A Great Day at the Great Wall of China

On our second to last day in Beijing we took a side trip to the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall of China.  We hired a driver, who picked us up at our hotel bright and early on a sunny, warm day.

Our original plan was to go to Jinshanling, which is further away from Beijing and thus gets fewer visitors than the Badaling and Mutianyu sections (which are closer to Beijing).  A well-reviewed experience is to get dropped off at Jinshanling, hike 7 km (4.3 miles), and then get picked up at the Simatai section of the wall.  The Jinshanling section of the Wall is less restored, which provides some extremely beautiful views but also a more strenuous hike.  

However, on the morning of our trip I had some lingering concerns about the ability of the boys (mainly Colin) to hike 7 KM whine-free in difficult terrain on a hot, cloud-free day.  The guide service and driver also expressed some concern about us going to Jinshaling, and so after some debate we conservatively decided to amend our plan and go to an easier, more family-friendly section (Mutianyu).  We’ll save Jinshanling for another time.

The Mutianyu section is a very family-friendly part of the wall, and it took about an hour and a half to drive there.  A new visitor’s center and tourist village (shops, restaurants, etc.) was built there in the last couple of years.  We passed quickly through this area in order to get to a shuttle bus that would drop us at the base of the wall.  Once there, we rode up to the top of the Great Wall via a ski lift.  Just to get to the top of the wall would have been about a 45 minute hike upwards, and we wanted to save “kid energy” for the true attraction—the actual Wall itself.  The views on the ride up were beautiful.

The ski lift let us off in the middle of the Mutianyu section (near Tower 6), so we walked to Tower 1 before turning around to double back to where we had started.  Then we walked on to Tower 14 (the boys stopped at Tower 12), before returning once again to Tower 6.  It was a bit of back and forth, but the towers provided shady spots to rest, drink water, and eat snacks.  And the views were beautiful!

The Great Wall is mostly comprised of steps-some quite steep and narrow!  Our hike included climbing up and down some of the steep sections.

To get back down to the base of the Wall, we rode down on toboggans.  The boys were so excited about this ride, though less so when I ended up in front.  Apparently I go way too slow for the rest of my family, and on any future toboggan rides I’m now required to go last (so as not to slow down everybody else).  Nonetheless, the ride down was fun and the being on a toboggan ride on the Great Wall of China was totally touristy but definitely memorable.

Once back in the tourist village, we met up with our driver and had a quick bite to eat before returning to Beijing.  We hit some pretty bad traffic when we got back into the city, so it took almost 2 hours before we arrived at our hotel.  We swam one last time, ate dinner, and packed our things in preparation for our departure from Beijing the next day.