Beijing – How to visit the Mutianyu sector on the Great Wall

Great Wall of China in Mutianyu near Beijing
Great Wall of China in Mutianyu near Beijing

If you want to visit the Great Wall of China in the Beijing area , but want to escape the main sector of Badaling for being the most saturated with tourists, you have as the most recommended option the Mutianyu sector .

Like Badaling, the Mutianyu sector of the Great Wall is not far from Beijing, only 70 kilometers away.

On the other hand, other less visited sectors like those of Jinshanling and Simatai , are already between 120 and 140 kilometers away from the Chinese capital.

Great Wall of China in Mutianyu near Beijing
Great Wall of China in Mutianyu near Beijing

In Mutianyu you find fewer visitors than in Badaling, but it is also a sector prepared for tourism.

Its origins date back to the 6th century, although later this stretch of the Great Wall was rebuilt by the Ming Dynasty , between the years 1400 and 1600.

How to visit Mutianyu

In the Mutianyu sector of the Great Wall there are 22 watchtowers, not only in the main wall, but in ramifications that were extended with the aim of strengthening protection.

The wall in Mutianyu is between six and seven meters high, and between four and five meters wide.

The Great Wall of China has higher slopes in Mutianyu than in Badaling , which makes the visit more demanding from the physical point of view.

Mutianyu cable car in the Great Wall of China
Mutianyu cable car in the Great Wall of China

However, it offers special attractions, because the wall runs along the edges of the mountains surrounded by immense forests, which leads to varied landscapes depending on the time of year you visit.

Cable car to climb the Great Wall

To access the wall in the Mutianyu sector, visitors have the possibility of going up by cable car , which will allow us to save energy for our subsequent tour of it.

You also have the possibility of climbing by means of a chairlift to another area of ​​the wall.

If in your visit of Mutianyu you decide for this other alternative, you have the attraction of being able to  descend from the Great Wall in a more “exciting” and fast way, going down a long slide that runs along the path of the cable car.