Visit the Great Wall of China during the stopover in Beijing

Currency: Yuan (cny)–¥

Language: Chinese, mandarin

Climate: 20 / 30 ºc (abr-oct), 12 / -5 ºc (nov-mar)

How to visit de Great Wall of China?

If you are planning a trip to a country in South East Asia where you have a mandatory stopover, I recommend looking for a flight combination with Beijing. Make sure it is at least 8 hours and during the day so that you can visit the incredible Chinese Wall as an extra to your holiday.

First of all, you should know that the Chinese government allows you to enter the country without a visa for stays of less than 72 hours, so you will not have to deal with any bureaucratic procedures.

When you arrive at Beijing airport, collect your luggage and go through customs. The agents, who may not be very friendly, will see that you are on a layover and will not ask too many questions. Once you have the stamp in your passport, go to the luggage storage area to leave your heavy bags.

Now what?

At this point you need to decide which section of the wall you want to visit, as there are four sections, each huge and special.

Sections of the Great Wall of China

Badaling: It is the most popular section, which means that it is very crowded with tourists. This is because it is the closest section to Beijing and also has a cable car that facilitates access to the top of the wall. It is 75 kilometres from the airport.

Mutianyu: This section is our personal recommendation, its spectacular mountain scenery makes it one of the best sections of the wall and, although popular, it is not as crowded as Badaling. The distance from the airport is only 50 kilometres and, like Badaling, it has a cable car and chair lifts. For the descent, it also has a fun slide that we can slide through to get back down.

Huanghua Cheng: This section of the wall is quite degraded, but in its favour this gives it a special charm, as part of the wall is even under water. It is a little visited section due to the irregular terrain. It is located just over 60 kilometres from the airport.

Simatai y Jinshanling: It is the most difficult section to access, there are even areas that are too steep and can only be reached by climbing. It is 130 kilometres from the airport.

How to get to the Great Wall of China?

Once we have decided which section we want to visit, we need to work out how to get there. We recommend hiring a taxi to take us to the wall, wait for us during the visit and take us back to the airport. Compared to Europe, taxis are cheaper in China and you can negotiate the price before you get in. A taxi hire for about five hours, which will be more than enough for our visit with the routes included, will cost between 300-450 Yuan / €40-60, or even less depending on our negotiating skills.

However, it is important to note that there are many illegal taxi drivers at the airport who will try to offer their services before you approach the official taxi line. Although they may be legitimate, they can be difficult to negotiate with. In our case, we decided to make a deal with one of them for the sake of practicality, and all went well. He took us and waited for us at the entrance to the wall for about 3 hours, and before we left he even took us to a small museum and explained a little about some of the old pieces.

Timetable for the Great Wall of China

The opening hours are from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. (Nov – Mar) and from 7:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. (Apr – Oct)

Recommendations

At the entrance to the wall there are markets where we can buy some souvenirs, clothes and much more, you have to be good at haggling, offer 15% of the price they tell you and do not go above 20%.

Tips

- The total length of the wall is 21,196.18 kilometers, making it the largest construction made by humans. The study carried out to determine its length lasted 5 years.

- The construction of the wall took more than 2,000 years. Its origins date back to the 5th century BCE and its total culmination is dated to the 17th century CE.

- Nearly 10 million people lost their lives forced to work on the construction of the wall, and many were buried there. This is why it is said that the wall is one of the largest cemeteries in the world.