beijing tour to Great Wall at Simatai section

This day Beijing tour begins at 08:00am and ends at around 6:00pm. Please get everything ready before our English-speaking guide comes and meets you in the lobby of the hotel where you stay. It’s about 3 hours driving to the Great Wall at Simatai section.

Simatai, located in the north of Miyun County, 120km northeast of Beijing, holds the access to Gubeikou, a strategic pass in the eastern part of the Great Wall. Originally built during the Northern Qi dynasty (550-577) and rebuilt in the Hongwu years of the Ming dynasty by Qi Jiguang, this section of Great Wall is the only part of the Great Wall which keeps the original features of the Ming dynasty Great Wall. 

Simatai Great Wall is 5.4km long with 35 beacon towers. Ingeniously conceived and uniquely designed, this section of Great Wall, inimitable and diversified, has incorporated the different characteristics of each section of the Great Wall. Professor Luo Zhewen, a famous specialist of Great Wall, says: "The Great Wall is the best of the Chinese buildings, and Simatai is the best of the Great Wall." 

Hanging precariously onto the Yanshan Mountain, Simatai Great Wall is known for its steepness, ingenuity and uniqueness. 

Steepness: built on the precipitous mountains, there are many places that are unmatched among other sections of Great Wall. The Heavenly Ladder and the Sky Bridge are particularly dangerous that they could make everyone on them tremble with fear. 

Ingenuity: compares with other sections of Great Wall, Simatai is densely dotted with beacon towers, in which the nearest two are only 43.8m apart and the farthest of 600m. While in other sections, beacon towers were built at intervals of 500m. In this section, the walls are in single, double and trapeziform forms and the watchtowers are round or oblate in shape and composed of two or three floors. Even the roofs of the tower are also diverse: some are flat, some cymbiform and some domical shapes. 

Uniqueness: built on the mountain ridge with limestone caves under it, this section of wall is imposing and unique among other sections. More interesting is that there are two springs called Mandarin Duck Springs at the foot of the Great Wall. The east one is cold, while the west warm. The two springs join into one lake. Then half of the lake is cold and the other half is warm. In winter, hot steam rises from the lake, forming a marvelous spectacle in this area. 

Simatai Great Wall is separated into two parts by a valley, namely the east part and west part. The west part appears gentle with 20 well-preserved watch towers dotting here and there. Comparing with the west part, the east part is somewhat steep and cliffy. 15 watchtowers densely scattered on the thousand-meter-high peaks, adding enchanting views to the wall. In this part, the main attractions include Watching Beijing Tower, Fairy Tower, Heavenly Ladder and Sky Bridge.

Watching Beijing Tower: with an elevation of 986 meters, it is regarded as the summit of Simatai section of Great Wall as well as the highest cultural relics in Beijing. Mounting the tower at night, one can see lights shimmering faintly in downtown Beijing. More interesting is that the bricks used to built the walls here even stamped with the date on which they were made and the code numbers of the armies that made them. 

Fairy Tower: with a sculpture of twin lotus flowers above the arched doors, it is the most beautiful of all towers and is known for its exquisite architecture. Legend goes that it was the dwelling place for an antelope reincarnated in the form of an angel who fell in love with a shepherd. 

Heavenly Ladder: leaning against a mountain slope with a 90-degree gradient, it is the way to the Watching Beijing Tower and the Fairy Maiden Tower. Stretching upward along the abrupt mountain ridges, the narrowest part is just half a meter wide.

Sky Bridge: with a cabined width of mere 40 centimeter, it is really a 100-meter-long way, connecting the Fairy Tower to Watching Beijing Tower. Only brave man can pass through this bridge.

Noted by the UNESCO as one of the World Cultural Heritages, Simatai Great Wall is the famous scenic spot for traveling, exploration and inspection. Now, this site is open to visitors at home and abroad. 

A restaurant take-out lunch will be served. It is included in the given price.

This day tour ends with the transfer back to your hotel at around 6:00pm. We hope that this day tour arrangement just fits your need. We look forward to hearing from you.

click here you can book the Beijing tour to tour the Great Wall at Simatai section

beijing tour to Great Wall at Badaling section, Ming Tombs, Sacred Road

This day Beijing tour begins at 08:30am and ends at around 5:00pm. Please get everything ready before our English-speaking guide comes and meets you in the lobby of the hotel where you stay. It’s about one and half hours driving to the first stop of the main attractions, the Great Wall at Badaling section.

Badaling means "giving access to every direction", the name itself suggests its strategic importance. Badaling Great Wall lies in Yanqing County, northwest of Beijing. It covers five counties and one district, namely: Miyun, Huairou, Pinggu, Yanqing and Changping County and Mentougou District. Badaling Great Wall was the best-preserved part of the Ming Great Wall. Here, the wall averages 7.8 meters high, 6.5 metres wide of the base, and 5.8 meters at the top. The wall was designed to allow five horsemen or ten soldiers to march side by side along the wall. The flights of stairs up to the outer wall are fairely widely spaced. For every few hundred meters, you can see a watchtower. Also, the wall of this section was built of giant rocks and bricks of similar size. It was faced with stone, and the inside was filled with earth and rubber, therefore, Badaling Great Wall was also regarded the strongest section of the Ming Great Wall. Two hours are needed for visiting the Great Wall at Badaling section.

