Dear Daniel,
I have just returned home from my week in Beijing and want to thank you, Paul Song and your wonderful team for looking after me so well doing my stay in Beijing. It was an awesome stay and I managed to do all the things I wanted to do and that included the long walk on the Great Wall, which although a challenge was with the help of your guides great. I managed the 4.5 hours and enjoyed almost every minute, sure a cable car and the walk off the wall through the country side did help, but the whole day with perfect weather and a great team will remain one of my most treasured memories.
I will certainly be recommending you to my friends and will write a bit about the trip on several websites.
I am also sure I will come back to Beijing sometime in the future. As I have told Paul, next time I would like to come to your office and met you both.
Thank you and your team.
Sincerely,
Penny
Penny Eames
Waikanae
New Zealand
Mutianyu Great Wall Key Words:
Features: natural landscape, green, smooth, towers at close intervals, well preserved and original
Hiking Area: 4-10 towers of the 20 towers on the wall
Hiking Time: 2 - 3 hours
Hiking Level: beginner
Distance: 85km from the downtown Beijing
Cable car, chairlift, speed slide: available
After seeing the Huanghuacheng Great Wall at the Jintang Lake section, we take a 40-minute drive to the Mutianyu Great Wall 30km away from Fuwang Farmhouse. The Mutianyu Great Wall is also one of my favorite sections of the Great Wall in Beijing. It has an extemely beautiful natural landscape once you are up on the wall, green, densely wooded. This section of the Great Wall is comparatively smoother than most of other sections. For me, the Mutianyu Great Wall is an ideal site for holiday makers instead of the Great Wall hikers. But to make your hike more interesting, I suggest you walk up to the Great Wall rather than take a cable car. You know, the Mutianyue Great Wall is the only section where you have to do the mountain hike if you are going to climb up the Great Wall since the Mutianyu Great Wall doesn't start from the ground unlike other sections of the Great Wall. So at the Mutianyu Great Wall, you have the chance to enjoy the mountain hike as well as the Great Wall hike.
There are 20 towers on the Mutianyu Great Wall snaking the ridge for about 3000 meters. The watch towers at the Mutianyu Great Wall are distributed at short intervals. The 20 watch towers are numbered from right to left, or from east to west. The 20th tower is highest point of the Mutianyu Great Wall. In any Great Wall hike, it is good for your legs to hike up than to hike down. So we suggest you hike the Mutianyu Great Wall from the left to the right - from the east to the west. You have three ways of getting to the Great Wall:
1) Walking up the Great Wall along the stone steps (like a mountain hike - 40 minute hike ) - to the 10th Watch Tower
2) Taking a cable car up to the Great Wall -to the 14th Watch Tower
3) Taking a chairlift to the Great Wall - to the 6th Watch Tower
So you may walk up to the 10th Watch Tower and walk to the 14th Watch Tower, then take a cable car there to the ground; or hike to the 6th Watch Tower, then take a chairlife or speed slide down.
Or You may take a cable car up to the 14th Watch Tower and walk to the 10th Watch Tower, then walk down the mountain, or go on with your hike to the 6th Watch Tower, then take a chairlife or speed slide down to the ground.
Or you can take a chairlift up to the 6th Watch Tower, walk to the 10th Watch Tower, then walk down the mountain, or continue your hike to the 14th, then take a cable car down the mountain.
We climb up the mountain to the Great Wall
Enjoy the beautiful view on the way up
The most steepest Great Wall - the Jiankou Great Wall on the west of the Mutianyu Great Wall
The former American president once hiked the Great Wall
It is a beautiful section of the Great Wall in Beijing
They take the speed slide and I take the chairlift down the mountain
We trek from the 10th Watch Tower to the 6th Watch Tower, then they would like to choose the speed slide down the mountain. But I prefer the chairlift.
