Badaling Great Wall, Beijing

Due to the distance between Beijing and the Great Wall we opted for a scheduled visit. The hotel has several chances to tour and this is one of the possible. It is economic, because a small bus picks up people in different hotels, the lunch is included and we have not to worry anymore. However, only arrives at the desired location after lunch.

After spending the morning traffic of Beijing, we had the first stop, objects of jade factory... Of course that was not part of the route, but here Jade is very sold, and seems to be a good policy, buses stop there. Nobody bought anything! Later before lunch we had to stop another surprise: a traditional Chinese medicine clinic. The idea was that someone would do treatments after an assessment very quickly. Again no one was interested. I do not know whether this form of marketing will be effective! ~~

Next stop, the Ming tombs. There followed a lunch served in a room in the same jade factory, where we sat at round tables in groups. Several dishes and tea were placed on the center of the table. It was not bad, but the underlying idea was that once again we buy anything at the end.

Finally in the afternoon we arrived at the beautiful wall and we had a few hours to spend there before returning to a complicated traffic of Beijing. Again I loved the wall, but the next time I would consider otherwise of visiting.

If you want to go to the Great Wall at Badaling using the public bus no. 919 (12 Yuan each way), and you try to find the bus from Jishuitan subway station (as described by the Lonely Planet), be sure to walk ALL THE WAY to Deshengmen, which is a whole block east of the Jishuitan Subway Exit A. You have to cross the road at the end of the block, going underneath an overpass road. .

On your way you will encounter another 919 bus station (quite close to Jishuitan Exit A), but that is headed towards the CITY, and is the WRONG direction. There will be allegedly "official tourist information volunteers" with red badges on, who will try to get tourists to get on their minibuses (for 80/person each way), and they will come up with all sorts of excuses to lure you on. We got there at 10:30am and they told us the public bus to Badaling was no longer running, and the only way to get there would be by the "official" minibus. DON'T FALL FOR IT! Just walk away, further towards the east, and you will find the Deshengmen bus stop from which the 919 headed for Badaling departs. It's rather confusing that there are like 5 lines of 919 in Beijing which lead to different places all throughout Beijing. Be sure to get on the right 919 and don't fall for these "official volunteers"! The photo on the right show some of these "volunteers", who ducked away the moment we took the photo!

Unique Suggestions: You can follow the route shown on the Google map below to get from Jishuitan subway to Deshengmen bus stop:
http://maps.google.com.hk/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=%E7%A7%AF%E604%E6D%AD+%4039.949013,116.372511&daddr=%E5E7%E5%8B%9D%E9%96%80%E6%A9%8B&geocode=FdWSYQIdH7TvBg%3BFVmUYQIdK83vBg&gl=hk&hl=zh-TW&mra=dme&mrcr=0&mrsp=1&sz=17&dirflg=w&sll=39.949178,116.376135&sspn=0.004038,0.006877&brcurrent=3,0x0:0x0,0&ie=UTF8&ll=39.949178,116.375889&spn=0.008077,0.013754&z=16

Good luck!

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The Great Wall at Badaling is the most visited section of the Great Wall of China, approximately 50 miles (80 km) northwest of Beijing. It is the most well-preserved section of the Great Wall, built during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). This section, with an average altitude of over 1,000 meters (3,282 feet), was the first section of the wall to open to tourists when it opened in 1957 and is now visited by millions annually. Because of this, the area has become a bit of a tourist trap with souvenir shops, hotels, restaurants, theme rides and a cable car. I actually thought they'd be a lot more commercialism here than there actually is but what is here is a bit too much - local bears in a bear pit being one example.

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Again this will be a tourist trap if you don't know how to haggle ok! you can haggle great wall key chains at 8 RMB aeach, ceramic refrigerator magnets at 8 RMb, Great Wall T-Shirts at 35-40 RMB, pewter great wall displays at 50 RMB and other stuffs. Again this will be a tourist trap if you don't HAGGLE! remember to feign nonchalance and act as leaving to be able to get them lower to the price you want ok!

bottled water drinks are 5 RMb, Bottle Juice is 6 RMB, Chinese Sausages at 4 RMB here.

Unique Suggestions: don't buy anything if you don't want!

Fun Alternatives: none

All tours in China have some stop at some shop that will offer you "special price".

I have traveled to Badaling via hotel arranged tour bus: cost 400Y Lunch, water included.
Stopped at Jade factory for 1 hour and Lunch was next to gift shop which was another 1.5 hours. We arrived at Badaling at about 2 pm and it was over at 4 pm. Bus guide arranged a nice photo book of great wall with group photo 100Y extra. So summary 500Y/person 4 hours in the bus, 2 hours tourist trap shopping,1 hour at Ming tombs and 2 hours on the wall, wall tour guide 30min.

