China Travel Forum

[Alison]

I am trying to decide which section of the Great Wall to visit for a brief 2-3 day stay in Beijing in May. The person I'm travelling with doesn't want to spend a whole day at the Great Wall as he's seen it already, although it'll be my first visit. (The Jinshanling to Simatai hike sounds good but sounds like it'll take up a whole day. Badaling sounds too touristy.)

Which section is convenient and not too overcrowded (also, what is the travelling time from Beijing)? I haven't been able to find travel times between Beijing and the different sections of the wall, only distances in km:

Badaling 70km (43 miles) NW of Beijing
Juyong Guan 59km (37 miles) NW of Beijing
Mutianyu 90km (56 miles) NE of Beijing
Jin Shan Ling 130km (81 miles) NE of Beijing
Simatai ???? km from Beijing

[Percy]

I've always loved Simitai. I believe that it's about 2 1/2 hours one way. I've hired a nice Audi from the hotel for the whole day for ¥400. Organized tours always end up going through a jade factory or something like that where they end up giving you the hard sell. To do Simitai right you'd probably want to spend 2 or 3 hours there. Obviously you can do it in less time if you don't hike as far as possible. I've been to Simitai in June and have been the only one there. I've been to Badaling and was really disappointed in many ways. Simitai is not accessable to anyone who isn't able to put some effort into it so you won't see many tourist buses there.