We had a free day on Sunday in Beijing, and anytime there is a day available in that city an excursion to the Great Wall is a must for a little exploring. Last time we went to the Badaling site of the rebuilt wall, which had crowds like Disney World, so we spoke with our hotel concierge who recommended the site at Mutianyu. About an hour and a half northeast of Beijing, the Mutianyu location did not disappoint. This time we arranged a private car through the hotel and headed north early in the morning. The weather was great, the people at the wall almost nonexistent, we had whole sections of the Great Wall all to ourselves. The air was still a little hazy from Beijing (those factories no doubt working double time because of the Clean Air Day), but the views were striking. This portion of the Great Wall was very mountainous, extremely forested with pine trees, and was originally build back in the 500s AD and has since been rebuilt and restored.
Next time, if there is a third time I get to explore one of the world's wonders, I am planning to head out to Jinshanling and Simatai portions of the Great Wall, more than 2 hours outside Beijing. Hardly any tourists go that far out and those portions include the original wall, non-restored portions with visible damage from recent wars like WWII. It would be great to get out there on a Clean Air Day, which is usually when the professional pictures of the Wall sites are taken. But, Mutianyu was a great stop on this trip and the pictures are really amazing.
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