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Sleep in a watchtower
on the Great Wall
of China!
Guaranteed!
Once-in-a-life Experience
made possible by the
Great Wall Adventure Club
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Price
Structure
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Group Size |
USD p.p. |
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1 |
699 |
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2 |
449 |
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3 |
399 |
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4 |
389 |
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5 |
369 |
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6 |
349 |
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7 |
339 |
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8+ |
329 |
WHAT'S INCLUDED IN PRICE
* Personal transfers from and to
hotel
* Entry fees to the Great Wall
* Two lunches, one dinner and one breakfast
(delivered to your watchtower)
* The privilege of camping on the Great Wall and exclusive access to
the camping watch tower
* All necessary camping gears such as tents & bags
* Quality vehicle, professional driver and English-speaking tour
guide
* Free membership card
* A credit of RMB50 when you reserve the next tour with us
Guaranteed no detours to
shops or markets, etc.
Our Great Wall hiking is a
private service. What this means is that you can hike on the Great
Wall at any time at your convenience. If you
would much rather be part of a group for
the experience for economic and social reasons,
we'll check to see if there are more signups for the same date as
your own. We'll keep you updated whenever there are more. If you
would like to keep your tour a private one, please let us know and
we'll assign you a guide and driver.
|
 Want
to see more of the legendary Great Wall in all its beauty and
splendor? Visit our
Instagram page for a preview of what could be
in store for you! |
Day 1: Gubeikou-Jinshanling on
Google Earth.
Click to enlarge
Day 2: Jiankou to Mutianyu on
Google Earth.
Click to enlarge
TRAVEL INSURANCE
If you currently don’t have travel insurance then
you will be required to purchase our PICC (People's Insurance
Company of China) travel and accidental insurance.
The fee will be $7.99 per person, and will cover the duration of
your hiking/camping/trekking in order to ensure that you are
comprehensively protected if injured.
For more information about our travel insurance policy please
see our insurance page.
QUALITY VEHICLES
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Sleep Overnight on the Great Wall with Intensive Hiking
Route
2AA: Two-day
Overnight Camping & Hiking Tour
to Great Wall
from the famous battlefield Gubeikou to Jinshanling, and from Jiankou to Mutianyu.
Enjoy your breakfast in watchtower with free delivery!
POPULARITY RANKING*: 
*Ranked by the quantity of signups of
all 2-day hiking routes.
Victory is always possible for the person
who refuses to stop fighting. -Napoleon Hill
 
The outdoorsman: Stay overnight on the Great Wall of
China
"When people come to the Great Wall of China, they
want to explore the history and see why it was built. A day trip to
the tourist sites won’t achieve that, but a sleepover on one of the
world’s most storied ruins certainly will. The Great Wall Adventure
Club organizes trips to sleep in a watchtower where soldiers were
formerly garrisoned. When night falls, the only thing above is the
stars, while the incredible land of the surrounding hills is
absolutely silent ... " (June 11, 2012)
 Guaranteed
camping in an ancient watch tower!
A few agents claim they can do so
but that's not true. What they usually mean is that they may take
you to the foot of the Great Wall to camp on the ground or to sleep
at a guesthouse. Not us. For each participant (even children), we
must pay a hefty relic preserving fee to the Great Wall
administration office. This fee allows for you to camp on the Great
Wall, hence why the price for this program is higher than most.
Great Wall Adventure Club (GWAC) is the only company officially approved by the
Great Wall Administration Office to offer camping for international
guests. This is what sets us apart from other operators.
Please keep in mind that during some sensitive political events,
camping may be temporarily suspended because of increased police
security around Beijing. We will do our best to keep you up-to-date
on any changes or notices regarding this. Thank you for your
understanding!
Farmotel Overnight
If you are not very keen about camping and prefer
sleeping in one of our certified
Great Wall farmotels,
HIGHTLIGHTS:
 Once-in-a-life
experience of sleeping on the Great Wall, which only ancient warriors
could do in history. You'll camp on a watchtower surrounded by
the Wall on the mountain!
Hike through the part of the Great Wall at
Gubeikou that was
effectively used as the battlefield in 1933
when Chinese army fought against Japanese invasion. In the
four-month-long battles, over 5,000 Japanese soldiers were killed
while 9,000 Chinese soldiers died.
See the really wild and unrestored parts of the Great Wall and get
wowed for the marvels of human power.
Tour the four best places for a
serious Great Wall enthusiast with terrific scenery and offers great
opportunities for photographers. Meet with China's famous
Great Wall photographer Mr. Duan Jiujun, visit his gallery and dine
in his Great Wall restaurant.
All necessary camping gears such as tents, pads & bags are provided.
