The Great Wall

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Overview

Coiling its way through 23 degrees of longitude, the Great Wall (长城, Chángchéng) stands as an awe-inspiring monument to the grandeur of China’s ancient history. With sections dating back 2000 years, the wall (or, more accurately, walls, because they belong to several different eras) wriggle haphazardly from their scattered Manchurian remains in Liaoning province to wind-scoured rubble in the Gobi desert and faint traces in the unforgiving sands of Xinjiang. Interspersed with natural defences (such as precipitous mountains), the Great Wall can be visited in 15 Chinese provinces, principalities and autonomous regions, but nowhere is better than Beijing for mounting your assault on this most iconic of bastions.

Attractions

Must-see attractions

Jiankou Great Wall
The Great Wall
For stupefying hikes along perhaps Beijing’s most incomparable section of Wall, head to Jiankou, where white-knuckle sections like ‘Upward Flying Eagle’…
Jinshanling
The Great Wall
Jinshanling Great Wall, near the town of Gubeikou, has been thoroughly restored, but it's distant enough from Beijing that it sees far fewer tourists than…
Mutianyu
The Great Wall
Famed for its Ming-era guard towers and excellent views, the 3km-long section of wall at Mutianyu, northeast of Beijing in Huairou County, is largely a…
Simatai
The Great Wall
Simatai, built during the reign of Ming dynasty emperor Hongwu, is famed for the precarious steepness of its battlements as they soar up the 'heavenly…
Badaling
The Great Wall
Historically a strategic portal between the fertile lands of the capital and the more arid plains beyond, Badaling has been called the ‘Key to Northern…
China Great Wall Museum
The Great Wall
This sizeable museum blusters through a history of the Wall, from its origins as an earthen embankment in the far-off Qin dynasty (221–207 BC) to the Ming…
Gubei Water Town
The Great Wall
Cashing in on the magnificent Simatai Great Wall that overlooks it, this faux-historic village of waterways and old courtyards is a commercial venture…