Great Wall - Badaling, Beijing

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There are two entrances to Badaling: the main entrance near the bus parking lot (a large sign over the shops) and the other entrance at the end of the animal park (see photo). The pulley car is also located inside this park.

My sister and I took the pulley car up the Wall. After taking some photos, we agreed to meet 3 hours later. She would return on the pulley car and meet me at the parking lot.

Now I was ready to hike the Great Wall at Badaling!

At first there was some confusion as to whether I should continue hiking after an hour (and the crowds have thinned to a few people) when the Wall seemed to stretch endlessly up and down the mountains. Some people I asked had no idea if continuing farther would lead to an exit but they intended to go back the same way to be on the safe side. So I asked people who were coming from the opposite direction and good news! they had hiked an hour from another entrance.

The pictures I've taken are sequential: pulley car up, two hour hike (including resting & taking photos) and exit at the far end of the animal park. You could do it in reverse and take the pulley car down or just add another 20 mins walk down to the main entrance and visit the Great Wall Museum in the vicinity (included in the ticket but it was closed for renovation at the time of my visit). A better way, actually, and no confusion about where to exit because you'll be walking into a crowd soon enough and be so glad you've already snapped lots of pictures.

Admission (low season): 45 yuan
Cost of pulley ride : 30 yuan (one way)

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according to wikipedia The Great Wall of China is a series of stone and earthen fortifications in China, built, rebuilt, and maintained between the 5th century BC and the 16th century to protect the northern borders of the Chinese Empire during the rule of successive dynasties.
No need to say that they are trying to protect themselves from Turkish tribes attack..
The Great Wall is the world's longest human-made structure, stretching over approximately 6,400 km from Shanhaiguan in the east to Lop Nur in the west, along an arc that roughly delineates the southern edge of Inner Mongolia.The Ming Wall was guarded by more than one million men. It has been estimated that somewhere in the range of 2 to 3 million Chinese died as part of the centuries-long project of building the wall.
It is amazing because personally I dont believe that turkish tribes at that time had a population of more 200.000!!! an 1000000 soldiers to protect the wall and 2-3 million chineses who died seems a little nonsense to me...anyway I am here again after 2500 years

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The wall is much higher than it looks. We climbed the many steps to the first platform . Its important to remember ...what did we see at the top of our climb?? ...yet more sairs to the next platform ...so on an so on...for many many miles. No need to try to reach the end ...
Our legs were aching for days and we only climbed a minute part of this incredible wall.

It is a must do though and the view of the Wall is wonderful from the top.

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This was everything I expected it to be and more.
The day we visited was overcast and grey but even though our picture quality sufferd, the weather only added to the dramatic example of human effortand accomplishment.

As far as we could see the Wall stretched up and down the hills and mountains , hugging the cliffs as it winded its way along disappearing into vallies and appearing again as far as we could see. How long we wondered, no one seemed sure estimates are saying over 10,000 km , some say much more.

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Definately worth seeing, just hope that the weather is good. If it is foggy you cannot really see anything. And if it is really windy or cold, it is really freezing up at the Great Wall. There is steep and a little bit less steep path, but both demand quite a lot climbing so be prepared with good walking / climbing shoes. No heels!!!

The Great Wall is a must-see when in Beijing, we went to the Badaling section & it was awesome. I'd definitely recommend wearing sneakers or boots though, as you will be doing a lot of walking and climbing. My wife is Chinese, and wanted to wear heels - I literally had to force her to let me buy her a pair of tennis shoes the day before we went & she was totally against it. Halfway through the next day as we were scaling the wall, she couldn't thank me enough for the gift, haha. I say this with all the respect in the world, but many of the people I saw there were wearing dress clothes & shoes, they looked like they were going to a business meeting... I just couldn't understand it. To me, it is much more important to be comfortable than fashionable when you are doing something as strenuous as walking the Great Wall!!

No visit is complete without visiting one of the new great wonder sites. When you reach Badaling you have two choices to hike, to the left and to the right. The claim is going left is the harder climb. It is true that the steps are steep often 3-4 ft / step at places, and sometimes the incline is also very steep > 30 degrees, but it is well worth going this route as the crouds are less and you get to see the more adventerious tourists. Make sure to wear a sturdy pair of shoes, but we still saw silly vain women in heels too.

As the guides say, this is very crowded but still worth the visit. I took a tour bus from the corner of the block SE of Tianneman square (160Y for great wall, lunch and Ming Tombes - about 8 hours in all leaving at about 8:30am). When you get there you can go left or right. Right seemed to be much more popular than left bt that's the way I went. Very steep climbing for about one km to the summit. Most people turn arround and come back the way they went. However, I think it is more fun to continue down the other side with almost no people (very steep in places though) until after about 700m you can exit to the right and return in about 10 minutes to the parking lot making it a nice round trip. I would allow about 2 hours. Water can be purchased at the bottom for less than 50c - more expensive higher up but don't accept the price that you are asked for as it is at least double what they will take. Its a agood work out!