Jinshanling Great Wall, Hebei, China

5Raul P 5:00 PM Dec 31, 2019

Your best option away from the crowd
Most tourist use their layover time between flights to visit the wall close to Beijing, crowding the area on short batches of time. There why this further away section of the wall have quite less amount of visitors by being off these visitors' race-rat track. One requires a couple full days to include the Simatai section as well and visit other close atractions worth the trip. The whole trip would take four days to doing confortably without a rush. It's 2 hours aways from the Beijing Int Airport on a easy private ride that a hotel might include as part of their service for an extra cost. Going by bus is inexpensive requiring more time due the trsansfers to the bus station. I travel on the Golden Week, deciding to hire a private car do all the craziness going on. It cost me US$90 which was a little over the price but fair considering the holidays involved. Sharing the ride would make it worth it avoiding wasting time and shorting the trip considerably. Despise the Golden Week, There weren't as many people as I would expected, having most of my photos with few people around as wished. October result a great time to visit China with the weahter being quite brutal hot, so be aware of the weather as there is only protection when on the towers. One can find food and drinks inside the towers in modest quantities and variaty so bring local cash to pay for drinks as water runs short always. You can even find Ice cream! An no Wi-Fi app translator is a must!

5Anita N 5:00 PM Jan 7, 2020

a spiritual experience
The wall at Jinshanling was amazing! The weather was cold and clear, and our small tour of 8 was the only people there. The 3.5 mile walk was more challenging than I expected, some steep ups and downs and no short cuts or ways out once you start. Just make sure you have good shoes, a snack or 2, and a bit of stamina. I highly recommend it!