Hiking day on the Great Wall close to Beijing

Alex, you'd better choose a hiking route first. Due to the restoration of Simatai section, tourists can't hike from Jinshanling to Simatai. A hug iron gate is equipped on the wall to prevent tourists hiking. Besides, there are guards who patrol on the wall too.

There are two hiking routes that are preferred by foreigners: Gubeikou-Jinshanling or Jiankou-Mutianyu. The first route is much safer. But it takes 9 to 10 hours. If you plan to finish it in one day, then you should get to Gubeikou Town in the morning and then start hiking. Hopefully you can do it in one day.

It takes around 6 to 8 hours to finish the second route. You can get to Xizhazi Village in the afternoon, have a good rest at the farmer's house and then star to hike in early morning next day.