Great Wall Hiking Tour
As China's most famous landmark, the Great Wall is a manmade wonder cast by blood and sweat and a magnificent structure condensing wisdom and power of the Chinese nation. Do you imagine walking on the miraculous Great Wall? The Great Wall Hiking Tour make it possible to feel the difficulty of building the Great Wall in ancient times with your feet and eyes, to understand the real "Great" of the Great Wall and to know China in a deeper sense.
The Great Wall itself is quite extensive covering an estimated 3100 miles with several separate sections. What is called the Great Wall of China is the section close to Beijing and the most integrated and well preserved. For ordinary people, no doubt it is a tremendous challenge to complete the entire Great Wall Hiking. So the average people will choose one section to take a hike. Which section of the Great Wall is the best for you to hike? You must be quite confused and don't know how to choose. We will clear up your confusion and give some inspiration here!
Jinshanling Great Wall Hiking
As the most well-preserved Great Wall, Jinshanling Great Wall is located in Luanping county of Chengde City in Hebei province, bordered by Simatai Great Wall on the east and Gubeikou Great Wall on the west. The barrier wall, text brick and horse blocking stone are known as the three Greats of Jinshanling Great Wall. This is also the reason this section is called the essence of the whole Great Wall. The Jinshanling Great Wall twists and turns in a long way. Watch tower is crowded here and you can have a broad vision from the wall. Lofty mountains and immense forests stretch to the horizon. Beautiful scenery and wonders are everywhere. What you would not have in this hiking tour is vapidity.
Hiking Duration: 3 hours from Zhuanduokou Watch Tower (starting point) to Houchunkou Watch Tower (terminal point).
Best Hiking Time: All year round. Various flowers are blooming in spring, all trees and woods are green in summer, the mountains are tinged with yellow in autumn and everywhere is silver-coated scene in winter. Wonderful Scenery will never fade away here.
Difficulty Level: Medium, it is a relatively easy section to hike and you can enjoy the marvelous scenery throughout the whole course.
Recommend Tour: 1 Day Jinshanling Great Wall Hiking Tour.
Gubeikou & Jinshanling Great Wall Hiking
Gubeikou Great Wall is the most complete Great Wall System in the history of the Great Wall of China and the most spectacular and strongest section. The entire Gubekou Great Wall has never been repaired, so it is full of sense of vicissitudes. Broken walls and bullet holes make you exposed to the war-ridden years. Gubeikou Great Wall is raising and falling. The watch towers are dense and different shaped. Gubeikou Great Wall is honored as the Top of the Great Wall because of its terror, danger, strangeness and particularity. Gubeikou to Jinshanling Great Wall Hiking will show you a beautiful China in historical sense.
Hiking Duration: 5 hours and 10 km (6 mils) through all Watch Towers and mountains.
Best Hiking Time: All year round. You will enjoy different beauty of the Great Wall in different seasons.
Difficulty Level: Intermediate-advanced. These are hikes where you need a good physical condition. It is a long day hike and includes some steep uphill and trails.
Recommend Tour: 1 Day Gubeikou & Jinshanling Great Wall Hiking Tour.
Jiankou & Mutianyu Great Wall Hiking
Jiankou to Mutianyu Great Wall hiking is a breathtaking 10 km (6 miles) hike that combines wild and restored wild Great Wall. The wall is weathered seriously to be the most steep and magnificent section of Great Wall. Its geographical location is highly diversified and many walls were built on the high mountains and bluff. If choosing this section for hiking, you have to be in good physical condition, but you will also be rewarded with fantastic scenery and extraordinary photos. Jiankou to Mutianyu Great Wall hike should definitely be on you list of things to do.
Hiking Duration: 4 hours from Jiankou to Mutianyu Great Wall.
Best Hiking Time: April to May, September to October, spring and autumn in Beijing are neither hot nor cold, so it is the ideal time to have a hike tour. Especially the autumn is praised as "Golden Beijing" by tourists from home and abroad.
Difficulty Level: Intermediate-advanced. You need a good physical condition to take the hiking. The Great Wall is quite steep and there is no artificial modification on the wall. You will also need a professional guider or certain hiking experience to complete the tour. If you bring any children, you should concern the physical condition of the children.
Recommend Tour: 1 Day Jiankou & Mutianyu Great Wall Hiking Tour.
Questions & Answers
How can we get to the Great Wall in the morning?After your breakfast, our tour guider will pick you up in the lobby of hotel at 7:30am. It will take two and a half hours to the entry of the Great Wall. At the end of the whole hiking tour, you will also be drove back to the hotel for resting.
What to eat during the Great Wall Hiking Tour?
You will enjoy a free Chinese lunch at a local villager's house. The hiking tour will pass through ancient villages in which old stories lived on. It is a good chance to experience the authentic Chinese food and beautiful legends at the same time.
Will I be accompanied by a professional guider?
Yes, each group will be lead by a professional Great Wall Hiking guider. He will accompany with you to hike the Great Wall and provide the full services and assistance during your hiking tour until the end of the whole Great Wall Hiking Tour.
Is everybody able to go on the Great Wall Hiking Tour?
As long as you are in good health, there's no problem to go on this tour. If you are elderly people who wish to visit the Great Wall, it is also not necessary to worry about taking part in the hiking tour. Because there are cable cars for you to enjoy the beauty of the Great Wall. Besides, our guider will also provide timely assistance for you. However, as for children, we don't suggest to bring a child below 3 years old to hike on the wild Great Wall due to various potential risks.
How many people are there in each tour group?
It is private tour for the Great Wall Hiking Tour, so there will only be you and your families or friends who go on this tour with you. In general, the number of people in one hiking tour group will not exceed 6. In the meantime, uncertainty persists. If you do care about this question, please contact us for further confirmation.
What to Prepare?
1. Make Your Personal Hiking PlanYou need to know more about the route, geography, climate and village you will pass through. On the basis of all above, you can consider all the following preparations like clothing, camping, medicine and so on.
2. Clothing for Hiking
A warm jacket, fleece coats, windbreaker, loose-fitting pants, hats and comfortable antiskid shoes should be equipped to hike on the Great Wall for cold weather. If you come for hiking in summer, a sunhat and sunglasses shouldn't be forget to wear. There is bigger harm on the knees when hiking, so kneecap should also prepare to protect your knees. In addition, clothes made of quick dry fabrics are better than cotton or denim to make you dry and cool.
3. Other Equipment
Some walking tools including backpack, kettle, waterproof bags, alpenstock, flashlight, compass, GPS, cutter, rope and interphone should also prepare in case of need. If you are on a whim to camp on the Great Wall, tent, moisture-proof pad, mat, stoves are the basic items to prepare in advance.
4. Medicines
In order to avoid any illness during the hiking, you'd better prepare cold medications, medicine for enter gastritis, sport injury medicine and antidote, etc.
5. Tips
- Health condition must be first considered before your hiking. Be aware of your own limitations like acrophobia, heart diseases and diabetes which are not fit for the Great Wall Hiking. Take your health case history with you in case of any emergency.
- Have a big breakfast on the hiking day and bring enough water with yourself, it will require much energy and supplements to take a hike.
- Stay with your team all the time and do not wander off by yourself to make sure you will not get lost or helpless.
- Never run or walk too fast when you are hiking on the Great Wall because many parts of the Wall are broken or loose. They are not only difficult and strenuous to hike but also very dangerous. Pay your full attention on your feet of the road.
- Obey the warnings posted on the Wall and never lean against the wall to rest before you make sure it is really firm and safe.
