Great Wall Jinshanling - West Simatai
Daily Group Hike

TOUR A5: Crossing from the crowd-free
scenic Jinshanling to West Simatai and from restored to unrestored sections

(with breakfast snack, fresh-prepared lunch, but without shopping)

Highlights:

* If you are looking for breathtaking views with a relatively more affordable walk, then this hike will be right up your alley!
* Catch stunning views and meet NO crowds on great rolling terrain.

* 3-3.5 hours of walking on the Great Wall with a distance of roughly 6 kms.

* Walk from the restored part to the original wide side.
* Just touring. No any shopping activity.
* Suitable for families with kids or seniors.

* Group size varies from 5 people to 35 people depending on the signups of each day
* English-speaking tour guide.

"A great trip, well organized, with a friendly group. It was everything we wanted it to be: we got the hike (wonderful), we got snacks and water, we were picked up and delivered back, and we had a great lunch to round it off. Absolutely recommended. I'd go with GWA again, no hesitation. 

Any suggestions for improvements? Well, the only thing I can think of is that GWA could explain how the pickups work. We weren't quite sure what was happening: a minibus took us to another point in BJ, then after a certain amount of waiting around, a bigger bus took some of us to Jinshanling (others went to different places). It all worked out fine in the end, of course. 

The four of us were also extremely grateful to GWA for refunding the money of the fifth member of the party, who was too ill to come, without any quibbles. That was kind, and left us with a very good feeling!"

- Nick H. from U.K., TripAdvisor Contributor

Detailed Hiking Itinerary

Between 6:30 am and 7:30 am, you will be picked up from your hotel by your English-speaking guide and driver if you are staying in a hotel within the 2nd Ring Road. Otherwise, you will meet us in the Chaoyangmen Subway Station to board the bus for today's tour.  If you are in a hurry and can't have a breakfast, we have bread and bottled water for you on the bus. From Chaoyangmen, we will make the approximate 2.5 hour drive to the Great Wall at Jinshanling. A day earlier, you’ll hear from your tour guide about the estimated pickup time from your hotel’s phone or your personal Chinese mobile phone. Please have a big breakfast and bring some snack with you for this long day. The Great Wall at Jinshanling is one of the best preserved parts of the Great Wall with many original features. It got its name because it was built on the Greater and Lesser Jinshan (Gold Mountain, literally) Ranges. A tablet with the Chinese inscription for Jinshanling Great Wall was set into this section. The Jinshanling Great Wall has not been repaired since 1570. It is a remote and relatively isolated section of the Great Wall. As there are relatively few tourists at Jinshanling Great Wall, it is definitely a good place to explore on foot and see the real Great Wall. The Jinshanling Great Wall was initially built from 1368 to 1389 in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), The rebuilding of the Wall was mainly directed by a famous general Qi Jiguang (1528-1588). Poems and tablet writings can be found on the Jinshanling Great Wall left from the time when Qi Jiguang directed the rebuilding of this section of the Great Wall. There are more than 100 watch towers along the Jinshanling Great Wall. The ‘Watching Beijing Tower’ is on the highest point, from which you can see Beijing. There are five main passes and 67 watchtowers at Jinshanling although you will finish a fraction of it during the trip. Featuring various structures and having various functions, those watchtowers are either one tiered or two-tiered. We will take roughly 3 hours to explore and trek along this world heritage. After about 90 minutes of hiking we will eventually pass over into the West Simtai which is now a part of Jinshanling geographically. While the eastern portion of Simatai is closed due to government maintenance and repairs, the western section of the Simatai Great Wall is still open to hikers. The Simatai Great Wall is separated into eastern and western halves by a valley, with a rainbow-like chain bridge over the valley. The hills in the west are sloping gently, with 20 watchtowers remaining in good shape. The Simatai section of the Great Wall is one of the few sections to retain the original appearance of the Great Wall. Incorporating a variety of characteristics of other sections of the Great Wall, Simatai also displays some unique features of its own. It is often described with the following five words: perilous, dense, diverse, artful, and peculiar.   Here’s how one of our trekkers described first seeing Simatai:   “The wall snaking off in either direction as far as the eye could see, the trail undulating up and down along the crest of the mountain ridge. It stops you in your tracks. It takes your breath away. Steep, narrow trails up to watchtowers where guards in centuries past would have watched for invaders, followed by very steep and narrow steps down the other side. Some sections were crumbly and we had to pick our way carefully down, others where it was less steep were like steeply sloping pathways of ancient brick.” Following our trek, we will stop at a local restaurant where you will get to try refreshing and authentic rural Chinese dishes. Since this trip goes very far to Jinshanling and then returns, and in order to ensure that guests spend enough time touring Jinshanling, we are afraid we are unable to stop at each place (hotels, primarily) on the way to Beijing around 6 pm, the middle of  of the horrible rush hour. Instead, we will drop everyone off at the Dongzhimen Subway Station to save your time. Guests can take subways, buses or taxis to return to their own hotels or somewhere to enjoy the night in Beijing. Extend Your Great Wall Experience with Camping on the Great Wall Tonight (TOUR A5+) For an additional CNY888 or USD125, you will have the chance to sleep on the Great Wall tonight. After you finish your lunch, our local support staff will meet you in the restaurant and transfer you to Gubeikou of the Great Wall where is our camping site. Gubeikou is a completely unrestored part of the Great Wall, 30 minutes away from Jinshanling. You will relax and have a chance to watch the beautiful sunset. Toward evening, we will treat you a country-style dinner in our camping base, a family-owned hostel. After dinner, our friendly support employee will set the camp for you to sleep on the Great Wall. The next day morning, our staff will send you to a public bus that takes you to Dongzhimen Bus Terminal of Beijing. You'll conveniently manage your return from there. For more details of this camping program, please visit the Affordable Group Hiking and Private Camping page.   What to bring with this exciting hike: *Hiking boots or sneakers sunscreen and sunglasses. * Bottled water * Backpack, and snacks or energy/protein supplements you may need before our lunch * Camera   Pickup: To clarify, a group tour means that we will pick you up from place to place in the morning and that can take time. Due to the morning traffic situation and strict parking policies of the government, we limit our free pickups from the hotels within the 2nd Ring Road Circle. Meeting Point: For guests we are unable to pick up due to your hotel locations, please take the Subway to meet us at the Subway Station called Chaoyangmen of Subway Line 2 or 6 at 7:20 am. Please make sure you arrive at Exit A where our receptionists are waiting for you. Upon signing up, we will send you several pictures of this location. Return: Upon getting back to Beijing, your guide will drop you off at the nearest subway station to your hotel and instruct you how to take and get out. The horrible rush hour in Beijing at the time we get back will cost you much more time to get back to your hotel by sitting on the bus that moves forward inch by inch. You will be better off to take the underground transportation. Don't worry about getting lost in the subway. Your guide will tell you with good details.   Check more testimonials from former hikers and view their photos.