It's probably the most well-known tourist attraction in China: The Great Wall. The length of the Wall is over 5,000 kilometers.

The history of the Wall started more than 2700 years ago when the separate states in China build their own defence walls. In 220 B.C, the emperor Qin Shi Huang joined those walls together to form an united defence system. (the Terracotta army in Xian is guarding his mausoleum). The emperors in the Ming Dynasty made the Wall larger.

The Great wall lays North of Beijing and has several sections: Badaling, Simatai, Jinshanling, Mutianyu, Gubeikou, Huanghuacheng and Jiankou. Badaling and Mutianyu are both well preserved and most visited by tourists. Distance is 70 kms away from downtown Beijing.

If you want to avoid the crowds then you could consider to go to Jinshanling, Simatai or Gubeikou. The sections Huanghuacheng and Jiankou are only suitable for people who likes hiking in nature. Several public bus lines visit these parts of the Great Wall.

On our vacation (2004) we went to The Badaling section. We bought a ticket for the cable car(60 Yuan) which brought us to the top. Here we bought a second ticket for the Great Wall(40 Yuan).

Above it was full with tourists and merchants. It was more steep than i had expected. You must have a quite good physical condition to climb all these stairs. Our son and daughter had enough energy and hiked some more but my wife and i had to stop for a rest. We waited till the children came back.

On the ground is a parking lot with lots of coaches,cars and minibuses. Along the parking lot are restaurants and souvenir shops where you can buy your t-shirt "I climbed the Great Wall". In allmost all hotels you can book a trip to the Great Wall. Pick-up and return is at the hotel.


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