jiejie

Ha-ha, yes it would be early. Depends on the family culture as to whether it can be pulled off. My family was a "Reveille at 5:00 am" army-type...by 6 am you better be in the car ready to go or get left behind!

trueblu

Now why doesn't this surprise me?!

tb

planecrashlaw

Great to hear. Choice A= answer the question. Choice B=use the same number of key strokes to provide snark. Gotta love FT.

Again, if anyone would PM me with a good recommendation, I would appreciate it.

mlasser

I would def. use the train to go to Badaling. Even the best drivers in China can be horribly unreliable. We got up at very early (something we don't like to do on vacation) to "beat the traffic" but our driver didn't show until 9 AM (2 hours late) sticking us in rush hour traffic and leaving us just enough time to see the wall for 15 minutes and take a few pictures before turning around and having to head back. Turned out to be one of the low lights of our 2 weeks in China. Hope you have better luck, but using the train puts you more in control of your day to a large extent.

jiejie

Make that 5:30 and ready to go!

Trains BJ North-Badaling, with dep-arrival times
S201 06:12 - 07:31
S203 07:58 - 09:20
S205 08:34 - 09:47
S207 09:02 - 10:15
S209 10:57 - 12:13
S211 12:42 - 14:01
S213 13:14 - 14:25
S215 13:35 - 14:50
S217 15:24 - 16:43

Trains after that don't make sense since you wouldn't have enough time on wall before closing. The S201 will allow you to beat much of the crowd. However, another possible strategy would be to go in the late afternoon. Badaling in the summer closes at 19:00 I think. Often the crowds are heaviest in the morning and early afternoon post-lunch, with fewer tour groupies after 3-4 pm. The afternoon strategy has the advantage of being able to see what the weather/air is like, and if you don't like what you see by late morning, go somewhere else and try again the next day.

moondog

I'm not trying to be snarky; you must realize that drivers come and go like the wind in those parts. If you want current info, go to that thread.

trueblu

I'm pretty sure md wasn't being snarky: but having that info spread onto two threads might be helpful to you, but a disservice for everyone else who wants that information in future.

tb

trueblu

I appreciate the sentiment, and know that you had a rough time of it with cars in beijing. When I was visiting/ first moved here, really dreaded cabs, because I was 'no longer in control'. However, with a smart phone, gps, some rudimentary chinese, and much better navigation than the average chinese, I'm pretty comfortable with cabs and drivers now. I always plan a route somewhere new for myself, so that I can direct them if necessary.

However, you are absolutely right that you can't control if the driver doesn't show. We know some black car drivers who work near us pretty well. They are great 'on spec', but the couple of times we've booked them for short journeys, they've been unreliable. We also have a couple of drivers we know for longer/airport journeys, but they cost more. I think (hope) we'll be OK for the GW: but will report back on our decision, after my family gets here, and how it went!

tb

1k-all-the-way

I arrive at the airport at 8am and have a busy 48 hours but think i want to try the wall. Does it make sense to go from airport? Seems to be in the same direction? How could I arrange that? I'll have my carry on wheelie with me too - so guess I'd need reliable driver?

trueblu

The 'taxi and car service thread' a couple of posts below this one details the latest car service data points.

Re: going from the airport, it's certainly possible, and others have detailed their experience: but that is always best with arranging a driver in advance I would reckon.

tb

trueblu

We decided to go to Mutianyu, and spring for the car. Having figured out it was going to rain today, we tried to change to tomorrow, but our driver wasn't available. I know we could have just tried to wing it, but I think loyalty goes both ways: this driver takes me to the airport quite often, and I'm rather fond of him. His charge: 600RMB+tolls/parking, so 670RMB total -- not the cheapest, but not too expensive either.

We left at 07:00 (or so) and the journey there took about 1.45. My mother and daughter decided to go cable car up and back -- which was absolutely the right decision -- no way they could have managed the hike up. My sister, wife and I hiked up, which was tiring but not exhausting. We met up at tower 14, and went over to tower 15 and to the 'top' of it, for vistas of lots of mist (!). We got rained on going up, but that was preferable to scorching heat by a long shot.

My mother decided that she couldn't manage much more, so we headed back: mother/daughter down cable car. We hiked it over to tower 6 for the alpine slide down. Unfortunately, this was closed due to the rain. By this point, we were all fairly tired, so we decided to get the ski-lift back down, which was pleasant enough.

Finished up with lunch at the Schoolhouse: I really like the concept, but felt that the food was over-priced for the quality (of the cooking, not ingredients).

Overall: really enjoyed our first foray to the great wall. Can't believe we'd left it this long to explore, and I'm keen to return in the autumn with promise of fine weather and better views. Having said that, my dodgy knee was definitely playing up by the end, so it's no walk in the park!

tb

XFed2001

On March 15th, 2013, as part of a cruise, my wife and I are scheduled to take an excursion to see the GW of Hangyaguan. From my review of the postings, it seems that the consensus is to visit the Mutianyu or Badaling GWs. Can I get some feedback from those who might be in the know vis-a-vis Hangyaguan visit? I believe that trek to visit Hangyaguan from Tianjin is about 2.5 hours one-way. We'll be staying at the Hilton Beijing Wangfujing for 2 nights; so, we could opt to take a tour of either Mutianyu pr Balaling instead of Hangyaguan. Thanks for whatever advice you might suggest.

moondog

Given the fact that I've never heard of Hangyaguan is reason alone to check it out. (I'm not saying this because we crave research here, but because the more obscure sites tend to be more interesting than the popular ones.)

BTW, can you point me to a thread in which Badaling was suggested as a goto on FT? (I will reply in short order with a dissenting opinion.)

Scifience

Huangyaguan is a nicely restored section of the Great Wall to visit, and far quieter and less touristed than Mutianyu/Badaling. I'd definitely recommend it over the more common options if you have the opportunity. However, you should be aware that it's not actually in Beijing at all, but rather a solid ~120km away in a remote part of Tianjin.

I'm honestly quite surprised (and a bit dismayed) to see that Huangyaguan is ending up on the bus tour circuit now.

XFed2001

Moondog, I refer to the earlier posts (#s 21, 23, and 53). I may have mispoken about these posts touting Badaling. IIRC, the comments in the 3 posts seem to point in Badaling's direction as viable options. As my wife is physically challenged when it comes to climbing up stairs, I would appreciate your perspective as to what other sections of GW might be better for us.