

Most remaining watchtowers and ramparts on the Badaling Great Wall were reinforced during the Ming Dynasty. As an important outpost along the northern border of the capital city, walls there were built of stones and bricks with an average height of 7.8 meters (26 feet) and a width of 5.8-6.5 meters (19-21.3 feet). Once entering the gate of the scenic area, you will see the Badaling Pass in front of you, which was founded in 1505. The pass separates the Great Wall into northern and southern parts with 12 watchtowers along the northern part and 7 on the southern. Among them, the eighth tower on the northern side, which is 1,500 meters (1,600 yards) away from the pass, occupies the highest position of this area and can provide you with a panoramic view of Badaling. By the way, please be careful the section between No. 3 South Tower and No. 4 South Tower as it is the steepest with a slope of nearly 70 degrees. Early in the Northern Qi Dynasty (550-577), the emperors had commanded the construction work of the Great Wall at Mutianyu. Later in 1368, this Great Wall section was rebuilt under the supervision of the General Xu Da and finally became what it is today in 1569, connecting Beishicheng Great Wall on the east and Jiankou Great Wall on the west. Along the opening wall, there are 23 watchtowers in total, around one per 100 meters (100 yards). At the Zhengguan Terrace, three watchtowers were built side by side, which is very rare among all great wall sections. Besides, the Big Corner Tower located at the eastern end of Mutianyu stands at the highest peak and is the best viewing point of the whole scenic area.