Review: Gubeikou Panlongshan Great Wall Review

[Bryan]

Summary

Panlongshan is a great place to hike the Great Wall. The climbing is challenging in places but the level of danger is reasonable for the Great Wall. The architecture is interesting, the defense security features are unique, and scenery is excellent.

Access

Panlongshan is reached via Gubeikou. You can get to Gubeikou from Beijing by taking the Jingcheng expressway. It takes approximately 2.5 hours to reach Gubeikou. Gubeikou can also be reached by train. But the Gubeikou rail station is tiny and you won’t necessarily be able to find transportation there, so you may have to walk. It’s a pretty long walk from the rail station into town. The rail station is on the west side of the river. You must walk to the main road, cross a bridge, and turn left at the Jingcheng expressway.

From the Jingcheng expressway, whether driving or walking, you go through the town. At the north end of the town you will see signs indicating the border between Beijing and Hebei. Just past this, you will see where the Panlongshan Great Wall meets the road. It’s very difficult to climb up onto the Wall here, so you will want to pass this point and turn right on the next side road. You can then follow this road to the east until you reach the Great Wall.

Panlongshan viewed from the west

Condition

No rebuilding has been done on this section of the Great Wall since the Ming Dynasty. The parts closest to Gubeikou are not in good condition, and the condition improves as you get further from town.

Description

The Panlongshan or Coiling Dragon Mountain Great Wall lies between Jinshanling to the east and Gubeikou to the west. This section shares many of the characteristics of the Jinshanling Great Wall but it has not been restored since the Ming Dynasty. Part of the Panlongshan is used by the Chinese military department as a military exercise base and is therefore strictly off limits to all visitors. Hikers must detour around the military base (on the north side of the Wall). Download one of our Great Wall maps for the exact route of the detour as it’s not easy to find the best trail.

Gubeikou hiking map (red = Great Wall, yellow = paths)

In the map above, Gubeikou is on the left and Jinshanling is on the right. The yellow path on the left shows the entrance and the yellow path near the middle shows the military base bypass.

As you hike towards Jinshanling, you will find a wide variety of conditions from walls and towers that are nearly completely intact to areas that are highly deteriorated and nearly unrecognizable, and everything in between. There are areas where it’s not possible to walk on the Great Wall and you will need to walk alongside instead. In most cases the path is clearly visible and in some steep spots it’s augmented with steps.

Shortly after the end of the military area, you will near the Jinshanling section. If the weather is clear, you can see all the way to the Simatai ridge from the high points. This area affords some of the best photography opportunities of the entire Great Wall.

Panlongshan viewed from the east

This hike can most definitely be done in either direction. When hiking from east to west (Jinshanling to Gubeikou), the hike is a little bit easier as the starting point is slightly higher than the ending point. Except for the military bypass area, it’s pretty easy to find the trail for the entire route. If you run into doubt about which way to go at any particular location, just follow the path that looks the most heavily traveled. Once you get near the town of Gubeikou you should be looking for the trail that leads off to the right and down to the road. Again, studying maps before you begin will be helpful.

[Kim]

Beautiful picture

Maybe I should consider to spend some time in Beijing as well

[chinoook]

Originally Posted by Kim

Beautiful picture

I agree.

Maybe I should consider to spend some time in Beijing as well

If you do so you should also plan to go to Chengde, which is marvellous. Gubeikou is closer to Chengde than to Beijing.


-chinoook

[Kim]

Originally Posted by chinoook

If you do so you should also plan to go to Chengde, which is marvellous. Gubeikou is closer to Chengde than to Beijing.

I went to Chengde last year, and it is defentely definitely one of my favourite places in the Beijing-Hebei area. I plan to go there again maybe next year.

On the way back from Chengde we passed the Gubeikou area on the express way.

[nightofadrenalin]

Hi,I would like to know what are some cool places to visit in Chengde ?
How far is it from beijing ?
What is the best transport to reach there?
How many days should be ideally spent there?
Thankies Thankies !!!