For those of you curious
about Great Wall camping conditions, please be advised that camping
on the Great Wall is very rugged and adventurous, and you should
expect a relatively low comfort level from what you're normally used
to. Following dinner, we'll walk about 20-30 minutes to the camping
site in the Great Wall watchtower. It is there we will set up the
tent, sleeping bags, etc. Please be aware that this experience is
significantly different from staying in a
hostel/farmotel/hotel. The
camping settlement is very basic, although we are constantly
striving to improve this experience.
Due to the high and heavy volume of camping equipment (tents, pads,
sleeping bags, etc.) in use during your Great Wall hiking tour, we
kindly ask that you give your guide a helping hand in getting your
equipment up to the watchtower where you'll spend the night. We thank you for
your cooperation and understanding!
Our Great Wall camping tour from
Gubeikou to
Jinshanling and then from
Jiankou to
Mutianyu has been designed
for the trekking and camping enthusiast and for anyone that wants to
fully experience the mystery and excitement of the Great Wall. The
part of the wall we will trek is the most breathtaking an dramatic
part of the Great Wall in Beijing. If you dream of taking in the
sunrise and sunsets from on top of the Great Wall, then join us now!
Gubeikou is partly located in a military region and thus is less
known than either Jinshanling or other famed Great Wall sections.
Jinshanling and Jiankou both feature dramatic “wild wall” along with
great views of the wall twisting and curving over the countryside.
Mutianyu, while partly restored, is still jaw-droopingly beautiful
and is famed for its watchtowers. The 22km's distance on the Wall
will take us about 10-11 hours hiking up and down on the range of
the mountain in two days. It is not easy. Every participant must
make sure your own health condition is fit enough for hiking
activity!
A meteor shower, one of the most awe-inspiring and
incredible feats of nature, is best viewed from a point where there
is little man-made light and interference. For those camping or
trekking on the Great Wall at night, you just might be lucky enough
to see one on your hike. One of the best possible vantage points to
see a meteor shower while on the camping on the Great Wall is from
Gubeikou or Jinshanling.
Day-by-day Hiking Itinerary
(B = breakfast, L = lunch, D = dinner) |
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Day 1:
Beijing-Gubeikou-Jinshanling
(L, D.,
5 hours of hiking)
We will pick you up
at about 9:30 am from your hotel, and drive directly to the Gubeikou section of the Great Wall, where we will begin our
two-day hike on the wall. It is a 2.5-hour-long drive because
Gubeikou is in another province called Hebei adjacent to
Beijing.
Today we will hike for around 10 km/6
miles. Gubeikou is covered with over 140 watchtowers, all
differing in size and design. From the wall here you will be
able to witness how the wall twists and winds along the steep
mountain ranges. This is as dramatic a view on the Great Wall as
you’ll find. If the weather is clear, you will be able to see
the shimmering blue lake of the Miyun Reservoir. There is a
section on the wall that is part of a military base, so you will
be able to walk and explore a quaint nearby local village and
re-enter the wall at Jinshanling.
There is a section on the wall that is part of a military base,
and which is off-limits to civilians. You will be able to detour
by walking and exploring a quaint nearby local village, and we
will re-enter the wall somewhere close to Jinshanling. Please be
advised that it may take up to one hour to bypass the military
base. While walking away from the Great Wall, we'll still be
able to see the Great Wall from a short distance. After going
through this detour, we'll get back to the Great Wall and enter
via the section of Jinshanling
The Jinshanling Great Wall, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, while
1/4 of it is restored, is not
nearly as crowded as Badaling or Mutianyu, allowing you to have
a more intimate experience with the wall. This afternoon,
you'll watch the sunset while walking along the Wall.
Then we'll
take you to have a gorgeous Chinese countryside style dinner served by a local housewife
(Photographer Mr.
Duan's wife, middle in the left photo) and
her niece with traditional Chinese dishes and dumpling. Mr. Duan is famous for Great Wall photographing and is a
winner of several national awards. In his restaurant, his wife will
serve you Kong Pao Chicken, Stewed beef and potato, Green Pepper and
Pork, Fried Tofu in Spicy Sauce, Fried Egg Tomato, Sweet and
Sour Chicken, and lots of vegetables (great for
vegetarians), and soup. She changes her menu daily so you
may have some different dishes on a certain day. What's more
important is that all the vegetables she uses are planted in
her yard, so it is organic and fresh! Rice and Chinese
dumpling are also fresh and of genuine local flavor.
Free drink and free beer!
After the meal, we'll take a break. You can chat with the
Duan and
visit his mini gallery. As the winner of several photographing
contest, he's happy to share his experience in taking Great Wall
photos.
Then, before it gets dark, we'll go up to the mountain and sleep overnight in a
watch tower. We'll prepare the necessary camping
facilities such as sleeping bags so you don't have to bring
anything but yourself. Here it is the sound sleeper's paradise -
let the mountain valley and the Great Wall echo your snoring sound!
