Mini Group Jinshanling Great Wall Hiking Tour

Price Includes:

• Pick-up & drop-off from the hotel
• Entrance fee to Jinshanling Great Wall
• Professional English speaking guide
• Experienced driver & air conditioned vehicle
• Unlimited bottles of drinking water for free
• Baby seat available for free

Price Excludes

• Hotel accommodation
• Meals, advice freely available
• Tips or gratuities to guide and driver

Your tour guide will contact you one day in advance to confirm the exact pick-up time. Today at the appointed time, your guide will wait for you in the hotel lobby. Then we set off to start this Beijing day trip.

How to get the pick-up message?

● Your guide will contact you directly if you have a local Chinese number.
● Your guide will contact you through the hotel. If you are out, he/she will leave a message to the hotel reception.
● We will send an email to you with your guide’s contact information and the pick-up time.
● In case you haven't received the pick-up message before 20:00, please contact your guide or travel consultant. We have your back 24 hours.

Note: We usually arrange pick-up from hotels between 7:00 and 8:00. However, to avoid crowds in the peak season and also the heavy traffic on the day, we may advance the pick-up time occasionally. Appreciate your kind understanding!

07:30 - 08:30 Hotel Pick-up

We’ll pick you up one by one from your hotels you booked on your own in urban Beijing. The guide will contact you a day in advance to confirm the pick-up time. You are suggested preparing some fast food or snacks in advance like Snickers to fuel energy during the hike, as commodity prices at tourist sites are normally higher than usual.

8:30 - 11:00 Transfer to Jinshanling

Buckle up for a 2.5-hour road trip to Jinshanling Great Wall, and we’ll arrive at around 11:00. Along the way, your guide will explain the background of Jinshanling, including its construction and its role in history, as well as the remnants of the walls and towers you will see immediately. We will tour for nearly 5 hours, including a hike of at least 3 hours on the wall, along a tried-and-true path:

Medial Gate → Zhuanduokou Pass → General Tower → Shalingkou Pass → Xiaojinshan Tower → Dajinshan Tower → Houchuankou Pass → Guaijiao Tower → East Five-Window Tower → East Gate

11:00 - 16:00 Guided Hiking on Jinshanling Great Wall

Enter from the Medial Gate or the main entrance and ascend, passing by farm stays, restaurants, and a commercial street. In half an hour, the square of Zhuanduokou Pass will come into our view. Here we’ll find a giant white-marble statue of and learn about Qi Jiguang, the Ming-era (1368 - 1644) general and national hero, who had stayed here for 16 years with his army guarding and consolidating the wall. The layout we see today of Jinshanling is none other than a masterpiece of his. He’s the man behind the unique constructions like horse-blocking barriers and hollow watchtowers, which served as shelters for soldiers as well as sustenance and munitions.

Head more east and we’ll reach the General Tower, the building that epitomizes the military defense system with a complete series of fortifications including barrier wall, buttress, and beacon tower. The hike next to Shalingkou Pass would be a little challenging that requires hands and feet, but you’ll be rewarded with an unparalleled scene of the magnificent wall. It’s interesting to note that the following Xiaojinshan and Dajinshan Towers have a distinctive architecture typical of South China, as they were built to console the soldiers Qi brought from his homeland in the south, with names taken from two hills. The wall segment was also named for this. Enjoy absorbing tranquility from Dajinshan Tower, from which the number of tourists begin to diminish.

We will continue east until the East Five-Window Tower, as time is limited and the way further ahead are too steep and dangerous to walk. The Five-Window Tower is the highest point on the east line, so take the chance to savor ravishing panoramas where there’s hardly anyone around, only the wall snaking on crest lines before overlapping mountains. Then we’ll descend and in another half an hour exit from East Gate.

16:00 - 18:30 Return to Downtown Beijing

Let’s get back to downtown Beijing and say farewell at your hotels. On the drive back, you may ask for insider tips from your local expert guide on next destinations or where to discover Beijing’s culinary heritage. If you are interested, we may leave you at Houhai Lake scenic area for lively nightlife and authentic local snacks. Go beyond the most famous Peking Duck and Noodles with Soybean Paste to try Door-Nail Meat Cake, Steamed Glutinous Rice Rolls, and more!

• Pick-up Service: We offer free pick-up within the third ring road of the Beijing city. While Beijing is really a very large city, to ensure the morning pick-up going smoothly as scheduled, we suggest you choose centrally located downtown hotels. If the location of your hotel is beyond our free pick-up range, you may need to pay for extra mile transfers or get to an appointed meeting point. For any pick-up issues, your one-on-one travel consultant is ready to help anytime.
• Schedule: The time schedule of the itinerary is for reference only, and also the sightseeing order of the attractions may be adjusted according to the traffic and real situations of the day.
• Please kindly aware there will be more tourists in the peak season, so queuing at the entrance is unavoidable sometimes. Also, in public holidays like May Day from May 1st to 5th and National Day from Oct 1st to 7th, there might be large crowds and heavy traffic. We hope for your understanding on the situations.

• Departures are guaranteed with even three persons.
  
• Infant: for an infant under 3 years old, this tour is free of charge.
• Age Limitation: 0 to 85 years old, and not wheelchair available.
• Confirmation: Upon receiving your booking request, confirmation will be sent within 12 hours.
• Payment: Full payment is required at least two days prior to the day trip. We accept payment by PayPal, Credit Card, Alipay, Wechat, and Bank Transfer.
• Cancellation: Your payment is fully refundable if you cancel 24 hours prior to the trip. Cancellation within 24 hours before departure is non-refundable.