12:30pm, it is time for lunch when you finish morning half day tour. We would like to offer Beijing day tour with lunch in a local restaurant, which is included in the given price. We also consider that in this way you can learn a lot more about Chinese cuisines during your stay in China. 2 hours are needed for having lunch and driving to the next stop, the Ming Tombs, and Sacred Road.

The Ming Tombs are located 50 kilometers to the northwest of downtown Beijing. The burial ground of 13 emperors of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) is embraced by mountains on three sides and opening to a flat basin on the south. Mangshan and Hushan mountains rise on either side. The Wenyu River flows to the northwest. The whole area of 40 square kilometers is covered with ancient pine and cypress trees. Changling, the oldest mausoleum in the center of the burial complex on Tianshou Mountain, was built in 1409 and Siling, the last mausoleum of the Ming Tombs, was built in 1644, 200 years after the first one. It was the most costly construction project with the longest time in the construction of imperial burial grounds in China. In those days the area with a circumference of several dozen kilometers was tightly guarded, giving it a mysterious atmosphere.

In the front part of the imperial necropolises, there usually is a Sacred Way (or Divine Road), which means the road leading to heaven. The Emperor, known as the Son of the Heaven, who came from Heaven to his country through the Sacred Way, also deservedly would return to Heaven through this road. The road is often lined with stone statues, which are important decorations of the mausoleum. These statues are usually 12 human figures (including the general, civil officials and meritorious officials) and 24 animals, which are lion, camel, elephant, xiezhi (a mythological unicorn), qilin (one of the four "divine animals, the other three are dragon, phoenix and tortoise), and horse. There are 4 of each of these animals: two standing and two squatting with different meanings. Lion symbolizes awesome solemnity because of their ferocity. Camel and elephant are meant to suggest the vastness of the territory controlled by the court, because they are dependable transport in desert and tropics. Xiezhi was put there to keep evil spirits away, because it was believed to possess the sixth sense to tell right and wrong. If two men fight, a xiezhi would gore the wicked one. Qilin, an auspicious symbol, was placed on two sides. Horse, as the emperor's mount, is absolutely indispensable. It is said that these animals is supposed to change guard at midnight.

This day tour ends with the transfer back to your hotel at around 5:00pm. We hope that this day tour arrangement just fits your needs and interests. We look forward to hearing from you.

Join us one day tour to Great Wall at Badaling ,ming tombs and Sacred Road

Introduced the Great Wall and understanding of the history and culutre of the Great Wall

Despite the common assumption, the Great Wall can not be seen from the moon; it can, however, be viewed from astronauts in passing orbiters. It was also not built all at one, ti was built from the 5th to 16th centuries to be completed as a barrier against nomadic invaders from the north. The wall's origins date back at least to the 5th century b.c., when the rival kingdoms of the Warring States Period (453-221 b.c.) built defensive ramparts against their enemies. The First Emperor of unified China, Qin Shi Huang Di, fortified the barriers in the 3rd century b.c. Over a 10-year period, 300,000 conscripted laborers, many of them slaves, knit the walls into a continuous rampart to protect the western frontier. New sections extended the wall east to the Yellow Sea.





The Great Wall was constantly repositioned along new routes as successive dynasties rose and fell. In the year a.d. 607, more than a million workers toiled on this line of defense, but soon after the Great Wall was abandoned. The Mongols eventually broke through from the north and established the Yuan Dynasty (a.d. 1271-1368), making Beijing their capital. Their successors, the emperors of the Ming Dynasty (a.d. 1368-1644), set in motion the last great phase of wall building, which created the Great Wall as we see it today north of Beijing.
Its eastern foot rests in the Gulf of Bohai on the edge of the Yellow (or Eastern) Sea, its western 5,000km (3,333 miles) on the verges of the desert region.

Visitors to Beijing can visit the Wall at three locations: Bakaling, 80km north; and Simatai, 110km northeast. Built during the Ming Dynasty, the Badaling section is 7.8 meters high and 5.8 meters wide. While the ridge can be accessed on foot, the steep ascent is not for everyone and a cable car ride can be substituted.

Another restored sector, at Mutianyu, can also be explored by foot up its long, steep stairs and restful terraces or by a recently installed cable car. Both sides are often crowded, which has been left in its ruined state. However, while visitors to the two restored areas can go by tour bus, those traveling to Simatai must have their own guide and means of transprotation.

Do you link to take half day to tour the Great Wall, if yes, Now join us Beijing half day Great Wall hike tour.

The Great wall hike tour,badaling great wall tour,jurongguan great wall tour

The Great Wall is one of the most famous projects in the world. It was first built as a defense project in Qin dynasty. Since continuous construction and maintenance of later dynasties, the so called ten thousand-Li Great Wall was formed. Even today when you stand on it, you can feel the greatness and grandness of this project. Now there are several sections of the Great Wall opened to the public, including Badaling Great Wall, Mutianyu Great Wall, Juyongguan Great Wall, Simatai Great Wall, etc. each one has its own landscapes. Of which, Badaling Great Wall is the most famous one, but Mutianyu Great Wall has the most beautiful sceneries, while Simatai Great Wall is the most perilous section.

Wearing a pair of comfortable shoes, accompanied by our English-speaking guide, to climb the greatest project on your holiday, what an interesting thing it is! It can not only build up your strength but also your endurance, after all, it is not so easy to climb up to the top of the Great Wall. But the beautiful sceneries never can be seen everywhere.