Hiking the Great Wall of China from Simatai West to Jinshanling

You will be collected from your hotel at your preferred time in the morning. After about two & half hour driving and a 30 minute hike up some stairs, you will reach Simatai West Great Wall. Simatai West is also called the east gate entrance of the Jinshanling Great Wall. The very first watchtower you will meet is called Houchuankou Pass which is not restored. It is at this first pass where you will climb up on to the Great Wall itself. From there onward, you will be rewarded with stunning panoramas and be able to see the Great Wall stretching out to the horizon. After about 90 minutes hiking you will reach Jinshanling Great Wall. It got its name because it was built on the Greater and Lesser Jinshan ( Jinshan means gold mountain in Chinese) Ranges. There are more than 100 watchtowers along the Jinshanling Great Wall. Watching Beijing Tower is on the highest point, from this tower you can see Beijing. Finally you will be transferred back to your hotel after this once-in-a-lifetime adventure of the Great Wall of China.

Constructed under the supervision of Qi Jiguang, a famous general in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), Simatai Great Wall is 5.4 km long with 35 beacon towers and remains to be the only part of the Great Walls that still has the original appearance of the Ming Dynasty.. This section of the Great Wall incorporated the different characteristics of each section of the Great Wall. Simatai Great Wall is separated by a valley into eastern and western parts. The western part appears gentle with 20 well-preserved watchtowers dotting along the wall. The eastern part of the Great Wall has 15 watchtowers and was constructed on the steep ridge of the mountain. It looks like a winding dragon jumping out of the lake. There, tourists can appreciate the Stairway to Heaven, the Fairy Tower, the Heaven Bridge and the Wangjing Tower. UNESCO has designated Simatai Great Wall as one of the World Cultural Heritage Sites as part of the Great Wall World Heritage Site.

First constructed by General Xuda in 1368, then largely repaired, renovated and expanded by the legendary General Qi Jiguang in the 1570s, the high-quality Jinshanling Great Wall is named after the beautiful bigger and lesser Jinshan Mountains where the Wall is located at. The 11 km long wall offers enough space as soldiers shelter, warehouse and arsenal of weapons along with 5 passes, 67 towers and 2 beacon towers. Hence, the Jinshanling Great Wall became the section with the most complicated structure and most densely distributed lookout towers. Altogether, there are 158 lookout towers in various styles along the wall. Some of them are made of brick and wood, while others are brick and stone structures. The pier bases, like the roofs come in various shapes and sizes. Other constructions include night-watch towers and storage buildings that are rarely seen at other sections of the Great Wall. Various unevenly distributed constructions along the Jinshanling Great Wall form the perfect defense system.