Mutianyu Great Wall of China
I wanted to visit the Great Wall to take some pictures but had a fear that I’ll end up just seeing tourists in all my photos, I know it’s not always possible to have an empty frame but I just didn’t pictures with lots of tourists.
So I decided not to go to usual “Badaling Great Wall” which is popular with tourists and instead went to a part of the wall that wasn’t that popular and hence had less transportation options.
Which leads to one of my best adventures! Video of the day further down
I decided to visit an area called Mitenyau which was about an hour away from Beijing, I had to catch a 916 express buss (12 yuan) from Dongzhimen Bus Station and then get off at the 15th stop of Beidajie (North Street) 北大街 in Huairou District and catch another local public Bus H23 (5 yuan). You can also get a cab to the Tourist Center (better option, but only official taxi’s, around 50 Yuan).
While on the 916 bus I asked the driver and conductor to tell me when to get off and they just didnt understand english, surprisingly a girl turns around and asks me with a french english accent if I was also going to the wall.
We ended up sitting together and planning next steps to get to the wall, was good that she was there as I almost got off at the wrong stop.
When you get to the Mutianyu Tourist Building, you will need to buy a ticket to the wall (45 yuan), you have a number of options to get up to the wall itself, cable car, chair lift, or walk/hike up (30-40mins) the mountain via hundreds of steps, its a hike but worth the challenge when u make it, and yes thats what we ended up doing.
You can buy a ticket to get a coach to the wall entrance point for 10 yuan, or walk the 2.5km which we also did.
Lots and lots of steps, only take this if your fit and well, take water!
Heres the video of the journey, I forgot to mention we also met up with another two random english speaking tourists on the walk up the steps, from Germany and India, we all really got on well and ended up hanging out and exploring the Wall and Beijing together, was a great day and made perfect by making new friends.
Its definitely worth the visit, but do plan well in advance and go early.