I plan to do some hiking near and on portions of the Great Wall. My question is about the places that are not the top tourist spots, like Jinshanling, Zhuangdaokou or Shui Changcheng. Are such places easily accessible by any kind of public or cheap transportation?
-
As far as I remember, the only piece of Great Wall near Beijing which is easily accessible (direct train/bus) is Badaling. Even Simitai, which is pretty touristy, is NOT easily accessible with public transportation unless you can read and speak Chinese fluently. Unless "around $100" is cheap for you - then you can join a bus/hiking tour - there are plenty of them.– George Y.Commented Apr 30, 2017 at 7:05
-
@camel I suggest googling "Beijing Hikers". I went on several hikes with them, even overnight camping on the great wall, had a great time. I'm not affiliated with them; just a satisfied customer!– user1014Commented Apr 30, 2017 at 13:24
Add a comment
|
2 Answers
I visited the wall many times during my time in China, and my favorite place by far was Mutianyu (慕田峪). It is breathtakingly beautiful, and was not crowded at all when I went. It's not the best place if you're looking for truly remote, but it's not nearly as crowded as the more popular sections of the wall like badaling. I suggest you walk a bit further down (an idea is to go up near the toboggan and walk to your right up the hills to the multiple guard posts), because on the three occasions I went there almost no one walked there. I think the main reason is that people go to the main entry point and are too tired to walk past the toboggan. However, the history there is incredible and it is just like the pictures.
If you're looking for truly remote there are overnight camping trips which range from a night or two to a couple of weeks (I met a couple from America who were on a 3 week camping tour!). I was also talking to some of my Chinese friends and, apparently, if you're willing to travel very far, there are extremely remote and almost untouched areas of the wall much further north (like near Mongolia), but that would really require a Mandarin-speaking tour guide.
In terms of transport to places like Mutianyu, it can be difficult if you don't speak Mandarin. The first two times I went, I went in a hotel shuttle, and the other time I went in a friend's car. However, I stayed at two hostels for a few nights and they both had trips that could accommodate Westerners and locals to Mutianyu/other less popular places that ran during the week. However, I found these were at slightly inconvenient times but that may not be the case for everywhere.. I don't think it should be a problem though.
-
1Great answer +1 and welcome to TSE; my edits were simple capitalizations.– GiorgioCommented Apr 30, 2017 at 20:05
You could try the Dongzhimen Bus Terminal; there are buses to a few Great Wall areas over there. However, you must be able to communicate in Mandarin to maneuver around effectively.
Otherwise, you might want to find fellow hikers so that you could go with them.
