In Beijing there are different sections of Great Wall such as 1. Simatai, Jinshanling, Gu Bei Kou on the northeast of Beijing 2. Xiangshui Lake, Huanghua Cheng, Mutianyu, Jian Kou on the north of Beijing 3. Badaling, Juyongguan, and wild great wall at Shui Guan ( inside courtyard of Commune of Great Wall hotel) on the northwest of Beijing.
On the map you see all the sections of Great Wall in and around Beijing.
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1. Simatai Great Wall Hiking
The following link shows the route from A (Forbidden City) to B (Simatai)
http://ditu.google.cn/maps?f=d&hl=zh-CN&geocode=&saddr=%E5%8C%97%E4%BA%AC%E5%B8%82%E6%9C%9D%E9%98%B3%E5%8C%BA%E5%9B%BD%E8%B4%B8&daddr=%E5%8C%97%E4%BA%AC%E5%B8%82%E5%AF%86%E4%BA%91%E5%8E%BF%E5%8F%B8%E9%A9%AC%E5%8F%B0&sll=39.707187,115.740967&sspn=3.701774,11.008301&ie=UTF8&ll=40.692093,117.233734&spn=0.228036,0.462799&z=11
The distance from Forbidden City to Simatai is 78 miles (131km).
This link shows the route from A (Forbidden City) to B ( Chengde Summer resort)
http://ditu.google.cn/maps?f=d&hl=zh-CN&geocode=&saddr=%E5%8C%97%E4%BA%AC%E5%B8%82%E4%B8%9C%E5%9F%8E%E5%8C%BA%E6%95%85%E5%AE%AB&daddr=%E6%B2%B3%E5%8C%97%E7%9C%81%E6%89%BF%E5%BE%B7%E5%B8%82%E7%A2%A7%E5%B3%B0%E9%97%A8%E8%B7%AF%E6%89%BF%E5%BE%B7%E9%81%BF%E6%9A%91%E5%B1%B1%E5%BA%84&sll=39.905556,116.395833&sspn=3.505522,6.844482&ie=UTF8&z=8
The distance from beijing to Chengde is 138 miles (222 km )
The entrance ticket for Simatai is 40 Yuan.
Introduction to the Simatai Great Wall
Simatai lies in Miyun district on the northeast of Beijing on the boundary between Beijing city and Hebei province. The distance from Forbidden City to Simatai is 78 miles (131km). The wall was built on a rooster crest like mountain. However, there are an opened cable car and the winch train, which take you to the 8th tower, of the total 13 towers. Due to the small amount of visitors the cable car does not come into operation until April 15th. Another choice for you to come to the wall is by foot. After you cross a little bridge and pass the cable car station, a zigzag way come into your view. It starts at the foot of the mountain leading you to uphill to the starting point of the Simatai Wall. Along the zigzag way, a steam flows down from a reservoir which is near the starting point of the wall. Above the reservoir, a slide is installed and allows the traveler to come down from a higher point to the low point when they finish the wall and come back to the parking lot. It is at this point you meet some local villagers who offer his/her helping hand for an exchange of selling a few post cards or Great Wall books. They live in the nearby village. Before you start climbing the wall you can see at the valley a suspension bridge that connect the bank on the Simatai and the bank on the Jinshanling. That is also the ending point of Jinshanling section. Then Simatai Great Wall is just in front of you. You keep going up and up without going up and down as you do at other sections such as Mutianyu or Badaling. The higher you go the broader bird eye view you have. When you go up, you see most of Jinshanling which extend from Simatai into Hebei province and you also see the ant like people and car at the foot of the mountain.
Time arrangement
1. Leaving time from your hotel
You can leave your hotel in the early morning to avoid the traffic and spend more time on the wall.
Or you can leave at usual departure time 9:00 and arrive at around 11:30.
2. Lunch
You can try local food at local Chinese restaurant or family restaurants.
Or you can enjoy your lunch on the wall if it is shiny day.
3. Time on the wall
You need around three hours on the wall for a comfortable hike. You can spend some more time and enjoy your peaceful time alone on the summit, say 4 hours.
4. Arrival time at your hotel
Leave at 9:00, arrive at 11:30, 40 minutes lunch, 12:10 start the hike, 15:10 back to the parking lot, 15:30 leave the wall, 18:00 arrive at your hotel.
