Mutianyu Great Wall

TL;DR: We had an 18-hour-long stopover in Bejing early April and went to see Mutianyu section of the Great Wall of China. Weather was crazy. We had a fantastic experience.

On our way back from Japan, we had yet another stopover in Beijing as we flew with Air China. Arriving late in the evening, our flight out was in the early afternoon of the next day. We would be on a tight schedule, but we didn’t want to miss this opportunity. and wanted to see the Great Wall of China.

The Great Wall of China on its own is not a single construction, but rather a set of independent fortifications. Several sections are located in close vicinity of Beijing, and each of them can be visited in a day.

All of them can be reached by public transport, but given a very tight schedule, we decided to go with a taxi. At this point, the total estimated cost of flight through Beijing started to surpass some alternatives, but we were crazy about pulling this out.

We considered just 3 of the nearby sections:

• Badaling - most popular
• Juyongguan - closest to the city
• Mutianyu - closest to the airport

and went with the last one. Our hotel staff recommended it as a less crowded one, and the one closest to Beijing Capital Airport.

We stayed in Hotel Cote Cour Beijing, and loved everything about our experience. They were very responsive via email, and helped us to plan our crazy endeavor. Besides that, they stayed up until late night waiting for our arrival, and provided us with delicious sandwiches instead of the breakfast we were going to miss. Last but not least, they arranged a guide who would drive us to Mutianyu at 6 o’clock the next morning. Reflecting back, I think it would’ve been more efficient to stay in one of the hotels just next to Mutianyu. Nevertheless, I loved our experience so much, I’m happy we did what we did.

Price-wise, there are plenty of options for private tours available online. We considered some of them, but none were able to beat the price our hotel offered us. All in all, we paid 1100 CNY (aka RMB) for a driver who brought us from the hotel doors to Mutianyu, waited for us there, and then dropped us off at the airport.

Anticipating the visit we were checking what others were posting on Instagram the previous day, and weather seemed to be clear and shiny. Apparently, two of us used up all our luck back in Japan. We woke up to a dim overcast that turned into heavy rain by the time we reached Mutianyu.

The farthest regular private transport can reach at Mutianyu is the parking near the visitor center. You buy your tickets here and proceed to the wall itself, which is about 3 km away. There is a shuttle bus that can bring you there just in 10 minutes. Don’t forget to buy a ticket for it together with the admission though.

All of that is covered in great detail in this article from Travel China Guide.

The tricky part is timing though. Apparently at Mutianyu there is a concept of “low” and “high” seasons - November 16 to March 15, and March 16 to November 15 respectively. As calendar was showing April 9 today, we were hitting the “high season.”

We couldn’t find any trustworthy information about Mutianyu business hours online, and were planning solely based on the 4-years old photo of the shuttle bus timetable we saw on now-defunct website of some local travel agency. We took a fresh photo of the timetable for any other bravehearts who may want to repeat what we did.

We left our hotel in the center of Beijing around 6:10. The road condition was good, and the traffic early Tuesday morning was light. It took us precisely an hour to reach the visitor center parking.

By 7:20, we were inside the visitor center, but it was dark and empty inside there. While waiting for the ticket office to open, we saw a large information screen stating business hours are from 08:00 to 17:30 today.

I’m not sure I can make sense of a setup where the shuttle bus starts running earlier than the ticket office opens. My only guess is that it’s designed to accommodate those who are buying tickets online, but the official website never worked for us (though it does seem to open now).

While we were preparing for a long wait, our driver quickly chatted with cashiers, and they sold us tickets by 7:30.

The shuttle bus stop is a short walk away from the ticket office - mostly through souvenir shops and food stalls. None of them were open that early though.

It took us 10 minutes to find our way and board a shuttle.

Another 10 minutes passed before about a dozen people joined us on the bus, and it departed. Looking at the road we were driving through I’d highly discourage anyone walking that path.

The bus reached its only stop sharp at 8:00, and we started headed to the ticket gates.

Normally, one can choose between a cable car, a chair lift, and a trail to get onto the wall. Due to bad weather though, only cable car was open.

Another side effect of inclement weather was that everything was slippery. The road to the wall is pretty steep, and pavement blocks felt like they were designed to stop those who are not brave enough.

Walking fast, we made it to the cable car station in just 7 minutes.

Four-seater cabins were running one after another, and 1 minute later we were already on our way up.

The entire ascent to the upper station took about 4 minutes.

Not that I expected something else, but for the record - the cable car cabin appeared well maintained and clean.

Looking at the scenery around, it felt rather like a rainy November than sunny April.

While on the way, our jaws dropped as heavy rain transformed into an intense snowstorm. It was hard to believe it was clear here just a day before.

