In this post we will tell you how visit the great wall of china by free or on tour (Mutianyu section)
- "Run! Run we lose it !!! Daleeeeeee !!! "
- "Oh, I'm dying, that with my little legs I have to take more steps than you, my lung capacity is full, my heart is about to explode and I suffer!"
- "Lety correeeeeeeee, shut up and run!"
- “It gives me an attack on 3,2,1… ah yes we have arrived! How good"
- “Puff! by the hair"
This is how the day of our meeting with one of the greatest engineering works in history. With an alarm clock too early, with a subway ticket that did not work, too many minutes late and with the marathon we ran from the subway station to the unknown bus stop that would take us to the destination.
But it was worth it, and not because of the speed that Rober reached, that would have made the roadrunner red, if not because visiting theGreat Wall of China It was one of the experiences we liked most of the whole trip: amazing!
And what about the Great Wall? Well, no! It is not true that it is seen from the moon ... if it is less wide than a highway! But leaving the urban legends aside, it really pays to think how long it is: 4,000 km built as a barrier to separate civilized China from barbarian lands. To know what the barbarians would think today when they saw that to climb the wall, instead of overcoming thousands of obstacles and steep mountains, they would only have to catch a cable car. And once flushed in colors they could return to their uncivilized lands in less than 2 minutes thanks to a mega slide which is the most surreal thing we saw in China!
But everything does not matter, barbarians, slides and the ever-present packaged chicken legs (with the Chinese cuisine post you will understand ...) stepping on the Chinese Wall has been like being catapulted to a remote chapter of history, an adventure novel, To a distant world that impresses and falls in love. Here the words remain, so we better leave you some pictures!
How to get to the Great Wall of China? Do youGo for free or with tour?
There are tours everywhere, but they are expensive, and the main problem is that they also have marked schedules and visits for guiris (silk factories, workshops ...) so we discard it. For free it has been super easy, although the information on the network is a bit confusing, so we leave you our experience of how to go from Beijing to the section of the Chinese wall of Mutianyu (We visited it in June 2012 but the post is updated to January 2019).
We take thebus 867 which goes directly to the parking of the Chinese Wall of Mutianyu, there is no need to change. It cost us 16Y (both but prices are now higher) and the bus lasted two and a half hours. The bus stop in Beijing is a bit "hidden": you have to go by subway to the DONGZHIMEN stop, once there take exit B (northeast), walk down the street Dongzhimen Inner Street and pass the large bus station on the left to the next street, there turn left to continue north on the street Dongzhimen Outer Byway, do not cross the street at any time. Continuing straight we will find the Dongzhimen long distance bus station to our left, from where our bus leaves. Once you get there you just have to say Great Wall ...
We do not know if currently the 867 bus continues to make the same route, but some friends who have visited China in 2018 told us that there is now a faster bus: the916 快. The price is about 12Y per person. You will have to go to the final stop (Huai Rou) and from there take a shuttle to the entrance of the Mutianyu Great Wall of China section. This shuttle costs € 2 approx (i / v).
How much does the entrance to the Great Wall of China in Mutianyu cost?
There are different companies that sell tickets for the wall (45 Y). We pay 25Y each with student discount.
Go up and down the Great Wall on the Mutianyu section
To upload there are two options: stairs, many stairs or cable car that, apart from saving you energy that we assure you, you will have to use to explore the wall, it will save you precious time ... we advise you to take it.
What we found totally expendable, although we admit that we would have loved to do the tourist, is the slide that in less than 2 minutes leaves you at the foot of the wall ... we settle for watching the guiris go down there while we carved our buttocks on the stairs down! To visit the great wall again, right now, I think we would go down on a slide haha.
How much does it cost to visit the Great Wall of Mutianyu?
If you want to buy the complete pack: entrance to the Great Wall of Mutianyu (45CNY), funicular to go up and slide to go down (100Y), calculate that you will spend about 145CNY (about € 18-19)
Tips for visiting the Great Wall of China
- Early morning!
- Choose to know the Mutianyu section that is much less visited
- Bring water
- And if you travel in summer, sunscreen
Visit the Great Wall of China on tour
This tour costs € 31 and includes: transportation to / from the Chinese Wall to Beijing, entrance with funicular climb, guide in English, entrance to the wall and traditional lunch. It does not only include the downhill slide (you can pay it separately).
Is it worth visiting the Great Wall of China?
Strongly YES 🙂
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We hope ourguide to visit the Great Wall of China for free it has been helpful to you 🙂
