The Great Wall of China is a series of ancient fortifications started during the reign of Qin Shihuang. Though the Great Wall was built in stretches over each dynasty, the wall was more extensively constructed during Qin, Han and Ming dynasty.
The largest man-made project in the world at over 50,000km long, the Great Wall of China is considered one of the seven wonders of the world. In 1987, the Great Wall was included in the UESCO World Heritage list.
There are a few sections of the Great Wall we can visit from Beijing. We chose to visit Mutianyu Great Wall during our trip in March 2025.
Mutianyu Great Wall (慕田峪长城) is arguably the most beautiful section near Beijing but with fewer tourists. It is also the most popular section among foreign tourists, with around 5.4km open to visitors. Badaling (八达岭) is more popular with locals and twice as many visitors than Mutianyu. This, according to our guide, is because Badaling is the stretch Chairman Mao had visited.
One easy way to get to Mutianyu is via bus tours. We booked a bus tour for our trip via Taobao, which starts at 9am from Regent Beijing Hotel carpark.
Prior to that, we had breakfast at the Nan Cheng Xiang (南城香) branch nearby. The Chinese style fast food is inexpensive. We chose to have two tea leaf eggs at ¥2.50 each and top up ¥3 for the simple buffet. We were given a bowl to help yourselves with porridge, hot and sour soup, soy milk and pickles at the buffet corner.
The bus tour to Mutianyu starts at 9am and ends back in Beijing at around 5pm, with 5 hours free time given to us to explore Mutianyu. Tourists can choose to take only the cable car, the chairlift and toboggan or both. We went for both.
Located in Huairou District, Mutianyu is about 70 kilometers northeast of Beijing city or approximately 1.5 hours’ drive away.
Introduction of Mutianyu on the stone wall as we headed up the slope:
“Mutianyu is located in Huairou District of Beijing. According to historical literatures, this section of the Great Wall was built under the supervision of General Xu Da of Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang in the early Ming Dynasty. In 1987, it was selected as one of the top 16 Beijing scenes. In 1992, it was one of the top tourist spots in Beijing. In 2011, Mutianyu was acknowledged as an AAAAA tourist resort for it showed the best part of the Great Wall. On November 11, 1990, President Jiang Zemin wrote the inscription “the Great Wall – Mutianyu” for the resort.
This section of the Great Wall was built in a unique way. Here the many watchtowers and passes were built on the steep mountain. Forts were built on the two sides of the Great Wall. There were three watchtowers and a tower called “Zhengguantai”, which could be rarely seen on the Great Wall.
The northwest part of the Great Wall was constructed on the 1,000m high mountain ridge. The “arrow nock” and “lying eagle” sections were laid on the precipitous cliffs. This section of the Great Wall goes along the mountain ridge like a flying dragon. The Great Wall – Mutianyu is also a resort featuring beautiful scenes all year round with a forest coverage rate of 96% – flowers in spring, brooks in summer, red leaves in autumn and snow in winter. Mutianyu has been well-known at home and abroad as one of the best places to see the Great Wall.”
Mutianyu Great Wall in mid-March, an off peak season.
The trees were still pretty bare in early spring, so the entire landscape looked a mix of grey and green resulting in a gloomy feel. Autumn, on the other hand, is a popular season to visit Mutianyu with a mix of red, orange, yellow and green leaves blanket the mountain. But we were happy to be there during this period with lesser crowd. In fact, we managed to take a few photos without any one in the background.
There are 20 watchtowers along the stretch that is open to public.
Watchtower 14 to 20
To get to and from the starting point of this stretch, we took the cable car, which has the reputation of “The First Cable Car of the Great Wall”.
We managed to walk from Tower 14 to 19. Some of the steps were steep and challenging.
To get from No. 19 Watchtower to Hero Platform a.k.a. the highest point, one has to climb up this steep flight of 450 steps. We did not have the courage to attempt this.. hahaha…
Watchtower 1 to 6
For watchtower 1 to 6, visitors can take the chairlift up and down. On the way down, one can also choose to take the toboggan or speed slide down.
For the second stretch, we walked from watchtower 6 to 3.
Watchtower 4, or Zhengguantai Pass 正关台, is the most magnificent among the 20 open watchtowers. It is in the lowest depression between the two mountains. It comprises of a main building and buildings on two sides.
The last watch tower we visited before we turned back and headed back down to the main entrance to meet our guide.
Take note, visitors have to take a shuttle bus from the cable car and chairlift/toboggan station down to the Visitor Service Centre. The bus will leave once it has reached its full capacity. It’s a short bus ride but do allow for some waiting time here.
Love the entire experience of walking and thoroughly enjoyed climbing the Great Wall. It blows the mind that such an extensive structure can be built as early as 1368 and on such terrain. The fortification was still well-preserved, though restoration works were carried out between 1983 to 1986.
