aztimm

I did a Beijing Hikers hike yesterday, and highly recommend them. This is the one I did:
http://www.beijinghikers.com/hike-in...-great-wall-2/

Some notes:
* pickup and dropoff were as expected. they really do explain exactly where to be.
* bus ride out to the wall was in a nice coach. took about 2 hours each way.
* if this is level 3, I'd hate to see level 4...or even 5
* nearly everyone fell at least once, including me. mine was just a small slide back, more bruised ego than anything else.
* We had 2 English speaking guides, one at the front, one at the rear. The guy in front would leave a red ribbon if the trail split, then the gal in rear collected them all.
* we had a few rest stops to regroup
* there was a mix of people on the hike; we had about 15 total, ages ranging from about 30 to 60, plus one guy brought his son (about 10), who kept us all entertained. several other Americans, some people from the UK, France, Germany
* some parts of the hike were quite easy, while others were very difficult. The people who built the wall probably didn't think people would be wanting to walk/climb it. there are stairs in spots, although the steps aren't always even, sometimes broken. in spots where the wall wasn't in good shape, we diverted off to trails beside the wall.
* lunch (almost dinner) after was great!
* they had plenty of water on the bus on both ends. I'm glad I brought my Camelback podium bottle in a rear belt, plus had 2 other bottles in my pack. I picked up a wrap from Starbucks at the hotel stop going, and it was perfect for 2 of the stops.
* weather was great! when you're moving like that, you really don't want it too warm. I wore a medium jacket, started with a running shirt and rugby under it, with scarf. On the first stop I took off the rugby, and was fine for the remainder.

After that, I went to the night market with some others from the hike. We had decided that if we didn't go straight after, we'd go back to hotels and never go back out (I was exhausted and sore by the time I got to bed and pretty much passed right out).

YariGuy

Bumping up this old thread. I guess it used to be pinned but it's not anymore, and I looked at other Great Wall threads and they're not much newer.

So...

* Simatai is confirmed open now?
* We're planning a trip in mid-June, before local schools get out (traveling from Shanghai)
* I'm leaning towards Mutianyu as a first visit for my 10 year-old son
* Badaling seems (still) too touristy and Simatai a little too physically taxing (especially for some of the longer hikes)

Any recent experiences?

moondog

Beijing Hikers https://www.beijinghikers.com/ barely pencils for me traveling solo, so I doubt it would make sense for your entire family, but they've always taken me to Great Wall spots that I would never find on my own, so they might be good for research purposes. If I had to choose a spot on my own, I'd probably go with Huanghua. That having been said, it does border on being "dangerous", and the locals might try to fleece you for (not a lot of) money on the way out. Maybe you could try to arrange a private tour with Beijing Hikers that includes one of their guides, plus a driver of course. I'm guessing the price would be $150 plus lunch.

If you do want to go to Mutianyu, check out Schoolhouse https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaura...l-Beijing.html

Welltended3

We went to Mutianyu twice. Both times we went up the chairlift at Tower 6 so my husband could go down the toboggan. I went down the chairlift. Both are tickets from the same company.

I think a nice choice would be to go up the gondola at Tower 14 and walk down to the chairlift/toboggan. Different companies at least when we were there a couple of years ago, so get both tickets

YariGuy

I ended up booking the Hyatt "Commune at the Great Wall." It's not new, but just converted to Hyatt a month ago so they've got some awesome points redemption deals. I understand they used to have a private path to the wall, but when I called them (actually they don't have a phone yet, I reached someone on a mobile) they said because of COVID, the government shut that path down. Now it's a 20-minute walk to the main entrance of the Shuiguan section of the wall.

I'm going in the back part of June, so will report back on how it is afterwards.

narvik

Just wanted to add Gubeikou Great Wall(*) as a good option also. Not many people (usually), and some really nice, long walks to be had.
Potentially charged ~RMB25.00 for access by locals, but not always.

* Note:
There's a few places to start the Gubeikou Great Wall experience; my favorite starting point is at the "Gubeikou Great Wall Kangzhan Memorial Hall" (has a car park):
40.67958335212142, 117.1551989734736

dcmike

Would love to hear about your stay - how did you get from Beijing to the hotel?

YariGuy

I wrote a review in the Hyatt section in the thread about the hotel. The summary was that the hardware was excellent, the service not so much.

We rented a car, which was pretty essential. The Shuiguan section of the wall was excellent. I think we saw 1 other group of people when we were there in June.

dcmike

Thank you! I will look for the Hyatt review!