8:00 AM:  

Gather at Hepingxiqiao Station (on subway line 5) at Exit C.
(Chinese: 地铁5号线和平西桥站C出口)
We strongly recommend that you arrive ahead of schedule so we can begin the trip on time.

8:00 to 10:30 AM:

Arrival at Gubeikou Great Wall.

The Gubeikou section of the Great Wall is 160 kilometers (100 miles) from the centre of Beijing. The journey takes approximately 2.5 hours on the highway.

10:30 to 11:00 AM: 

After a short rest, we will start to climb the Great Wall.

11:00 AM to 3:00 PM: 

We will hike along the Great Wall and enjoy a genuine Great Wall experience with breathtaking scenery.

The Gubeikou section of the Great Wall winds freely up and down, with many fortresses and other interesting landmarks. Even more importantly, this section of the wall has never undergone restoration works and so retains its original form. Compared to the Badaling and Mutianyu sections of the Great Wall, Gubeikou stands out as a section which can give you an authentic sense of the Great Wall.

From the "General Tower" to the "24 holes viewing tower", every direction provides a different and stunning view. One thing to remember is to make sure your camera is fully charged, this is an experience in which you won’t want to leave with any regrets.

At lunch time, we will take a short break and have some snacks in the wrecked beacon tower.

3:00 to 5:30 PM:  

Return to Beijing city and conclude the journey.

● Bilingual (English and Chinese) guides

● Transportation to and from Gubeikou Great Wall  

● Route review

● Ticket fee

● Lunch

● Local snacks

● Drinking water

A flexible, guided hiking tour to a remote section of the Great Wall. The tour is designed around the needs and requirements of the guests, going at a pace suitable for the individuals. You will be accompanied to the Gubeikou section of the Great Wall which boasts both beautiful scenery and an authentic section of the wall.

This is a hiking experience designed for those with adventurous and outgoing personalities. The tour aims to allow tourists to experience the Great Wall in its pure form, away from the tourist crowds found at Badaling and Mutianyu, allowing tourists to experience a unique and enjoyable hike on China’s Great Wall.

At the end of the tour, we guarantee that you will have had an unforgettable journey. We warmly invite you to enjoy the Great Wall tour.

About the Great Wall

The Great Wall of China (Chinese: 长城; pinyin: cháng chéng) is one of the greatest constructions of ancient human civilization. It is the world’s longest engineering feat and the largest defensive boarder on earth. The Great Wall is world renowned as one of the Seven Wonders of the New World.

The Great Wall stretches from the Yalu River at its origin to its western end in the Gobi Desert. The wall strides over a series of mountains, cuts across vast, wild areas, and winds across thousands of miles. It is one of the oldest structures ever built, dating back over two millennia. It has been tested by the hand of time and the harshest conditions of weather and climate, but still stands tall. Imbued with history, engraved with legends and full of mystery, the Great Wall is an astounding creation—a miraculous offering left by the ancient Chinese for the world to ponder and marvel.

The history of the Great Wall may be traced back to the 9th century BC in Western Zhou Dynasty (1027 BC–771 BC), when a straight, linear, defensive wall was built to block northern nomadic invaders. Later, by the 7th century BC, as several states contended for supremacy, additional walls were erected across China to define and protect each state’s territorial boundaries. While early walls were erected primarily to serve as instruments of defence and repel invaders along frontier borders, the Chu State was first to set up a city wall; their efforts became the earliest part of the Great Wall. Later still, similar walls were built one after another by various states.

In 221 BC, Emperor Qin Shi Huang (259 BC - 210 BC; Chinese: 秦始皇; pinyin: qín shǐ huáng), famous for overseeing the construction of the Terracotta Warriors, unified China with the establishment of its first centralized feudal dynasty. Qin Shi Huang used countless resources in order to rebuild the Great Wall and to consolidate the security of his empire. The first Qin emperor’s section of the Great Wall spanned from Lintao (in today’s Gansu province) in the west to Liaodong (modern Liaoning province) in the east, running about 10,000 li (1 li is 500 meters).

This section is the so-called "Wan Li Chang Cheng", which translates to “a ten thousand li wall” (ten thousand li is roughly 3,100 miles). With a few exceptions, every feudal dynasty to dominate central China has launched its own campaign to repair and expand the Great Wall. Among them, the Western Han (202 BC–9 AD), Jin (1115–1234) and Ming dynasties (1368–1644) contributed to the largest sections of construction. These segments measured between 5,000 to 10,000 kilometers (3,100 to 6,200 miles). The Great Wall we know today was built primarily during the Ming Dynasty.

While the Great Wall exemplifies the empire’s desire to fortify itself against outsiders, its military significance was largely outweighed by its psychological value to the Chinese. It is the brick-and-stone manifestation of an idea, a summing up of China's concept of the relationship between itself and an often hostile outer world. The Great Wall is a miracle of engineering with a 2,000-year history and a length of over 5,000 kilometers (3,100 miles). More than just merely a wall, it is a complete defensive system, one composed of many different fortifications, including: city walls, watch towers, passes, forts, and beacons.

