Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Mutianyu
Like Badaling,
Mutianyu
(adult/student ¥45/25; 7am-6.30pm, winter
7.30am-5.30pm)
, 90km northeast of Beijing, is a recently renovated stretch of
wall, which sees a lot of tourists and is fairly easy to reach from Beijing. It's
also well set up for families, with a cable car, a chair lift and a hugely popular
toboggan ride.
Famed for its Ming-era guard towers and excellent views, this 3km-long sec-
tion of wall is largely a recently restored Ming dynasty structure that was built
upon an earlier northern Qi-dynasty edifice.
Getting To Mutianyu
From
Dongzhimen Wai bus stand
( Dongzhimen Wai chezhan;
Click here
;),
bus 867 makes a special detour to Mutianyu twice every morning (¥16, 2½
hours, 7am and 8.30am, 15 March to 15 November only) and returns from Mu-
tianyu twice each afternoon (2pm and 4pm).
Otherwise, you need to go via the town of Huairou . From
Dongzhimen
transport hub
(Dongzhimen shuniuzhan;
Click here
; ) take bus 916 (the
character is '
kuai
', and means 'fast') to Huairou (¥12, one hour, 6.30am to
7.30pm). Get off at Mingzhu Guangchang bus stop (ignore touts that try to lure
you off the bus before that), then take the first right to find a bunch of minivans
waiting to take passengers to Mutianyu (per person ¥15, 30 minutes).
Return minivans start drying up from around 6pm. The last 916 back to
Beijing leaves Huairou at around 7pm.
Jiankou
For stupefyingly gorgeous hikes along perhaps Beijing's most incomparable
section of 'wild wall', head to the rear section of the
Jiankou
( Hou Jiankou
Changcheng; admission ¥20)
, accessible from the town of Huairou. But this is
completely unrestored wall, so it is both dangerous and, strictly speaking, illeg-
al to hike along it. Make sure you wear footwear with very good grips, and nev-
er attempt to traverse this section in the rain, particularly during thunder-
storms.
