Plan for Simatai - Jinshanling hike

[Garfinator]

Hi,

After reading the reviews and some other posts on these forums, I have come up with the following plan for a hike from Simatai to Jinshanling, of 4-5 hours in total. I would walk in this direction because then the sun is then not in my eyes :-). It would be great to hear the thoughts of some more experienced Great Wall explorers!

I plan to go from and back to Beijing with a black taxi. A friend told me they are willing to do it for about 500 RMB. Probably it is not worth the extra time and effort to save a little money by going with the bus to Gobeiku and only taking a taxi from there. What do you think?

So this taxi would take me to point A on this map:


From there I walk to B and then to C. It was advised to check out the Simatai ridge, so I could walk Eastwards until I reach tower 3 and then turn back?

Then heading towards Jinshanling and getting of just after point G on the following image, I would take the cable car to the exit:


I will ask the taxi to be at the exit of Jinshanling (= at M, the ticket booths).

How does this sound?

I will not have a GPS. Is it easy not to get lost, by just following the wall and reading the signs?

By the way, I read that (especially in Simatai) locals may walk along for very long and try to sell something. As I don't speak Chinese, maybe it is helpful to have a paper with written firmly that I will not buy anything and that I would like them to walk away?

Thanks a lot for your input. I'm looking so much forward to this trip... :-)

[Kim]

Sounds like an interesting trek. For some reason I never went to Jinshanling, so I can not help you there, however I would recommend that you that take the cable car from Simatai and enter the wall around point G. That will save you a lot of time and energy if you also want to visit the Simatai ridge.

It's a rather steep climb from C to the top of Simatai, so it would be better to save the energy to Jinshanling.

A good chinese phrase to know is bu yao which means don't want, but I'm not sure the vendors care if you say that or not, however I didn't have any problems with vendors at Simatai.

[Bryan]

Hi Garfinator,

Your plan of going east to west is good. I suggest you allow more like 5-6 hours so you don't have to hurry. You will want to relax and take in the whole experience since you will never forget it. And you want time to take photos too.

I agree with Kim that you might want to take the cable car up the Simatai ridge and then walk down. Hiking to tower 3 is steep but you would want to go at last to tower 5 to get a good view. And even the hike up from the cable car to the Wall is pretty strenuous!

I would also skip the cable car at Jinshanling and walk all the way to the lowest point at B on the map. Othersiwe you will miss some very interesting things. In fact I would continue to Xiwuyanlou at A if possible, as the view back to the east from there is one of the best on the entire Great Wall in my opinion. If you feel you don't have time for this, you might want to skip the Simatai ridge altogether, and turn to the west when you reach the Wall there at C on the Simatai map. If I had to choose between these two I would surely choose Jinshanling.

Don't worry about the vendors at Simatai. Just treat them with respect and they will treat you the same. Most of them speak a little bit of English. They understand "no thanks" but that won't keep them from pulling additional T-shirts and books and postcards from their packs and quoting you a price about 5 times higher than they will actually accept. By the way, you will find these people at Jinshanling too. You are not obligated to buy from them but it can be hard to make them go away unless you really can speak some Chinese to them.

No way you will get lost as long as you keep these maps in mind and know the basic direction to go.

I think you can get a little bit better price for your taxi. Whether it's worth it is up to you. Different people have different values on time and money. I have always taken taxis from Beijing (or Huairou) to Gubeikou, Jinshanling, or Simatai. Once I took a train back from Gubeikou to Beijing and I would never do it again!

Be aware that you will be buying tickets for both Simatai and Jinshanling.

When are you going?

[Garfinator]

Thanks for the replies! There are some really good suggestions in them, I'm glad I posted my plan here.

The cable lift in Simatai seems like a good idea. The walk from E to C seems about as long as from D to C, so there is no reason not to go by E and check out the Simatai ridge, right (except that the cable lift takes some time)?

Then I could get off in Simatai at G, B, or A, depending on how tired I am :-).

It may sound like a stupid question, but how do taxis from Beijing get at the North side of the wall? Through a tunnel or over a bridge? Don't tell me they're going around it ;-) A bridge kind of ruins the view though... So my bet is a tunnel.