You need to pay your Simatai entrance ticket 40 Yuan/person
There are some other possible costs at Simatai:
1. Ticket for Jinshanling 50 Yuan (open at 8:00 AM)
2. Cable car ticket: one way 30 Yuan double way 50 Yuan/p (operation start April 15th and 8:30)
3. Winch train: one way 20 Yuan double way 30 Yuan /p
4. Slide on the reservoir +boat ride 35 Yuan/p
5. Boat ride 10 Yuan/p
6. Suspension bridge ticket 5 Yuan/p
7. Drinks 5Yuan/ Bottle (We supply drink on the van)
8. Noodle: 10 -20 Yuan (You can bring your food and have your great wall lunch)
9. Great Wall book: The villagers charge you 80 -100. You can bargain.
10. Post card: 20-40
11. Toilette: no charge
Things you need to know
1. Most famous question---toilette
We travel most of the time in country side. If you need toilette, please inform the driver 40 minutes before.
We can have toilette stop at the capital of Miyun district on the way to the Simatai because there we can find a decent one.
2. Villager vendors
The local villager vendor is also one of the most outstanding characters at Simatai and Jinshanling. Due to the fact that the wall there are unrestored (at Jinshanling) and it is a little bit difficult to walk on it, the local villagers make a good use of their knowledge about local geographic condition. They first offer their helping hand, and then sell their Great Wall book. They give their helping hand when you need it. For example, you might have difficulty in getting on a big step or a huge rock, or the ground is sandy and slippery. They do not make you uncomfortable and will not approach closely before you think they would be of some help to you. Each tourist is assigned with a local vendor guide, who will provide one to one service throughout your hiking on the wall. The vendor seems to be well organized and indeed they are. Even for a big tour of 40 people they have enough villagers to come to your side. They walk behind you or in front of or beside you all your way during the hiking, esp. Jinshanling. You may ask do they follow Chinese. But at Jinshanling most visitor are oversea visitors. At Simatai it is half and half.
It is pretty hard for me to give a comment on them. They also want to win your respect in a certain degree. Unlike the Silk market vendors, they will never grab your arm to ask you to buy a book, they give you a helping hand and they ask you to buy their book. They are polite even when the tourist buy nothing from them or did not receive the expected tips. Unlike the vendors at Mutianyu, they will never play the one dollar one T-shirt trick on you. They are local farmers, much less commercialized and work most of their time on the farm ground.
The opened cable car and the winch train, which take you to the 8th tower, of the total 13 towers, come into operation in April 15th. It has been checked on March 28, 2008.
The zigzag way on the foot of the mountain starts from the entrance and then leads you cross a bridge and pass a lake with a slide above for fun.
There is a suspension bridge that connect the bank on the Simatai and the Bank on the Jinshanling.
It is 5 Yuan.
Then you come to the starting point of Simatai. A local villager will soon offer his/her helping hand for an exchange of selling a few post cards or Great Wall books. They do no harm to you. I personally know some
of them.
This video is taken at 11th tower near the summit of the Simatai section.
After your visit of Simatai, you can visit one of the emperor's Summer Resort at Chengde,
which is only 80 km away from Simatai.
Introduction to Chengde, Mountain Resort for Emperor
By the end of the 17th century the Qing emperors had established their capital at Beijing, and they began to look around for somewhere cool and green to retreat to when the dusty heat of summer set in. They found what they were looking for at Chengde, beyond the Great Wall.
Here they created a summer residence, exploiting mountains, woods and other existing natural features to which they added contrived landscapes to make settings for innumerable pavillions, palaces and temples. Construction took a total of 87 years. The buildings and gardens cover an area of 560 hectares, and are surrounded by a wall 10 km. long.
Outside the palace walls, to the north and west, a total of 11 temples were built. Many of them were built in Tibetan style. Divided into eight groups, they became known as the Eight Outer Temples. The main gates of these buildings pointed towards the palace, symbolising the unity of China's various ethnic groups under the central rule of the Qing emperors.
2. Jinshanling Great Wall Hiking
Photos taken on April 27 th, 2008
Make a comparison between the lastest photos and those taken 1 year ago.
You see there are some restoration.
3. Xiangshui Lake Great Wall Hiking
Huanghua cheng used to be called wild great wall for its un-restored condition. In 2005, Huanghua Cheng has been restored and become open to public again under Beijing government legal permission. In this area, there are three walls, namely, Mutianyu, Huanghua Cheng and Xiangshui Lake. In ancient time, they were all connected. The distance between Huanghua Cheng and Xiang Shui Lake is very close, that is 8km. Xiang Shui Lake wall is even more amazing. You can do both of them within one day.
