Great Wall Of China - Mutianyu Section

This past weekend I took some friends that were visiting to the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall. We didn't have an incredible large amount of time to spend so Jinshanling and Simatai were out of the question, but I wanted to give them a more personal experience that can't be had at Badaling. One of my friends in Shanghai recommended that I take them to Mutianyu.

Mutianyu is a bit of a hybrid of the Badaling and Simatai sections.  It's still very well maintained and restored, but doesn't have the throngs of tourists that crowd up the wall at Badaling.  When you arrive at the entrance you have the option to take a cable car up (50 RMB one way, 80 RMB round trip) or you can hike up the mountain to the wall.  You will also need to pay a 45 RMB entrance fee to the wall as well.

Due to our time constraints my group decided to purchase the round trip cable car tickets. I wish we would have only purchased the single trip tickets however. As we were heading up the cable car we could see a toboggan (60 RMB per person) going down the mountain leading back to the entrance to the park. I wish this was advertised better as we would have liked to try that instead of taking the cable car back down.

Once you enter the wall you can head one of two directions. We ended up hiking up the direction that looked like it had less people.  I've been to the wall during the summer, the fall, and the winter. I can honestly say that the winter was my favorite season to visit.  It was pretty brutally cold, but the wall and everything around it was covered by a blanket of snow. It was one of the most beautiful sights I'd ever seen!

We ended up hiking for a couple of hours and it definitely felt like a good amount of time to be on the wall given how cold it was. We could have stayed longer, but we still wanted to visit the Summer Palace back in Beijing before it closed. Everything said, Mutianyu is an excellent part of the wall to visit and if you are on a time crunch I highly recommend it. If you have an entire day to spare, I would still recommend visiting the Simatai and Jinshanling sections instead.

How to get there:

The most convenient way to get there is to hire a private car. These can be found at the major tourist attractions in Beijing, and your hotel should be able to arrange one for you. The hostel we stayed at, The Happy Dragon Hostel, arranged a van for us for 800 RMB for the whole day.  I prefer this as the driver will wait for you at the wall and take you back when you are ready to return.

Many hostels, and hotels will also arrange daily trips that will take larger groups of tourists on a bus. These prices generally vary from 200-300 RMB per person (some include the price of admission to the wall).  Most of these tours will only strictly visit the Badaling section and take an entire day.

 You can also take the metro bus 867 (only available from March 15 - November 15) that departs from the Dongzhimen outer bus station. There are 2 buses that leave from this station (7:00 and 8:30 am) q=and costs 16 RMB each way.  The bus can be a bit difficult to find, and there will be a lot of private taxi's and buses that will try to tell you there is no bus that will take you directly to the wall. These people are lying to you to and will try to charge you high rates to take you to the wall themselves. If you are going to rent a car do it through your hotel or hostel since they are more trustworthy. There are a few other buses that will get you close to the wall, but if you do not know Chinese and are unfamiliar with the area, I wouldn't recommend those.