Day 1: Jiankou Great Wall Hike 

We will hike 10-km on Jiankou wild Great Wall, pass numerous watchtowers overgrown by flowers and trees. It is a 10-km hike with a total ascend of 600 meters, so you’ll need a fair bit of energy. But your efforts will be rewarded because this trail is a mecca for photographers. We will stay overnight at an authentic farmhouse with view on the Jiankou Great Wall.

Jiankou Great Wall Camping

After 2 hour’s drive from the meeting point (Lama Temple Subway) we arrive at  a local farmhouse  in the middle of a chestnut orchard  where we enjoy a royal organic meal.  Once lunch is finished your adventure  begins.

The start of this Jiankou Great Wall hike as immediately amazing.   We follow a small up uphill trail for about 1 hour  till we reach the Great Wall at  second beacon tower.  During this first 500 m ascend we have magic views of the  Great Wall built on steep cliffs that drop down into WangQuan valley and climb back out almost vertical.

As the hike continues on top of the Great Wall you  enjoy  fantastic views  of  famous Great Wall sections as  ” The Wall Bow “, “Arrow Nock” and the “Beijing Knot”  We pass 7 beacon towers on this section on the wall, the best preserved ones are called the 5 eye watchtower and the Jade tower. (if you are up for it we can also camp in one of the towers here)

Jiankou Great Wall trekking

After taking some nice pictures on the rooftop of the 6th watchtower we follow a small path down the mountain. We will spend the night at a cute local farmhouse that will welcome us with a nice spread of local dishes.

Day 2： East Jiankou to Mutianyu Great Wall Trekking

Today we get up early and enjoy a good local breakfast before we step into our van for a short drive to the Eastern part of the Jiankou Great Wall.  Jiankou to Mutianyu is a breathtaking 10 km trek that combines wild and restored Great Wall. You have to be in good physical condition but you will be rewarded with fantastic scenery.

From a Chestnut orchard we start walking on a dirt trail that leads to the  Jiankou East Great Wall.  It is a descend 500 meter ascend that will take us about 1 hour.  You will agree that it’s worth the effort when you finally climb the ladder to the Zhengbeilou Watchtower(991m) where some of the most spectacular pictures have been shot.

We walk east on the wall  to the highestpoint of Jiankou (1029 meters)  allowing you to see the entire Mutianyu Great Wall plus much of Jiankou as well.  Its a very enjoyable walk on top of a well preserved Great Wall where we pass the famous “bull’s horn section”.

After a good hour hiking on top of the Jiankou Great Wall a tree full with prayer flags announces the start of the Mutianyu  Great Wall.  Here the Great Wall is restored. A short hike on the Mutianyu Great Wall leads us past 4 guard towers before we start our 1 hour downhill hike trough the valley. The trail ends at a picturesque village where we stay overnight in a cosy guesthouse.

Day 3： Huanghuacheng Great Wall Trekking

The Huanghuacheng Great Wall  is almost 11 kilometers long and joins  Mutianyu Great Wall in the east,and Badaling Great Wall in the west. The trail we hike is about 6km long and gives us an excellent opportunity to see some restored Great Wall away from the crowds.  Make sure to keep some space on your memory card because you might snap your perfect picture right here  at Huanghuacheng Great Wall

After our local breakfast, we drive 40 minutes to Huanghuacheng Great wall and start with  a 30 minute easy hike till we the  reach Huanghuacheng Great Wall at this lowest.

A 1 hour uphill hike on the wall will bring us to a very well preserved and impressive section of the Huangcheng Great Wall. From here you can see the whole picture of the west and east  Huanghuacheng Great wall , and Huanghuacheng Lake.

The west part of  Huanghuacheng Great Wall itself is quit unique as it doesn’t have any of the famous big stairs so hiking up the steeper parts of  Huanghuacheng Great Wall can be a bit tricky. The Great Wall is very well restored and the patch nicely paved so you will not have to much trouble.

We hike on top of the west Huanghuacheng wall for about 1.5 hours till the Huanghuacheng Great Wall drops in into  Lake. We cross the lake and go for a late but good lunch.  We will stay overnight at the farmhouse around that area.

Day 4: Gubeikou to Wild Jinshanling Great Wall Trekking

Embark on a fantastic 13km Great Wall hike from the picturesque Wild Gubeikou Great Wall to the Wild Jinshanling Great wall.  From our super scenic camping spot we can watch the sun set and rise  over the Jinshanling Great wall, the Gubeikou Great Wall and see all the way to  Simatai Great Wall.

After breakfast, we drive to the home stay which is surrounded by the Gubeikou Great Wall. With a view on the Crouching Tiger Great Wall we enjoy a truly delicious organic meal.   After lunch  our adventure starts.

It takes us only 15 minutes hiking up the hill behind the farmhouse before we get our first glimpse of the Gubeikou Great Wall.  A few more  turns on a little bush trail and we are on top of the Great Wall.  We hike from tower to tower and take breaks inside or on top of the watch towers. The rooftop breaks a great chance to take some awesome pictures of this 1400 years old section of the Ming Great Wall.

Here we side track a bit from the Wall to get around the restricted military section of the wild Gubeikou and Jinshanling Great Wall. It’s a really beautiful  trail that meanders through farm fields and over the hill ridges next to the Wild Jinshanling  Great Wall.

Just when you think “we are in the middle of nowhere’ a small farmhouse appears. After dinner we pick up our backpacks with camping gear and hike up the hill for 20 minutes till we reach our camping spot. The view from this camping spot is just magic, having a view over the whole Gubeikou, Jinshanling and Simatai Great Wall. Time to pop a beer 

Day 5： Jinshanling to Simatai Great Wall Trekking

We get up early in the next morning, have a good breakfast and head straight to the Great Wall again. A small trail will bring us back on the mountain ridge and within 15 minutes we are on the Wild Jinshanling Great Wall.  The 10-km long Jinshanling Great Wall shows us some amazing defensive features like barrier walls, battlement walls, watchtowers, gun emplacements, shooting holes, horse holes, horse blocking walls.

We hike on top of the  crumbled wild Jinshanling Great Wall for about 30 minutes till we reach at the most famous and best preserved section of the Jinshanling Great Wall. Here you can see how the Great Wall of China looked like during the Ming Dynasty.

The last part of our hike is all the way uphill again. We pass the General Tower with its intoxicating views over miles and miles of Great Wall as we make our way to  the last of the 67 watchtowers of the Jinshanling Great Wall.  We visit 4 more towers of the Simatai Great Wall and take a last spectacular picture of the Fairy tower, the highest tower on the Simatai Great wall.

A small trail through the forest will bring us to the end of the valley. An excellent lunch will fill our hungry stomachs and a few beers will quench our thirst. After lunch, we can have a nap in the van while our faithful driver brings us back to our meeting point in Beijing around 6 to 7 pm.