I also did a taxi tour with 2 other people to Jinshaling: Hotel arranged a trustworthy taxi. Like 3 hours drive each way, paid 300Y for taxi. Stopped at some silk factory+ lunch which was 100Y each person Taxi stalled us there. We arrived at Wall and there was less people but we were done after about 3 hours. Paid 50Y per person to go in to wall, 30Y for cable car going up to wall, 60Y for tour guide at the top 30min. This wall is not restored, looks more interesting but can also be risky with regards to falling and twising ankles. Hard to find our taxi driver so we grabbed another taxi and he took us back to the hotel 200Y also stopped at a store with a restauraunt attached. So summary 5 hours taxi, 3 hours great wall, own Lunch, own dinner total approx 400Y per person.

Unique Suggestions: Well I have to say...just about EVERYONE that takes you to the great wall is going to stop at some place hoping you will spend money, the only real problem here is the time lost.

But I have to say...the Bus tours to Great wall are still the best option, they bus is comfortable, the tour is organized, the photo book is a nice touch and you get to meet tour buddies on the tour bus.

And just as a note...I have traveled the world...Egypt Tours, Greece tours, Mexico pyramid tours and they ALL have some designated tourist shops they stop at.

Fun Alternatives: The only real alternative is a REAL local friend who will take you in their personal car.

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The Longdi Superior Jade Gallery is a tourist bus stop on the way to Badaling Great Wall. It was designed to feed tour groups in an attached restaurant and then hold them captive inside a sales exhibition warehouse after the set meal. Each table of the tourist restaurant has a bottle of China's strongest rice wine with rows of small "shot glass" sized cups enabling groups to drink simultaneously. The bus driver is held hostage in a separate cell so that the bus door can be locked, thus preventing tourists from boarding immediately after lunch.

Visitors are marched like prisoners through a corridor past a glass enclosed workshop where Chinese artisans labor over jade handicrafts that they've been carving all day long. They then serve their brief sentence inside a massive gallery of merchandise featuring not only jade but also porcelain, carpets, and cloissonne.
Closed circuit television cameras monitor prisoner activity so that a tourist who gives any merchandise a second look is quickly approached for immediate sales assistance. (All major credit cards accepted!)

Unique Suggestions: At least take a photo of the large jade ship inside the gallery. There are English signs telling you that such picture-taking is not allowed but this is a gift shop, not a Buddhist temple. (See my additional photo)

Fun Alternatives: The alternative is to visit a more remote section of the Great Wall, but this is not possible if you are travelling with a tour group. Almost all tour groups visit Badaling Great Wall instead of Mutianyu or Simatai, and so the arrangement with Longdi Jade Gallery is very convenient for tour companies who like the close proximity of the jade factory to Badaling because then they don't have to worry about where to eat lunch.

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Something that I found particularly repugnant when visiting the Great Wall at Badaling was the carnival atmosphere. Especially vile are the pits full of sun bears. When traveling through the developing world, I have always been amazed by the cruelty towards animals shown by the locals. This includes China. These sun bears are kept in pits were they beg for food from tourists who buy frankfurters from vendors nearby that are to be fed to the unfortunate creatures. Please do not participate. Perhaps one day the organizers of this atrocity will get the picture and put a halt to it.
Also to be found nearby the Great Wall here are all kinds of souvenir stalls and a KFC. Personally I have no interest in any of it.

Unique Suggestions: Perhaps the weirdist thing to do here is to take the "gliding car"(that is what my tour guide called it) up to the wall itself. This is commonly done by tour groups like the one I was on. By taking what is especially a roller coaster up to the wall, you will save some time in your visit. The ride down was actually a mild thrill.

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Most people who visit the Great Wall go to Badaling because it is closest to downtown Beijing.
Nearly all tour groups use this section of the Wall for the obligatory half day excursion. As a result, it's often described as the most crowded section of the Great Wall by those who have been fortunate to visit other more remote sections like Simatai and Gubeikou.

One of the first sights you'll see after getting off the bus is a long row of souvenir stalls all selling the exact same merchandise. At Badaling there can never be too many identical souvenir stalls, and so once you get on the wall you will find more of the same stuff as you hike toward the beacon towers on either side.

Despite the fact that you might be out of breath after walking up hundreds of steep steps, vendors will greet you at places on the Great Wall which they have determined are most frequently used for taking a rest. One annoying young Chinese man even offered to teach me magic tricks, actually hoping that I would not simply take a rest but also take an interest in buying his magic kit.

Unique Suggestions: Just ignore the vendors. You'll quickly tire of returning "hellos" as you get tired anyway.

Fun Alternatives: The nearest good alternative is Mutianyu, which does not have as many vendors atop the Wall. If you have enough time for a full day excursion then go to Simatai/Jinshanling, Gubeikou, or one of the other more remote sections such as Huanghua or Jiankou.