Day 1: Jiankou Great Wall Trekking 

From our meeting point (Lama Temple subway station), we drive for about 2 hours till we reach on the picturesque Dazhenyu village. Before we start this Great Wall trek, we enjoy a good farmhouse lunch in a yard  surrounded by chestnuts and with a view on the Jiankou Great Wall. The trip is an 10-km hike with a total ascent of 600 meters, so you need a fair bit of energy to make it to the top.

Jiankou Great Wall Camping

After a 2 hour driver, we arrive at a local farmhouse in the middle of a chestnut orchard where we enjoy a royal organic meal. We put on our backpacks with camping gear (tent, mat and sleeping bag) and head for the mountains.

The start of the Jiankou Great Wall hike is immediately beautiful. Just 100 meters away from the Echoing Lake, the Great Wall drops  down into WangQuan valley and climbs back out almost vertical. We follow an uphill trail through the bush for about 1 hour until we reach the Great Wall at the second beacon tower. During the first part of this hike, we will ascend about 500 meters. Once we arrive on the Great Wall, our uphill hiking is mostly done.

As the hike continues on top of the Great Wall, we enjoy fantastic views of famous Great Wall sections known as “The Wall Bow”, “Arrow Nock” and the “Beijing Knot”. We pass 7 beacon towers on this Jiankou Great Wall hike. The best-preserved ones are called the 5-eye watchtower and the Jade tower.

We climb the last watchtower to watch the sunset and make our way down to the valley towards our farmer friends for a friendly dinner and a good nights rest. The homestay is very nice with shower and and toilets in the renovated rooms. The host are super friendly and their organic food comes right from their own backyard.

Great Wall Camping

Day 2: Mutianyu Great Wall Hike

After breakfast, we start our hike to the Mutianyu Great Wall. The Mutianyu Great Wall, built in the Tang dynasty (618-907), is our destination for today. The Mutianyu Great Wall was reinforced during the Ming dynasty and restored by Deng Xiao Ping in the 198o’s making it today’s best preserved section of the Beijing Great Wall

Mutianyu Great Wall hike

After 1 day of strong hiking we deserve a relax approach of the Great Wall and take the cable car up to the 14th tower of the Mutianyu Great Wall. From this platform we have a fantastic view over the 26 Mutianyu Great Wall watchtowers and we can still see the Jiankou Great Wall sneaking over the mountains tops we hike yesterday.

We walk on top the nicely paved Great Wall passing through 8 watchtowers. From watchtower number 6, Zhengguan Terrace, we slide our way down the Great Wall on the toboggan. and go for a late but good lunch. The celebration beers are on us 🙂 By 4 pm our driver will drop us of  at our Beijing meeting point.