Walking the Great Wall has been on my bucket list for a long time, so when I planned my trip to Hong Kong, I created a stopover in Beijing. Another UNESCO World Heritage Site, here I come!

I knew China was large, but I had no idea that I would need to prepare for crazy weather. 28 degrees to cold. Oops my packing might be incorrect.

It was October, and normally you can expect temperatures ranging around 8-19 degrees C.

This is NOT what we experienced. Instead, the day before we arrive, it snowed. OH great, I had no closed toed shoes.

Our flight from HK to Beijing was scheduled to leave at 3 pm, so as an anxiety ridden traveller, I set out in ample time only to find myself waiting and waiting and WAITING. No need to panic, I thought this extra time might net me finding shoes.

I searched the airport. Selection slim and prices high. As desperate as I was, I refused to pay 4400$HKD- $700 CDN on shoes I had not intentions of wearing again. OMG, they were horrible. I guess I was not that desperate after all. What I am is resourceful. Stay tuned, I will share later in this post.

Now back to the trip.

We landed in Beijing in the wee hours in the morning. Negotiating this airport is difficult. For about 30 minutes I thought I was in the story “The Terminal” with Tom Hanks. Signs are not well posted, and we made many wrong turns to try to get out.

Here is a map. More information can be found here.

TIP: If you plan to leave airport you will need to purchase a visa, even if just a layover. This can be done right at airport providing you have all your papers in order. I can’t remember the cost but as the wall was on my list, the price was NOT an issue. I want to say it was maybe $25?? Sorry I really can’t remember. It was a long flight. I just wanted to see a bed and soon!!!

We had booked a beautiful hotel - Langham Palace. It is located extremely close to Terminal 3 in Beijing.

Their 24-hr free shuttle had us to hotel in minutes. And trust me. Every minute counted.

By the time we are in our beautiful room (they upgraded us to a suite), we realized that we would have about 100 precious minutes to sleep before we had to rise and get ready for our wall walking trip.

I hired a private driver ($269 US) who picked us up at our hotel at 6:30 am (I tend not to be a tour group gal. I like setting up my pace and plan.) Mr. Wong did not speak a word of English. My first thought was this might be fun 😉

After about 90 minutes, we arrived at Mutianyu Great Wall area. (BTW. this location is usually not as busy as other area around Beijing.) With the poor weather, the wall was a ghost town. Seriously, we maybe saw a total of 40 people in the 2,5 hours. Most of these were the shopkeepers or workers.

When you arrive plan to have CASH. They do NOT take credit cards. Fortunately there is 1 cash machine. Plan accordingly.

You will need to purchase your wall entry ticket and the cable car tickets, up and down.

If you come on a sunny day you might be able to purchase the cable car up and a toboggan ride down.

Can you imagine riding a sled down the wall? How sweet would that be? (We were not able to do this due to weather conditions)

Or you could walk. Not an easy trek, about 1000 steps up. I suggest you save your legs for up top.

After purchasing your tickets, you will take a bus to a drop off spot and walk uphill through a small touristy area lined with shops. We arrived at 8:15 and the wall schedule indicated opening at 7:30. This was NOT so. We had to wait for the cable car to start running.

We are the ONLY Caucasians in sight. As if we didn’t already stand out my shoes certainly did.

Here are my CLOSED toed shoes (socks in sandals, with plastic bags, and then the covers from the slippers in our hotel.) OMG, Do Not Call the Fashion POLICE!

While waiting for the cable car, I noticed a working crew heading up with bags of rice. I did some research and apparently the reconstruction of wall is being done as it was many years ago. They use the starch from sticky rice to strengthen the mortar. AMAZING!

We were the second group up the hill. The cable car stops at Watchtower station 10. if you are looking at a map of the area.

The first group of 7, turned to the right to walk the flatter area towards Tower 6 (toboggan area) I on the other hand was determined to climb farther up the hill to get to a better vantage point for my photos. Along this route you will discover a Graffiti Wall. Go figure.

Bring your felt pen and when you arrive at Tower 14. Write your thoughts, your name, or your wise words. This was put in place to preserve the wall. Bravo! As you can see, it is well used.

OMG, this place is stunning!

The weather was cool and damp BUT we had the wall to ourselves for over 1 hour. UNBELIEVABLE. Check out my shots. Not a soul in sight. We sat on steps gazing at the majestic marvel. It is awe-inspiring and words will never be able to describe the feeling and the grandeur of this site.

The wall climbs up the sides of mountains and down for miles till you could no longer see it. It was first constructed in the 6th century and then rebuilt in the 16th century. This wall is massive. They say over 21,ooo km. To give you an idea of size, that is just less than half the circumference of the world at the equator. Holy!

It starts at Shanhaiguan on the Bohai Sea in the east, to Lop Lake in the Gobi Desert on the West. The area we are walking consists of 22 watch stations that were once used to protect Beijing, and the Forbidden City from ruthless Mongolian warriors.

Off in distance you can see more watchtowers

As I recall this walk, I am still in awe. This site will be one that will be hard to surpass. WOW, WOW, WOW!

Granite slabs making 4-5 meters across and about 21 ft high. 4-5 horses could walk side by side on wall back in the days. Can you imagine how long this would take to build and the number of people? Mind blowing I say.

I struggle which pictures to share. Sorry.

Notice my footwear. In this scenery you hardly notice, right?

After spending just over 2 hours, we headed back to station 10 to take the cable car down.

I WALKED THE WALL, in my fancy footwear!

Our driver was set to pick us up at 12:30, which gave us a short amount of time to walk around the shops. We grabbed a hot chocolate to warm up and tucked in a museum to learn more. I couldn’t help by buy a cheesy photo of us in a certificate. How fun and only cost about $10. Lite and laminated. Perfect for packing. LOL

Mr. Wong met us with lovely steamed buns, how kind of him. He was a gem and had us back to airport in time for our afternoon flight. BTW: The airport require 3 hours for check in. They can turn you away if you are late. DON"T be LATE!

If in Beijing or in China- the wall is a MUST.

Go early, and if you can handle stairs, head left as we did.

The photos are stunning as you climb up and view the valley and mountains with the wall meandering for what appeared to be forever. I have seen many wonders of the world but this one was #1. It will be hard to beat.

Where will I travel next...?

TIP: If I was to have a redo, I would suggest 2-3 days here so you could have 1 day around the wall, 1 day at the Forbidden City(closed on mondays) and a day to kick around this massive city of over 21 million.

Suggestions

Langham Palace – Beijing airport

Private driver to wall -go early and beat the bus crowd

Mutianyu Great Wall area - less populated

Toboggan ride down - weather permitting - plan for a line up

CLOSED TOED SHOES - ha ha

Great Wall of China - Fancy Feet