Jinshanling Great Wall

Walk all of the eastern section of Jinshanling; hike a few towers towards Simatai for a better view of that section; and follow a paved park trail through the hills to finish

Level 3+
Approx. 3 hours of hiking over around 6km. (Can I do it?)

This hike is scheduled as a join-in group tour on the following dates

Follow the links to see current hike information and booking details.

The towers of the main section of the Jinshanling Great Wall
Great views of the main section of the Jinshanling Great Wall.

Hot weather: There’s no shade on this hike, except for in towers – this hike will be tough in hot weather.

On this hike we’ll walk all of the eastern section of Jinshanling; hike a few towers towards Simatai for a better view of that section; and then backtrack a little to follow a park trail through the hills to finish at Jinshanling’s other car park.

Much of the Jinshanling Great Wall is outside the Beijing Municipality, in Hebei Province. It’s a well-known part of the Great Wall that is in good condition after a lot of restoration work, and it is extremely picturesque, with large towers that are more closely-spaced than usual.

We’ll follow the Great Wall from the main park are of Jinshanling towards the Simatai section. The walk is steep in places with a lot of steps – in one place it’s 107 steps up, then 120 steps down. This means it can get a bit tough on the knees, but the views make up for any temporary pains.

Once we reach the end of the Jinshanling section, we’ll continue on a little more towards Simatai. We should be able to get good views of much of the Simatai Great Wall, including the steep eastern ridge where the famously hard-to-reach Sky Bridge and Fairy Tower are located.

After a little look over that way, we’ll backtrack a little to reach a park trail. This trail leads down a valley, and after about thirty minutes we’ll arrive at the bottom and meet our bus.

Before heading back to the city, we’ll have a late lunch (perhaps after 2pm) at a local restaurant. The cost of food and drinks is included in the price of the hike.

What to bring on this hike

Reasons you might not enjoy this hike

  • There are a few places where the wall is very steep, and the footing is quite tricky.
  • There’s no shade on this hike, except for in towers – this hike will be tough in hot weather.

COVID-19 and participation precautions

The current precautions are minimal. Please read in full here: Operating hikes under COVID-19 precautions

Related content

Photos and trip reports: Jinshanling Great Wall

See all the hikes  In the calendar / in a list