Which area of the Great Wall is the greatest?
December 5, 2005 3:06 AM   Subscribe

What is the best area of the Great Wall of China to see, with one full day to devote to the trip?

My dad and I are in Beijing, and are planning a Great Wall trip. We have a driver and guide all set to join us. We are debating which area of the wall to visit, however. We are deciding between Badaling, Mutianyu and Jinshanling/Simatai. I'm hoping someone may be able to give some personal stories as to their experiences, ie: did you get followed up the wall for the whole trip at Jinshanling/Simatai? Is Badaling too restored? Were the crowds not a problem at Badaling in the winter (I know how bad it is in the summer, but winter is a different story)? Is it worth the extra distance to a further one? Are the Ming Tombs worth seeing? Will the ruggedness of Jinshanling/Simatai be a problem for my father (55ish, decent shape, no specific walking shoes)... Any helpful tips would be appreciated. I'm leaving in around 24 hours for the tour, so I'll post the verdict afterwards. Thanks in advance...
posted by evadery to Travel & Transportation around China (13 answers total) 3 users marked this as a favorite
 
My wife took me to Badaling. She's a Beijing native, so I guess she thought that was the best/easiest to get to. We took the bus, though, so having a driver may expand your options.

Badaling was very scenic. There's a cable car up to the Wall, or you can hike. Chinese people wanted their picture taken with the gweilo (me). Lots of vendors at and on the Wall; the higher up you climb, the lower their prices are. The merchandise is not the best quality; the Friendship Store had much better stuff.

I'm not sure what you mean by "followed up the wall." There were a lot of people (it was Summer), but I don't think we were followed, and the crowds weren't bad. I am also not sure what "too restored" is. Badaling was certainly restored, and if you're looking for the added thrill of climbing on uncertain footing, it's not there.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 3:25 AM on December 5, 2005


Best answer: You can count on Badaling being crowded with, if not tourists at this time of year (although there will still be many), vendors who can be rather aggressive. Simatai is gorgeous but chances are you will be followed around by people trying to sell you t-shirts or water, for extensive periods of time. They'll help you get past some of the more crumbling sections, but then they expect you to buy stuff, so you should avoid Simatai if you don't want anything more than a walk up stairs- parts of it are badly crumbling or very steep. You can easily spend the better part of a day on the Simatai section, going from one standard starting point to another area (where your driver or bus can pick you up) and it's defintiely worth a visit. If your dad has a
pair of reliable sneakers and you don't go too fast, it should be manageable.

Mutianyu is also definitely a good alternative to Badaling (which I would avoid), and it generally receives even fewer visitors than Simatai, so there are practically no vendors around, and you will have a lovely hike mostly to yourselves. Depending on where you start, it can be slightly steep but for the most part the wall is in decent shape, and there are some stunning views. It tends to follow the contours of the hills, so it involves lots of rapid ascents and descents, so if your dad doesn't like strenuous exercise, then you might want to either go very slowly or take him to Badaling.
Wherever you go, keep in mind how cold it gets in Beijing in the winter and dress appropriately. And of course, bring plenty of water on your trip to the great wall, so that you can show the vendors you don't need to buy theirs and otherwise stay hydrated. Often they'll be happy to take your empty plastic bottles, so don't worry about having to tote stuff with you and back. And also, if you do buy anything, bargain hard, and never pay the first price they offer.

As for the Ming tombs, don't go if you could be going somewhere else in the meantime. They look cool in the pictures because of the long entrance to them with all the statues, and sure, you can get some pretty pictures of that- but the tombs themselves are pretty underwhelming, especially if you're not intimately familiar with Chinese history and their significance.

Good luck and let us know where you ended up going.
posted by Oobidaius at 3:49 AM on December 5, 2005


Response by poster: While Oodibaius' post was very helpful (and confirmed much of what I've thought), after speaking to my dad, it looks like we'll be doing either Badaling or Mutianyu tomorrow due to the tougher nature of Simati - but I may go to Simati by myself another day. As such, any comparison between Badaling or Mutianyu would be especially appreciated. Thanks again!
posted by evadery at 4:18 AM on December 5, 2005


Best answer: In my experience, all three are quite "touristy", with Badaling the worst of the lot - and overrun with vendors as others have pointed out. The restored part of the wall is still kinda neat, and with some climbing you can get to the end of the restored section and see the crumbled parts of the untouched wall. I went in the middle of February, and it was still quite crowded, although not too bad.

Of the three, I think I would say Mutianyu if you don't care about it being restored, and Simatai if you would like to see the un-restored wall. Like Oobidaius said, though, I thought the vendors in Simatai were some of the most aggressive ones I ran into during my entire 9-month stay in China. The Mutianyu section is the least crowded, and very scenic.

