Great Wall of China is a part of 7 wonders of the world. The primary purpose of the wall was to protect northern China from invasions of Mongolians. The wall is made of stone, bricks and several other materials. Major portions of the Great Wall was constructed during the Ming Dynasty. The wall played a major role during the Silk route trade era.The total length of the wall is more than 20000 km and it is an important architectural achievement in history. The entire wall is separated into different small sections and each sections are separated by watch towers.
I booked the Mutianyu Great Wall tour from my hostel at Beijing. The cost of the tour was around 350 RMB including lunch. We started at around 7 am from my hostel near Tiananmen Square. It was freezing cold and outside temperature was -15 C. Initially we picked up guests from different hotels around Beijing. After 1.5 hours bus ride we reached Mutianyu Great wall at around 9.30 am. The wall is situated at the top of the mountain and there are three ways to reach to the wall from the base of the mountain. The hike to the wall from the base of the mountain takes about 30 minutes. I purchased the return trip cable car ride for 120 RMB and it took me about 10 minutes to reach the tower. Alternatively you can also take chair lift ride to the wall. The cable car is the most popular way to reach the wall from the base. I had 3 hours to explore the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall. The lunch was scheduled at 1 pm at a restaurant located near the parking spot. The cable car station is located at tower 14 and there is also a small monument located near the tower 14 entrance. The walk from Tower 14 till Tower 23 is very scenic and it is a popular route among the tourists. The section is located towards the east side of tower 14. The wall was built on the top of a mountain and some sections of the wall was very steep. One section of the wall was almost 60 degree climb and most people struggled a lot to climb the section. I took tons of photos from each sections of the wall and the view was not repetitive. It took me about 1 hour to reach Tower 23 from tower 14. Tower 23 is the last section of the wall which can be accessed by tourists.
The total length of the Mutianyu section of Great Wall is around 3 km. It was a beautiful day with clear sky and the visibility was excellent. The weather was -10 C and it was little windy. It was not that crowded because Winter is not a peak tourist season in Beijing. I was hoping to see snow near Great Wall of China but i was disappointed. Even if the weather is well below 0 C it is difficult to find snow near Great Wall of China because this part of China is a dry place. I have seen some photographs of Great Wall of China on the background of snow and it looks absolutely brilliant. I returned back to tower 14 from tower 23 and i kept walking towards the western side of the wall. The western section of the wall was shorter compared to the eastern section. I decided to take Toboggan ride from the tower 6 to the base of the mountain. I had to unnecessarily pay 60 RMB for the one way Toboggan ride because I forgot to purchase the Combo ticket of Cable car-Toboggan ride at the ticket counter near the entrance. Badaling section of the Great Wall is another popular section of Great Wall which is frequently visited by tourists. Mutianyu section of Great Wall is less crowded compared to Badaling section of Great Wall.
Toboggan ride was the primary reason for choosing Mutianyu section of Great Wall of China. The total length of the Toboggan ride is around 1500 m. It descends about 100 m to the base of the mountain. The track was not that crowded and i was able to travel at a comfortable speed. I had to hold the Go Pro stick with my right hand for the entire ride because there was no proper place to mount the Go Pro. It was too cold outside and i couldn’t feel my hand after the ride. I was the last person to arrive at the restaurant for Lunch. I was really hungry and tired after walking through the entire section of the wall. The food was delicious and the quantity was generous. We started our return journey from the wall at around 2 pm and I reached my hostel at Tiananmen Square at around 4.30 pm. Overall it was an amazing day tour to Great Wall of China and I would strongly recommend everyone to not miss the tour during your stay in Beijing.
Leave a Reply