Actually, one of the main purposes of this trip to Beijing was to take my dad to hike the Great Wall. The last time I visited the Great Wall, it was just at the beginning of spring, and the mountains were all bare. Unlike autumn, when the scenery is lush and green, the mountain is covered with chestnut trees. When they ripen, they fall off by themselves. Legend has it that genuine Huairou chestnuts produced in this area are now rare, but since chestnuts need to be roasted to be eaten, we gave up on them during our trip.
Even though we couldn’t drive ourselves this time, we still chose Mutianyu. After all, it’s much less crowded than Badaling and also far more scenic.
So how do you get there? We found a service called Mubus, which is a chartered bus provided by a travel agency. Tickets are 60 RMB one-way and 80 RMB round-trip. It comes with an onboard guide who will talk about the history of the Great Wall during the ride. The departure point is next to Dongsi Shitiao Subway Station, generally between 7:00 AM and 8:00 AM. The bus departs when full, and the journey takes about an hour and a half. You can ask the guide to purchase entrance tickets and cable car tickets for you directly on the bus; buying them as group tickets offers some price advantage. Also, the bus drives right into the inner parking lot, so you don’t have to take the scenic area shuttle. The return trip is around 2:00 PM. Traffic back to the city can be quite congested, so we usually arrive back at Dongsi Shitiao around 4:00 PM. It stops at Taiyanggong along the way; if you’re in a hurry, you can get off early there, as it’s right next to a subway station.
There are many booking channels for Mubus, including their official website, Tmall, Ctrip, etc., so it’s fairly convenient. The downside is that you have less freedom during the trip. Water sold on the bus is very cheap, so make sure to buy it in advance or on the bus, as prices multiply several times once you enter the scenic area… The weather wasn’t great that day; it rained, but stopped quickly. The mountains were shrouded in mist, creating a unique atmosphere.
Actually, there’s a Burger King and some other restaurants near the gate, but precisely because Mubus drops you off inside, we couldn’t grab food at those restaurants and had to buy two sandwiches at the Subway near the Great Wall entrance to take up the mountain.
This time we still chose to take the cable car both up and down. Prices have risen from 60 RMB one-way/80 RMB round-trip four years ago to 100 RMB one-way/120 RMB round-trip now. The upper station is at Watchtower No. 14, which is relatively close to the highest point, Watchtower No. 20. We decided to walk towards No. 12 first for a loop, then head towards No. 20. The earlier sections were relatively easy, but between Watchtowers 19 and 20, there is a long stretch of stairs without landings. The stairs up to Watchtower 20 are extremely steep and have no handrails, so we practically had to crawl up… Coming down was even harder…
A famous spot for check-in photos. The words ‘Loyal to Chairman Mao’ are already hidden in the fog. Once you’re up here, buying a bottle of water becomes difficult, with prices starting at 20 RMB per bottle.
The distant mountains are all shrouded in mist.
Had lunch inside Watchtower No. 19.
The daunting stairs leading to Watchtower No. 20.
I have to say, the view from the top is truly spectacular after the climb.
Walking back to Watchtower No. 14, we took the cable car down. Since it was still early, we visited a small park below called the China Dream Stone City, which is included in the Great Wall ticket. It is a collection site for Chinese exotic stones and serves as an activity base for ‘Chinese Exotic Stone Collectors.’ So-called exotic stones are naturally uniquely shaped rocks; while some interpretations seem far-fetched, others are quite impressive. The park isn’t large, and about 20 minutes is enough to explore it. There is also an artificial cave inside displaying many stones, making it worth a casual look.
Photos in this post taken with SONY A5100 + 16-50 f3.5-5.6 + iPhone8, post-processed in Lightroom.
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