Walking the Great Wall of China

The Great Wall of China is perhaps one of the most recognisable images of the country. The scale is immense, but long sections are fragmentary and in various states of decay. Walking the whole wall would be a major challenge, but there are well-defined sections that can be walked on to create a short tour, often passing through beautiful mountain scenery. There are many variations on what we can arrange, but below are two sample itineraries, one that includes sections of the Ming Dynasty wall near Beijing, the other more remote sections 200 miles to the west.

Two sample tours

TOUR 1 Walking the wall to the north-east of Beijing

This short itinerary includes the highlights of a visit to Beijing, plus three days' walking on some of the best and most challenging parts of the Ming Dynasty wall to the north-east and east of Beijing, well away from the overcrowded sections at Badaling and Mutianyu. Also included are the impressive, but rarely visited, Eastern Qing Tombs.

Day 1 Depart UK.
Day 2 Arrive Beijing, transfer to your 4-star hotel. Rest of the day free.
Day 3 One day excursion to Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City - the palace complex of China's Ming and Qing dynasty rulers, and the Summer Palace. (B, L)
Day 4 Visit to the Temple of Heaven, where emperors performed rituals for a good harvest, and then a cycle rickshaw ride around the 'hutongs', the traditional residential areas of old Beijing. (B, L)
Day 5 Travel by car to the Eastern Qing Tombs, built for some of China's most famous 18th and 19th-century rulers, such as the emperor Qianlong and the Dowager Empress Cixi. Set deep in the countryside, they are not often visited because they are so far out from Beijing, but in scale and artistry they far outshine the better-known Ming Tombs. Then proceed to the walk on the Great Wall at Huangyaguan, one of the steepest and most dramatic sections. Stay at Huangyaguan Mountain Villa nestling in the former garrison town at the foot of the wall. (B, L)
Day 6 Travel to Simatai. From here walk along the wall as it crosses the razor-back mountain ridges to Jinshanling, the whole wall lined with numerous watchtowers and giving you stunning views. Overnight at Jinshanling Hotel. (B, L)
Day 7 Travel to Huanghuacheng. Here the wall runs past a small reservoir. This section is gradually being restored, but as once one of the strongest sections, remains a challenging walk. (B, L)
Day 8 Return by car to Beijing. Transfer to your hotel. Rest of the day free. (B)
Day 9 Transfer to airport for flight to the UK. (B)

B = breakfast, L = lunch included in price

Price for a minimum of 2 persons travelling together is from £1,095 per person

Price includes international flights from the UK, internal transport and transfers, meals as shown, sightseeing and entrance fees, the services of English-speaking local guides and car + driver including luggage transfer during the trek.

Departures: can be made on any day, subject to flight availability.


TOUR 2 Walking the wall on the border of Shanxi and Inner Mongolia

This itinerary includes seven days' trekking along sections of the wall in Shanxi province, plus Beijing, Datong, and the important pilgrimage centre of Wutai Shan, one of the four sacred mountains of Chinese Buddhism (the others being Putuo, Emei and Jiuhuashan).