Personally, I would actually recommend a different part of the wall. A bit further out is the Huang Hua/Yellow Flower section, which is very scenic, almost devoid of tourists, has no vendors to speak of really, and is in very good shape for being totally unrestored. It is quite steep and somewhat overgrown, however, so I don't know how that would affect your dad.

I never did see the Ming tombs, as everyone I knew who saw them were not that impressed.

Have fun, and let us know how it went!
posted by gemmy at 4:39 AM on December 5, 2005


Best answer: I hope you know that your most useful phrase is going to be "Boo yow!" (Don't want).
posted by Kirth Gerson at 6:27 AM on December 5, 2005


Response by poster: Huang Hua is actually closed for renovations due to the Olympics in 2008...good idea in theory, though. That was my original preference...
posted by evadery at 6:35 AM on December 5, 2005


I went to Huang Hua. Shame it's being renovated. It was the best experience I've ever had. Negotiating with the mini coach driver to take us there, getting stuck somewhere we shouldn't be, where nobody would talk to us. (and if you've been to China, you know what that means!).

It was very rocky and rough though, and probably not suitable for your dad. Another possible excursion would be lao long tou - Old dragon's head, where the great Wall meets the sea.

Very interesting place :)
posted by lemonpillows at 7:28 AM on December 5, 2005


Not sure of the different names, but I'm going to recommend >as far from Beijing as possible< br>
We went to a spot about 2 hours outside... it was very nice, climbed a large set of steps all the way to a crumbling section. Only 1 drink vendor up on the wall. Had a few problems with athsma acting up (for the first time in 15 years), I hear its because pollution gets pushed up to the wall. Mostly Western tourists where we went...
posted by mhuckaba at 7:41 AM on December 5, 2005


When I lived in Beijing five years ago, I spent the night on Simatai. I got there in the late afternoon with the intention of sleeping over night. I chatted with one of the vendors, taught him to play the card game spit, drank baijiu until 2AM, slept on an extra cot he had, woke up at 4AM to take pictures of the sunrise, got another couple hours of sleep, and then slowly made my way back downhill hungover and dishevelled, passing these really confused looking Western tourists with really fancy hiking poles.

Simatai's probably changed dramatically in the past five years, so I don't know about that particular section now. I can say that you can safely give the Ming Tombs a miss (especially if you're on some sort of tight schedule) and you should try to finagle some way to get either a sunset or a sunrise in there. Also winter = COLD (20-30 below wind chills)
posted by alidarbac at 9:28 AM on December 5, 2005


Go to both, we did. If you've got the whole day, a car and driver there's very little to stop you from seeing both. The ride up Badaling and walk on the wall doesn't take more than about an hour (if even) but seeing a restored section is well worth it. As is being "attacked" by the Mongol horde at the bottom, who if you decline to have your picture taken with, will let you ride his camel, the straggliest version of what is already one of natures most disheveled animals. Good times. You can also get tee shirts that say "My parents went to the great wall and all I got was this lousy shirt". And if you're even halfway decent at barginning, you'll get like two or three hundred of them for a dollar.

I love Badaling.
posted by Keith Talent at 9:38 AM on December 5, 2005


Slightly off topic..I was livin in BJ in the early '80s. There were not many o/seas tourists then. The biggest american tour group always went to the Gt Wall on a Tuesday, followed by BJ Duck Banquet. Most of the Americans were rich retirees, and so the combination of sudden exersise and fatty meat often led to a a heart attack. It was called "Duck Death" and the Americam Embassy used to have to rota extra staff for every Tuesday night.

So........ get your Dad to take it easy.
posted by priorpark17 at 12:08 PM on December 5, 2005


I went to Mutianyu when I was in China the summer before last. Not having been to Badaling, I can't make any comparison, but I found Mutianyu to be quite a sight. As with lots of places in China, the vendors can be quite annoying. Probably your best bet is to buy stuff from the official store, not the hawkers outside. They have the same stuff, only the store is cheaper.
posted by number9dream at 7:52 PM on December 5, 2005


Response by poster: Well, it's never too late to respond, in case anyone is reading this in the future... I went to Mutianyu AND Badaling, and Mutianyu was by far the superior choice. A few months later I still regret not getting out to Simatai, but there is NO reason to go to Badaling when you can go to Mutianyu. There are far less people, much nicer views, and a greater sense of the wall. However, if you do go to Badaling, make sure you go to the left instead of the right (ie: the way the fewer walkers go). You can see some of the ruins out of reach, and there are significantly less people with nicer views.
posted by evadery at 9:52 PM on April 20, 2006


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