Jinshanling to West Simatai Group Hiking Tour - See Both the Unrestored and Restored Great Wall

 6:20 AM - 7:30 AM: You will be picked up from your hotel or go to our meeting point at Chaoyangmen Station Entry/Exit A of Subway Line 2 or 6 to meet your guide and bus. 

Please visit this meeting page for the direction. 

10:00 AM: We'll arrive at Jinshanling. We will serve you with free bread and bottled water on board if you miss your breakfast in your hotel on the bus. 

10:30 AM - 2:30 PM: Hike from Jinshanling's main entrance to the East Gate of Jinshanling. The eastern Jinshanling borders Simatai, so this area is also often called "West Simatai." You will experience the Great Wall's transition from the restored (25%) to the original (75%). 

2:30 PM - 3:30 PM: Gourmet lunch in a local restaurant at Jinshanling. 

3:45 PM: Bus returns to Beijing. 

6:00 PM: Arrive in Beijing. Since it is right in the middle of the horrible rush hour, we will drop everyone off at the Dongzhimen Subway Station to save your time. Guests can take subways, buses, or taxis to return to their hotels or somewhere to enjoy the night in Beijing. 

Extend Your Great Wall Experience with Camping on  the Great Wall Tonight (TOUR CODE A5+)

For an additional CNY888 or USD125, you will have the chance to sleep on the Great Wall tonight. After you finish your lunch, our local support staff will meet you in the restaurant at 3:00 pm. He'll transfer you to Gubeikou of the Great Wall, where is our camping site. Gubeikou is an entirely unrestored part of the Great Wall, 30 minutes away from Jinshanling. You will relax and have a chance to watch a beautiful sunset. Toward evening, we will treat you a country-style dinner in our camping base, a family-owned hostel. After dinner, our friendly support employee will set the camp for you to sleep on the Great Wall. The next day morning, our staff will send you to a public bus that takes you to Dongzhimen Subway Station of Beijing, where you can conveniently manage your return from there.
 

For more details of this camping program, please visit the Affordable Group Hiking and Private Camping (TOUR 2GC1) page. 

The Great Wall at Jinshanling is one of the best preserved parts of the Great Wall with many original features. It got its name because it was built on the Greater and Lesser Jinshan (Gold Mountain, literally) Ranges. A tablet with the Chinese inscription for Jinshanling Great Wall was set into this section. The Jinshanling Great Wall has not been repaired since 1570. It is a remote and relatively isolated section of the Great Wall. As there are relatively few tourists at Jinshanling Great Wall, it is definitely a good place to explore on foot and see the real Great Wall. 

After about 90 minutes of hiking we will eventually pass over into the West Simtai which is now a part of Jinshanling geographically. The hills in the west are sloping gently, with 20 watchtowers remaining in good shape. The Simatai section of the Great Wall is one of the few sections to retain the original appearance of the Great Wall. Incorporating a variety of characteristics of other sections of the Great Wall, Simatai also displays some unique features of its own. It is often described with the following five words: perilous, dense, diverse, artful, and peculiar.