The building of the Great Wall was a bold endeavour, one that required tens of thousands of labourers, months of planning, and meticulous organization and execution. An estimated 50 million cubic meters of bricks and stones and 150 million cubic meters of earth were used for the parts of the Great Wall built during the Ming dynasty. The Ming portion alone contains enough stones, bricks, and rubble to pave a road with a width of 10 meters and a depth of 35 centimetres, encircling the equator more than twice. The manpower required for each dynasty’s construction efforts is equally staggering to consider. According to written records, in addition to the 300 to 500,000 army force, the Qin Dynasty (221 BC–207 BC) acquired an estimated 400 to 500,000 peasants—1.5 million, at the peak of building efforts.

China's unique geographical location and topographical features supported ancient economic and cultural growth of the mainland in two key divisions, from east to west, and three main zones from north to south. Within these regions, along the Great Wall, agricultural accords and rivalries, and cultural conflicts and alliances arose. Therefore, the Great Wall fostered mutual dependence, helped define mutual benefit, and shaped developing relationships in ancient Chinese economy and culture.

Throughout Chinese history, seemingly endless wars and relentless killing occurred on or near the Great Wall, punctuated by periods of peace and prosperity. Denizens of no other region on earth have endured such conflict as those who weathered the wind in the desert mountains, watched the sunset from the ramparts of the northern Great Wall, and who heard the roar of the Yellow River, or the sleepless surf of the Bohai Sea Gulf. Amongst the best known conflicts were the invasion of Beijing by the Eight-Nation Alliance, the September 18 Incident (known in Japan as the Manchurian Incident), and the Lugouqiao Incident (referred to as The Marco Polo Bridge Incident, in western countries).

Certainly, in addition to aggression, the Great Wall witnessed the courage of the Chinese people, who united together to repel invaders. Throughout history, there are innumerable, moving stories—countless tales of Chinese heroes—who fought internal and foreign would-be usurpers. All of China’s victories, honor, triumphs, failures, and disgraces are deeply etched upon the Great Wall of China. Today, the Great Wall is considered a historical monument to the flesh, blood and spirit of the Chinese people, and a living record of the past greatness and present glory of the Chinese nation. In the hearts and minds of Chinese people, the Great Wall is a source of support and hope, a place of worship and their most proud achievement.

A famous saying of Chairman Mao Zedong (Chinese: 毛泽东; pinyin: máo zé dōng), "One who has not been to the Great Wall is not a man," makes the Great Wall a must-see tourist destination for both domestic and international tourists.

This is the Wall, a great wall of China, a great wall of the world, a wall that recorded history, a wall that carried peace and prosperity, and a wall with hope. This is the eternal great wall.

About the Gubeikou Great Wall 

Gubeikou (Chinese: 古北口; pinyin: gǔ běi kǒu), situated in Beijing's Miyun county, is 150 kilometers (94 miles) away from Beijing. It has had a history of military significance and is an important passageway to Beijing. The Yanshan Range winds from east to west and is cut off at Gubeikou, forming a natural narrow pass. To the west of the pass is the Chaohe River and the Wohushan Mountain, and to the east is the Panlongshan Mountain. Since ancient times, Gubeikou has always served as a route of tactical importance, linking the southern and northern areas of the Yanshan Range. As early as 2,500 years ago, fortifications were built here and were constantly reinforced throughout the following dynasties.

The main portion of present day Gubeikou Great Wall was constructed under the supervision of Xu Da (Chinese: 徐达; pinyin: xú dá), a renowned general from the Ming Dynasty. It runs for more than 20 kilometers (12 miles) and has 143 beacon towers, each positioned at an average interval of 156 meters, while the two closest beacons are only thirty meters apart. The inside of these towers varies in design: some have a flat ceiling, while others have either an arched ceiling, a domed ceiling, or an octagonal, painted ceiling. Each tower has two floors, six archways, and ten arched doors, allowing garrisoned soldiers to advance and retreat easily. The towers also differ in size: while the largest one can accommodate a garrison of 100 soldiers, the smallest one can house ten soldiers. These towers have about one to six port holes.

Gubeikou Great Wall has been highly rated as an architectural achievement. Its main highlights include the Wohushan Great Wall and the Panlongshan Great Wall.

Wohushan Great Wall

"Wohu" means "crouching tiger" in English because the mountain looks like two tigers, one lying on its back and the other on its stomach. Located in the western section of the Gubeikou Great Wall, its highest peak measures about 664 meters. A watch tower is erected every 150 meters of the wall, overlooking a deep valley or mounted on a strategically important hilltop. One professor from Beijing University has compared the Great Wall to cursive Chinese words – the watch towers correspond to the pausing or transitional strokes of cursive writing. It retains its fascination today as its raw strength is still evident.

Panlongshan Great Wall

Panlongshan Great Wall is located in the middle section of the Gubeikou Great Wall, where many battles of historical importance took place. In ancient times, both warring parties placed an emphasis on securing the Panlongshan Great Wall, because each knew that once the wall was captured, the Gubeikou Great Wall could be easily taken over. The entire wall measures about five kilometers (3.1 miles). The General Tower is the most famous one of its many towers, of which there are over forty. The General Tower’s location allows commanders to easily see the entire battlefield and therefore give them the capacity to direct battles.. There are four arrow windows in the north and south sides respectively, while each of the east and west sides has three arrow windows. This section of the wall is of unique construction: it is made up of earth walls, stone walls, and brick walls. It is preserved in its original state.

Group size: 4 to 10

Hiking distance: 8 km (5 miles)

Hiking duration: 3.5 to 4 hours

Hiking level: Easy

Recommended time: April to October.

Note: This program requires 3 days advance reservation.