Last day in Beijing: The Great Wall

On our last day in the Beijing we drove an hour out of the city to the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall. Although it’s takes longer to get there, the Mutianyu section is a lot less busy and offers spectacular views as it is located in the mountains. There are 3 ways to get to the wall from the parking lot: a covered cable car (great for cold days), a chair lift (chilly on cold days, but offers a slide on the way down) or walk 1000 steps. We opted for the covered cable car… it was cold, and there’s plenty of walking to do on the wall itself.

Beware of all the gift shops that line the paths, they generally won’t bother you too much on the way up, but if you don’t plan on buying anything on the way back to the parking lot just look down, move quickly and don’t make eye contact. What is strange about these little gift shops is that all 50 or so sell the exact same stuff. It’s as if one company owns them all.

Once on the wall you can spend a few hours walking up and down this section, with a steep climb of stairs at the highest open tower. Much of the Great Wall is in ruins, so only certain sections have been restored. But even though this is only a small section of the wall, there are still 22 watchtowers and over 2 km open to the public.

This marks our last excursion in Beijing, as the next morning we flew out to Yichang to start our Yangtze river cruise. Stay tuned…

Advertisement