I will go to the Great Wall next week on Wednesday, Thursday or Friday.

Thanks again for your advice!

[Bryan]

Originally Posted by Garfinator

It may sound like a stupid question, but how do taxis from Beijing get at the North side of the wall? Through a tunnel or over a bridge? Don't tell me they're going around it ;-) A bridge kind of ruins the view though... So my bet is a tunnel.

There are tunnels at Gubeikou. You will go through one of them on the way back from Jinshanling. Pay attention as you go through Gubeikou, about 15 minutes after leaving Jinshanling. The Great Wall can be seen on both sides of the road and, especially, Wohushan on the west side is an amazing sight.

Good luck. Be careful and have fun!

[Garfinator]

I executed the plan yesterday. I chose the longest version and it was truly something I will never forget in my life.

Got a taxi for 400 (two-way) and arrived at Simatai in 2h30. Took the cable lift and then the short steep walk up northwards, where a trout started following me Westwards once on the Wall. She was slower - even if I didn't particularly speed up - but kept going on and caught up with me when I halted to take pictures :-p. 45-60 minutes later she finally realized I wouldn't buy anything. Didn't spoil the fun though, she wasn't really annoying, just talking (in English by the way).

The others that tried to sell something, didn't follow me. A bit of a relief though. Once halfway, I didn't meet any tourists anymore because I was walking in the opposite direction as the more popular one.

Probably I've been ripped of by a fake ticket-selling officer. I just felt it, the way he looked, the way he woar his coat, the way he seemed to be covering the end of the tickets with something, the way he explained things, ... But the price was 50 RMB and I didn't want to take any risk over that.

I eventually went until about point A on the Jinshanling map, and in my opinion you have the greatest possible view both at the West and the East side! I just kept standing there for like 20 minutes, without any human being in sight. Wonderful, really!

When I arrived on the Jinshanling parking, my taxi driver seemed to be very relieved that I kept to my part of the deal (I could easily have taken the taxi 100m before his, for less than 400). Sticking to the deal speaks for itself of course.

Thank you for your explanations and I can everybody advise to do a similar trip!

Alex

[Kim]

Originally Posted by Garfinator

I executed the plan yesterday. I chose the longest version and it was truly something I will never forget in my life.

Got a taxi for 400 (two-way) and arrived at Simatai in 2h30. Took the cable lift and then the short steep walk up northwards, where a trout started following me Westwards once on the Wall. She was slower - even if I didn't particularly speed up - but kept going on and caught up with me when I halted to take pictures :-p. 45-60 minutes later she finally realized I wouldn't buy anything. Didn't spoil the fun though, she wasn't really annoying, just talking (in English by the way).

The others that tried to sell something, didn't follow me. A bit of a relief though. Once halfway, I didn't meet any tourists anymore because I was walking in the opposite direction as the more popular one.

Probably I've been ripped of by a fake ticket-selling officer. I just felt it, the way he looked, the way he woar his coat, the way he seemed to be covering the end of the tickets with something, the way he explained things, ... But the price was 50 RMB and I didn't want to take any risk over that.

I eventually went until about point A on the Jinshanling map, and in my opinion you have the greatest possible view both at the West and the East side! I just kept standing there for like 20 minutes, without any human being in sight. Wonderful, really!

When I arrived on the Jinshanling parking, my taxi driver seemed to be very relieved that I kept to my part of the deal (I could easily have taken the taxi 100m before his, for less than 400). Sticking to the deal speaks for itself of course.

Thank you for your explanations and I can everybody advise to do a similar trip!

Alex

How long time did you spend on the wall?

[bepu]

This trip is also on my list for coming May. Did not make up my mind if I go E->W or W->E.

I probably spend one night in Gubeikou and leave from there. So the day before I will explore the GW over there.

I did not make up my mind completely yet. I will decide when I am in Beijing.

[Garfinator]

I spent about 5 hours in total. I'm quite a fast walker though, when I'm not standing still to take a moment to enjoy the scenery or eat something :-). I think if you're not alone but with friends, it will rather be something like 6 or more hours.