Badaling Great Wall Beijing

Situated in Yanqing County, over 70 kilometers north of Beijing, Badaling Great Wall is the most well-preserved and visited section of the Great Wall, offering awesome views. The section is mostly crowded, especially at weekends or on national holidays, because it is the most commonly visited by tour groups. However, the Badaling hiking is a must-do activity for your Beijing tour. About 370 state leaders and VIPs have climbed Badaling and admired the magnificence and beauty of its scenery. Usually, your Badaling Great Wall hike can be easily customized to include the Ming Tombs or Summer Palace on your one day trip.

The Badaling Great Wall, with an average altitude of over 1,000 meters, was built during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), and repaired in 1957. It is the section that has been open to the public the longest (since 1957). The wall is on average 7.8 meters tall and 5.7 meters, which allows five horses to gallop abreast and ten people to go shoulder to shoulder.

Badaling Great Wall has the most comprehensive tour services. Many tourists bemoan the commercialization of Badaling, but there is no denying that the complete tour service will bring you great convenience and accessibility. Shops and sellers abound making the visit as one of festivities. There is a cable car as well as a Great Wall museum of Chinese History and a Great Wall Circle Vision Amphitheater for 15 minute film shows. The museum has a photo gallery showing all the world's famous personalities who came to climb and admire this man-made wonder. For those who are not physically fit, Badaling is the safest site to see the Great Wall.

Location: Yanqing County, over 70 kilometers north of Beijing downtown

Opening Hours: 06:30 - 19:00 in summer; 07:00 - 18:00 in winter

Guided Ways to Enter the Wall

The bus no. 919 will take you about less than one hour to reach Badaling, and stops near the pulley at the front mountain of Badaling. It takes about 25 minutes to walk from the 929 bus station to the ticket office.

How to get there?

Bus 919 offers a frequent service to Badaling for RMB 12 one way. The buses leave from Deshengmen bus station which lies nort-north-west of the Forbidden City. The buses 919 drop you off near Badaling ticket office and entrance; for the return journey they are waiting at a bus station downhill, so do not try to go back to the entrance.

Weather/Best Time to Go

Beijing enjoys the humid continental climate with hot humid summers, cold dry winters, shorter spring and autumn. You can have a Beijing tour any time of the year, because it can give fresh feeling by enjoying the special tour of the four seasons.

The best season to visit Beijing Badaling should be Summer and Autumn, which is considered peak season when hotels typically raise their rates and the Badaling Great Wall nearly collapses because of the weight of marching tourists. However, if you have to tour Beijing and Badaling in winter or spring, it is also no problem, because there are handrails located throughout this section, so is safe.

Travel Tips

• Do not go to the Great Wall in bad weather (heavy rain, storm or thunderstorm); pay attention to the Beijing weather forecast.
• For visitors who prefer to linger in Badaling, a trip to the countryside for a farmhouse visit is strongly recommended.
• 2 hours' spa bathing in the Jiuhua Spa Resort can relax you from the exhaustion of Badaling hiking.
• It need about 1-1.5 hours to climb the south part and 2-3 hours for the north part. Most travelers choose to climb the north part which is more challengeable.