Day 1 Depart UK.
Day 2 Arrive Beijing, transfer to your hotel. Rest of the day free.
Day 3 One day excursion to the Great Wall at Jinshanling. The Ming dynasty wall here is one of the best semi-restored sections near Beijing, and has many special defensive features such as fortified stairways and cannon platforms. (B, L)
Day 4 One day excursion to Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City - the palace complex of China's Ming and Qing dynasty rulers, and the Temple of Heaven where emperors would perform rituals to ensure a good harvest. (B, L)
Day 5 Visits to the Summer Palace and Liulichang antique street, full of art, antique and curio shops. Transfer to railway station for overnight train to Datong (soft sleeper) (B, L)
Day 6 Arrive Datong (early morning). Transfer to your hotel. Datong, now a major coal-producing centre, is a historic city, and once of strategic importance as the headquarters of the commander of that section of the wall. Visit the Yungang Caves, just outside the city, the impressive Buddhist statues and caves carved from a sandstone cliff in the 5th century AD. (B, L)
Day 7 In the morning travel by road to the Hongcibao section of the Great Wall and start 7 days trekking. The Great Wall Hongcibao section is well-preserved, and includes several Ming dynasty passes. Today walk for about 20km. At evening arrive at Deshengbao, which includes the only surviving wooden city gate set in the wall. Stay in one of local farmers' yaodong, or cave house. (B, L, D)
Day 8 Walk to the Inner Mongolian town of Fenzhen and pass the earliest Ming dynasty Great Wall. In the evening arrive at Liangcheng city. (B, L, D)
Day 9 Continue walking along the Great Wall, passing Motianling Hill, which was militarily very important in ancient China. Today walk for about 20km. Stay in local farmers' houses. (B, L, D)
Day 10 Travel to Qidun to visit the Xusi and Jinpai Towers, some of the best-preserved watchtowers on the Wall, then by road to Kouzishang, the meeting point for the inner Great Wall and outer Great Wall. In the evening arrive at Caoduoshan. Stay in local farmers' houses. (B, L, D)
Day 11 By road to Lupiyaokou, walk to Huashijian, evening arrive Laoniuwan where the Outer Great Wall meets the Yellow River in spectacular fashion (total 25km walk). Stay in local farmers' houses. (B, L, D)
Day 12 Walk along the Yellow River to Shijiazhai to see the second largest dam in China, used for irrigation. In the afternoon travel by coach past Pianguan to Shuozhou. (B, L, D)
Day 13 Walk passing Yanmenguan to see the earlier Han dynasty Great Wall. Yanmenguan Pass was one of the most strategic sites on the wall, fortified by a fort with walls 1km in circumference, and was the scene of many battles. In the evening arrive at Wutai Shan, one of the four holy places of Chinese Buddhism, and site of many historic and architecturally important temples. (B, L)
Day 14 Visits around the Wutaishan area, including the Xiantong Temple and Longquan Temple. (B, L)
Day 15 Travel by car to Datong, overnight train to Beijing (soft sleeper) (B)
Day 16 Arrive Beijing (morning). Transfer to hotel. Rest of the day free. (B)
Day 17 Transfer to airport for flight to the UK. (B)

B = breakfast, L = lunch, D = dinner included in price

Price for a minimum of 2 persons travelling together is from £1,875 per person

Price includes international flights from the UK, internal transport and transfers, meals as shown, sightseeing and entrance fees, the services of English-speaking local guides and car + driver including luggage transfer during the trek.

Departures: can be made on any day, subject to flight availability.


China Direct
Docklands Business Centre
10-16 Tiller Road
London,
E14 8PX
Tel: 020 75382840
Fax: 020 7536 9088
info@chinadirect-travel.co.uk




The Great Wall is perhaps one of the most recognisable images of China. This series of defensive structures, stretching over 4,500 miles and constructed over a period of more than 2,000 years, is rightly acclaimed as a feat of engineering and human endeavour. Successive dynasties used defensive walls to define borders and control non-Chinese nomadic peoples beyond the frontiers.

Much of the wall we see today is that reconstructed by the Ming dynasty in the 14th to 16th centuries. The Ming dynasty Great Wall was a complex series of defences, comprising not only the wall and watchtowers, but also self-contained blockhouses, forward beacon towers, garrison forts and fortified towns, manned by a force of over 850,000.

Many are familiar with the more restored sections near Beijing. We would also recommend the walk on the less restored and spectacular section between Jinshanling and Simatai. This, however, would be to neglect the sheer scale of the wall, from the magnificent fortress of Jiayuguan in Gansu province marking the end point of the Ming dynasty wall, through mountains and deserts far from Beijing.

Perhaps some of the most evocative sections are in the northern parts of Shanxi and Shaanxi provinces where the wall crosses the austere loess plateau. Here the robbing of the outer brick casing and erosion have left the wall as little more than an earthen barrier and watchtowers as earthen stumps, blending into the landscape, with remote settlements in the shadow of once-powerful garrison castles that guarded strategic 'passes', or gateways through the wall. Walking along the wall in these areas you feel the remoteness of the area and a strong sense of the past. The area is not often visited by Western travellers and you can get a real glimpse into the lives of the people of this part of rural north China.

Other parts to consider are near Yulin, in Shaanxi province, itself once a fortress town commanding a section of wall. Nearby are the ruins of several 'castles' that once housed the garrisons for the wall, numerous watchtowers and strongpoints that supervised market-places where in times of peace trading took place between the Chinese and the nomadic tribes on the other side of the wall.

Other long stretches of wall exist in Ningxia and Gansu provinces. For real remoteness, sections of the Han dynasty wall, constructed from reeds and mud hardened by the sun to concrete, remain in the empty wilderness of the Gobi desert, with the two gateways of Yumenguan and Yangguan, near Dunhuang, once the western gateways into China in the 1st century BC.