It’s probably even more stunning here in the winter, but I wonder what it takes to get here when all the roads are snowy. We did drive most of the time on highways, but the closer we were getting to Mutianyu, the smaller roads we were taking. I’m not sure how quickly they are cleaned, if at all.

By 08:12, we reached the upper station, and from there it’s a short 5-minute walk to get onto the actual wall.

I don’t know if it’s because of the weather or just because we were there so early. We literally had the entire place for ourselves.

Cherry trees in full blossom were gorgeous under the fresh layer of snow.

Finally, we’re on the wall.

We expected large crowds even at such early time and couldn’t believe our eyes when it was entirely empty. In other words, you can get a stunning view of the wall without a single human around. Yes, it’s possible. You would need to go as early as we did, and tolerate lousy weather, but it’s totally worth it.

I would come back again to see the wall on a clear day surrounded by bustling greenery, fly a drone around and ride toboggan to come down from the wall. That would’ve been a visit as I would expect it. But the view we got beat all the expectations I ever had about visiting the Great Wall of China.

Between the moment we left the hotel and the moment we took the first shot atop the wall passed roughly 2 hours. We were lucky to avoid all the traffic, and hadn’t waited in a single line. From what we read online, it appears that our experience was quite unusual. When the weather is nice[r], you should expect more people. And the later you go, the longer the lines. I could only guess what would’ve been our experience if we did the same on a weekend or a Chinese holiday.

In a rush or no, it’s better to have a plan about what to do once you up there.

There are a lot of steep ascents and descents, and most of the surfaces are uneven. Going back and forth between watchtowers could be quite exhausting.

Thanks to Paul Ma and his blog, we had a precise idea of what we want to do when we will reach the top, and planned our time with 5-minute precision.

That being said, we could not follow our plan at all.

The main idea we had in mind is to take the cable car up to tower #14 and walk all the way to tower #6, where we would descend with chairlift or toboggan. Given that both were closed due to weather conditions, wherever we would go, we would have to come back to tower #14 for a ride down.

Another issue we faced - it was dangerously slippery. All the walkways are paved with stone, which - when wet and covered in snow - is as slippery as ice. At this point, slippery stairs were the best surface you could hope for. Otherwise, it’s just very steep and slick ascents and descents of about 30°.

Even in such conditions, one could slowly walk around and reach anywhere, but the only thing we didn’t have, was time. We gave up on our backup plan to walk to tower #23 and spent 40 minutes between towers #13 and #15.

As time passed, more and more people were showing up on the wall. I wouldn’t say it was crowded, or we had trouble taking a photo without anyone in it, but you could easily tell the difference.

Worried about potential travel delays on the way to the airport, we decided to wrap up sooner than initially planned, and went back to the cable car station.

By 08:55, we were in a cabin on the way down.

For what it worth, we didn’t risk leaving our luggage anywhere, and I spent all the time on the wall with a backpack. Couldn’t say it bothered me at all. If anything, it made me feel warmer.

It was pretty cold, and the clothes we packed weren’t good enough. Although, on top of the wall, it was warmer than at the bottom.

The descent was even more dramatic than the ascent as snowfall wasn’t getting any weaker.

09:00, we’re at the lower station and walking back to the shuttle bus stop.

We reached the bus stop by 09:10, and neither there was a shuttle, nor anyone else besides 2 people from the staff.

Our biggest disappointment was that we had to wait for about 20 minutes for the bus to arrive. It wasn’t the downpour, or the near-freezing temperature that bothered us, but the fact that we could’ve spent those 20 minutes up on the wall, and could’ve walked to one or few more watchtowers.

The only relief was the spectacular view around.

By 09:50, we returned to the parking, where our driver was patiently waiting.

By 10:50, we walked into the 3rd terminal of Beijing Capital Airport.

Around that time, there are a lot of people at the airport, but it didn’t feel overcrowded at all. It took us about 30 minutes, if not less, to go through all the checks. We reached our gate 90 minutes before scheduled departure time and had plenty of time for a proper breakfast at Crystal Jade.

All in all, it was a very rapid endeavor that took some effort to organize and execute. Nevertheless, we liked every second of it.

The total cost was about 200 USD - that’s the taxi, and the admission.

We left Beijing around 6:00, and were standing on top of Mutianyu wall in just 2 hours. With only about 40 minutes up there, we reached our plane’s gate in another 2 hours since we turned back. In the same circumstances, we could’ve spent 2 hours on the wall if we would’ve researched the shuttle bus schedule better and planned to arrive at the airport 30 minutes later.

If you have a similar stopover, and considering whether to do it or not - just do it!