There are some local family hotel, where you can have food, take shower and sleep.
There are some family hotels where you can find soft mattress.
The food in the family restaurant are more natural than what you get from supermarket in Carrfour.
4. Huanghua Cheng Great Wall Hiking
5. Badaling Great Wall, Ming Tomb and Sacred Road Family visit
For the Badaling Great Wall, we normally leave the hotel at 9:00AM. During the lower season, it is surely a good idea to go the wall first. It is your first destination. We will arrive at the wall at 10:30 AM and you spend 2 hours on the wall. After the Badaling you have lunch at the capital of Changping district, which is very close to the Ming tomb and has various type of restaurants. After lunch we go to Ming Tomb. Then you go to the Sacred Road, which would be the highlight of your trip.
During the peak season, it would be a good idea to go the Ming Tomb and Sacred Road first so as to avoid the large crowd at Badaling.
5.1 Badaling Great Wall
Badaling Teddy Bear Parking Lot
5.2 Ming Tomb
5.3 Sacred Road
6. Mutianyu Great Wall
The following are lists of character comparison between Simatai section and Mutianyu section:
The Simatai
A. The Wall itself
Standing at the parking lot, you see the wall crawing on the rooster-crest-like mountain range. It is breathe taking view. After you go through the entrance, you soon come to a bridge on a stream, where you need to decide to take cable car or walk. Then there is zigzag walking way leading to the wall. On the road you see stream, the mandarin duck lake (a reservoir), a slide on the lake, and the suspension bridge that connect Jinshanling and Simatai at the foot of the mountain. When you come to the starting point (pretty high already), you already see the landscape of Jinshanling. When you start climbing, a local villager will begin to offer her/his help in exchange of selling some postcard or books. They are locals and normally will ask permission before they offer their service, though you have your guide. The beginning part seems very difficult. When you come to the 8th tower, you can see most of the landscape there, esp. Jinshuanling Great Wall. If you take cable car down, 8th tower is the place. After 10th, you begin see the cliff on both sides of the wall. There are 2 guards standing at the 13th tower to stop tourists to go further. 99% of the bricks, granite base are original.
B. Landscape
The wall was built on a rock mountain. There are not so many vegetations here. But air at Simatai is clean and fresh. There are no foggy days. The sky there is always crystal clear. The height of the mountain enables you to have the most exciting view of landscape. You can really see far away.
C. Surrounding area
The road leading to Simatai is also the road to Cheng De Summer resort, a summer resort for Qing (1644-1911) emperor. Before your arrival at Simatai, you drive by Mi Yun reservoir, the biggest one in Beijing. You see huge fish at the fishing season. It is also the most important drinking water resource. There are many orchards in this area.
D. People at Simatai
They are less modernized, more friend, farmer like people. They will not play the one dollar one T-shirt trick on you. They sell home made dry fruit and pumpkin in autumn. If you live in the local family, they generally will treat as friend rather than customers. Their life is very much different from that of Beijing.
Mutianyu
A. The Wall itself
The wall was built in less steep mountain with well preserved original appearance.
There are one Nippon made cable car (orange) on your left hand and an open cable car and a toboggan on your right hand. If you choose to walk up, you need to do the 950 steps. Unlike Simatai, it has more trees and it has more beautiful surroundings.
B. Landscape
The mountain here is not real high. Sometimes it is little bit foggy here. But this section is call garden of Beijing. You see lots of chestnut tree one the mountain with many squirrels jump along the brink of the wall. You can not see so far away partly because it is not the highest point, partly because the occasional fog.
C. Surrounding
There are a Hong Luo temple and a Yan Xi Lake nearby. This area is famous for its fish and fruit. Beijingners come from downtown to have their fish banquet here.
D. People
They more modernized and get used to deal with oversea tourist. They are very nice towards Chinese while they treat you as business partners.
7. Shui Guan Great Wall (Commue at the foot of Great Wall-5 star hotel)
8. Jian Kou Wild Great Wall for camping
The situation at Jian Kou and Muitanyu is similar to that at Simatai and Jinshanling.
These two sections are also very close. When standing on the summit of Jian Kou, you can even see the cable car at Mutianyu.
This photo is taken from Jian Kou with a professional camera.
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