Great Wall, Jinshanling

Outside of Beijing, located at Hebei approximately two and half hour drive from Wangfujing Beijing. There are no crowds, no rush just great views and a cable car ride up, continuing with a relaxing climb up and down then back to the ticketing exit. Our driver and guide Leo from Beijing Walking is very friendly, knowledgeable, helpful and skilled in this area. Beautiful sights at the wall and beyond into the vast mountains to have a glimpse of what ancient civilisation experienced and the labour involved to build these particular section. An experience in Jingsanling is a must in comparison over the long queues and tourist modernisation at Mutianyu and Badaling section.

Jinshanling is THE best section of the Great Wall to visit. There weren’t more than 10 other people on the entire section, we just occasionally passed groups of 2 / couples. We visited on a Thursday and there was no wait. The chairlift was closed, but we took the shuttle up to the west side, hiked across to the easternmost tower, and hiked down the past to the east entrance. Couldn’t be happier to see the wild, original, and unrestored wall. Beyond stunning and you just have to see it in person!

I stay at a farmhouse near the office entrace so I got there early. I can pay for ticket at the entrance by WeChat. There were not crowded in the morning. I walked along the Great Wall....Million of beautiful !!! Some sections were steep but I can hold the wooden ladder and climb up. Exhausted but happy. 😍

We booked our trip on Trip.com and it turned out perfectly! Our guide was Susie and she and our drivers were spot on. We had to transfer to a van the last 30 minutes of the trip. This section of the wall is not as popular as the others due to the distance from Beijing, it was a 4 hour round trip. The payoff is very few people, the views and original parts of the wall. After spending the previous day walking around the Forbidden City and my old knees we opted to ride the cable car up and take a casual walk/climb to the East Gate, took a bit over 2 hours.

Wow! Even with all the hype this experience was incredibly underrated! The wall itself is breathtaking. Jinshanling section is well maintained and very beautiful. We lucked out on crowds as often felt like we were the only ones up there. Town had some decent little restaurants and plenty of small vendors eager for customers (sometimes aggressively so). But still a pleasant community and area to visit. Stayed only one night and were able to see the wall as far as was open to the public in both directions. We're quite fit and that took us about 6 hours in total including lots of breaks to take pictures.

Trek from the east entrance to the west entrance took about 3 hours. Tickets cost 55 yuan per adult. This is the best section of the Great Wall of China we’ve visited so far. Like the General Tower .

In total awe. There's a direct bus from downtown beijing leaving at 8 am sharp on weekends. The trip takes 2,5h. Jinshanling is a less visited section as it's further out from beijing. So not so crowded as Mutianyu . Definitely try the farmhouse restaurant if you have an extra hour, amazing home cooked food for very reasonable prices and a very quaint, provincial Chinese feeling. Doesn't get more local than that. Visiting the great wall was one of the most amazing experiences of my life.

Historical and beautiful as it may be, I spent a lot of my visit focusing on my safety and dear life. Although I'm 57 and hiked 18,000 steps in Huangshan one day last year, this was a totally different kettle of fish. The unrestored parts had little or no parapets and the floor at places was so steep that I slipped once and found it hard to stop myself. The guide suggested that we get off the wall at one point to walk on the narrow and rocky dirt trail outside between 3 or 4 towers but that was even worse as a sudden slip or fall down the mountains could have injured us badly or worse. Furthermore, we hiked up and started from the east gate, walked down from the central section and didn't take the cable car up or down. Younger and fitter people may find it easier but be warned that it's not a stroll in the park. Perhaps the Mutianyu section would have suited me better. Rather cloudy that evening, so there wasn't a spectacular sunset.