The Great Wall at Badaling, Beijing, China

5Snoopy 5:00 PM Feb 11, 2020

Trip Advisor Great Wall Tour to Badaling
Before leaving for our trip to China in September, 2019, we booked a tour to the Great wall in Badaling and tge Ming Tombs. We chose the tour to Badaling, because it was the closest portion of the Great Wall to Beijing. Also, because of its close proximity to Beijing, about an hours drive northeast of the city, it is the most crowded section of the wall!!! On the day of the tour, our tour guide Jimmy Lee, who was excellent, picked us up at our hotel at 8:00am. We visited the Ming tombs first, in the morning. This was a good choice because the tombs were not crowded and we could walk freely around the tombs unencumbered by the massive crowds that are common at most Chinese tourist sites. The tombs were beautiful! After visiting the tombs we boarded our bus and headed for the Great Wall at Badaling! While we were touring the Ming Tombs, Jimmy, our tour guide, checked the crowd conditions at the Badaling section of the Great Wall! Jimmy showed us a video of the Badaling section of the wall, posted online, that morning! Jimmy informed us thst wall was extremely crowded and we would have difficulty moving about freely and most likely we would not be able to walk a large portion of the wall due to the large crowds!!! Jimmy suggested that we allow him to take us to another rarely visited, remote section of the wall in the mountains 20 minutes away from Badaling. He informed us that this section of the wall, unfortunately, I don’t remember the name, was not flat and it was a strenuous climb with spectacular mountain views of the wall and surrounding countryside! We chose to take his suggestion and were happy we did! This section of the wall is built along the mountain ridge and is all steps and stairs as you walk along the wall. Amazing views of the wall, mountains and countryside with NO crowds! We practically had the wall to ourselves. This is a very strenuous, aggressive climb and not for the elderly, although there was a 90+ year old Chinese grandmother who did it, disabled, or out of shape! My friends and I are in our 50’s and 60’s, in excellent health and shape, and it was a physical struggle for us to complete the steep climb along this section of the wall! Some of the steps are 2 feet high! If you chose to go to this section of the wall and can’t make the climb, it is still worth it. There is a beautiful plaza at the base of the wall with a gift shop and stunning views of the wall, mountains and valley below and most important, NO CROWDS, and cool mountain breezes. The Beijing area can get very hot in the summer. The weather is similar to NY and Chicago! It was well worth the detour! Please remember to generously tip your tour guide. Their living depends on these tips and they work very hard to provide you with an amazing, memorable experience!

5PaulSiow 5:00 PM Mar 2, 2020

Easiest part to visit
We took a train to Jishuitan station, exit B2 and walked about 10-15 mins to Deshengmen where we took tourist bus No 877, fare 12 yuan, to Badaling section of the Great Wall. We went early and the queue was orderly and well organized. The journey to Badaling took slightly over an hour. We took the toboggan up and down the wall, no need to walk. Once at the top, we just walked about 2km along the wall. It was very misty, cool and had light drizzle when we visited. Couldn't see far ahead but the experience was still nice. Contrary to reports online, we found 2 toilets/washrooms at different locations at the top of the great wall during our walk.