Jinshanling Hike

Quck links to 

A5: Jinshanling Group Hike Daily 

1AA: Gubeikou to Jinshanling One Day Hike

Jinshanling is the start of the classic Great Wall hike to Simatai that Great Wall Adventure Club has guided to thousands of international travelers and adventurers. Often this hike is a foreign hiker’s first introduction to the Great Wall, so get off on the right foot with Great Wall Adventure Club.  If you are daring enough to finish the hike, you will earn a spot on our hallowed Hall of Fame!

Jinshanling Great Wall is located in Luanping County of Chengde, Hebei Province, and borders on Miyun County of Beijing Municipality. It is 130 kms away from Beijing. Jinshanling Great Wall was builit in 1567-1586 when Qi Jiguang, a famous general in Ming Dynasty, acted as the head of military force in Ji Town. It is typical in structure and is famous for its broad field of vision, dense guard towers, unique landscape, elegant architecture, complete military defense system and excellent state of preservation. It is an exemplary section of the Great Wall and hence comes the saying that Jinshan section is the most quintessential of the 10,000-li Great Wall. 

Jinshangling Great Wall got its name because it was built on the bigger and the smaller Jinshan Mountains. The Wall starts from Longyukou in the west and ends at the Wangjinglou Tower in the east and stretches about 10.5 kms. You can see parapets, kylin screen walls, literal bricks and wall made of literal bricks in Jinshanling. 

Jinshanling was listed as one of the world cultural heritage sites in 1987. It is also one of the AAAA-grade national tourist attractions of China.

According to one hiker this is what you should expect to find at Jinshanling:

“Meticulous detail is evident in the construction of the wall. Everywhere consideration has been given to deterring and defeating invading armies. The uneven steps meant to slow down advancing armies should they make it onto the wall. The narrowing curves and paths that would bottleneck and slow them down, limiting the invaders to moving single file, making them vulnerable to the defending army. Far down the mountain each brick was crafted by thousands of workers and carried up the mountain on the backs of mules. The architecture and engineering a feat that would challenge us even today.” 

There are more than 100 watch towers along the Jinshanling Great Wall. ‘Watching Beijing Tower’ is on the highest point, from which you can see Beijing. The Jinshanling Great Wall is second only to the Badaling Great Wall in its completeness. After about 1.5-2 hours of hiking, we will cross over into west Simatai. When we finally reach the park at Jinshanling, we'll stop by a local farmer's restaurant owned by Mr. Duan Jiujun, the photographer of this Jinshanling photo. His family will make delicious country-style meal for you and may invite you to tour his small gallery after your stomach becomes full. This restaurant is certified by Great Wall Adventure Club.  

Jinshanling is a perfect section of Great Wall hiking and camping.