If you prefer sleeping in a local hostel
or a farmer's house, you certainly can without extra charge. However, on a
raining day with thunder storm in summer or with snow in cold winter, we'll
only overnight in a local hotel for safe. Temperature on the
Wall is usually 10 degree Celsius lower than the ground.
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Day 2:
Jiankou-Mutianyu-Beijing (B, L., 4
hours of hiking)
First
thing to do today is to watch the magnificent sunrise in early
morning. After a brief breakfast, we'll drive to Jiankou and start hiking at Jiankou for
Mutianyu. The Great Wall at Jiankou is located
in the district of Huairou, about 80km/50 northeast of Beijing.
You'll get to a village called Xizaizhi at the bottom of
Jiankou Great Wall. In
order to hike on Jiankou, first we have to climb up a path for about
60 minutes to reach the Great Wall. Our hike today will take about 4 hours
and will cover 10km/ 6 miles.
The Jiankou section is known for its
ruggedness and wild beauty, and you will be in awe of the marvelous
views it affords. As soon as we reach Jiankou we will see a deserted
watchtower that gives you a panoramic view of the entire valley. In
the early morning the view is priceless with its morning fog. This
section of the wall is not well known by tourists, although if you
see a picture of the Great Wall from exotic traveling magazines,
chances are it is from Jiankou. This is the pinnacle of exotic Great
Wall scenery.
This part of the wall is often empty, so you will have some peace
and serenity on your hike today. Another highlight of Jiankou is the
enemy observation tower known as, "Ying Fei Dao Yang", so named
because this watchtower was erected on the highest peak in the area,
and eagles and hawks often perch on it. Although the majestic wall
is slowly being conquered by small trees and brambles, but the view
from the top is still stunning!
From Jiankou we will cross
over onto Mutianyu, a section of the wall
that has been largely restored. Although it has gotten a face-lift,
it avoids the army of tourists that plague Badaling. Mutianyu offers
some breathtaking views of the valley and wall below, and if you
look to your right you’ll see a large sign engraved in the side of
the mountain encouraging you to “Cherish the teachings of Chairman
Mao”. Mutianyu has also become popular for visiting foreign leaders
and celebrities (former U.S. President Clinton visited Mutianyu on
one of his trips to China).
You can hike down to the parking lot, take a cable car, or take a
toboggan ride (highly recommended, and lots of fun!) down to meet
our driver. We will then have a lunch at a local
restaurant. We will then drive back to Beijing and drop you off at
your hotel in the afternoon, anytime between 3 and 5 depending on
the traffic. This trip can be taken at any point in the year. Even in
winter the snow-covered wall makes for perfect scenery.
Mutianyu Toboggan (German technology) |
Optional Toboggan Run at Mutianyu
(extra for $9)
You'll surely be intrigued about taking the toboggan down
from Great Wall to the entrance gate down the hill. You can
ride as fast or as slow as you want. However, it is also a
driving test. One person to a toboggan, you have a little
handle with which you press down to go faster and pull up to
stop. But if you are not intentionally pushing it, it will
slow down anyway. "It is funny when we Westerners are on
there, because we like to go a bit quicker than the Chinese
(read a lot quicker) and you hear the shrill voices of
locals shouting "brake! brake! Slow down!" It is hilarious.
Go on it even if it is just to hear that." -- taylorstonebridge on LonelyPlanet
People at age 70 have managed the riding successfully. Can
you?
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Included:
*Entrance fees
*Round-trip transportation
*Overnight camping and facility or local farmer's house or hotel
*Meals (two full lunches, one dinner and one breakfast)
*Expert English-speaking tour guide
*Great Wall Adventure Club membership card
FAQs about Two-Day
Great Wall Camping Tour
A: It is roughly 2.5 hours from downtown Beijing.
Q: How far of a drive is it from the Great Wall
for Day 2 return (hours, please)?
A: 2 hours..
How long do we hike on Day 1 (in kilometers)?
A: Normally, 7-9 kms at the first day on the mountain.
Q: Is there any drinking water available
during the trip?
A: We provide unlimited bottles of
spring water for you.
Q: What is the weather like at the end of
May or early June? (Do we need shelter for the evening -- a tent?)
A: Yes, we will bring camping equipment (tent,
sleeping bag, sleeping mat) with us. May and June are the perfect
months to experience camping. The temperature during that time is
about 20-30 degrees Celsius.
Q. Where do we sleep at night? In a
room or in a tent ?
A: You will camp on the Wall as
warriors in ancient times. If you are not quite used to sleeping
outdoor, we'll be glad to accommodate you with a local family's
hotel.
Q: As I am a
vegetarian, I would like to check that beforehand to avoid any
surprises.
A: We provide vegetarian food
upon your request.
QUICK LINKS TO:
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