Mutianyu Great Wall | Looking across the Mutianyu Great Wall
Looking across the Mutianyu Great Wall.

Great Wall Christmas: Jiankou to Mutianyu Great Wall

A tough hike that follows the Great Wall from Jiankou's General's Tower all the way over to the Mutianyu Great Wall, starting on unrestored wall and finishing on a restored section. Post-hike Christmas meal and dumpling-making contest!

Level 4
A big climb to begin. 4 hours start to finish over approx. 9km (Can I do it?)

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Hike the Great Wall on Christmas Day

We’ve been doing our Christmas Great Wall hikes since 2004, and in 2018 the tradition continues!

This year we’re going to do the scenic Jiankou to Mutianyu hike, and then head to our favourite Mutianyu restaurant for a big lunch. After lunch, the annual dumpling-making contest, with prizes to be won!

(Have to work on Christmas? Try the ‘Almost Christmas’ on the Gubeikou Great Wall hike on Sunday the 23rd.)

This walk begins from a small village in the Jiankou area. Our local guide has a guesthouse here, and he’s picked a nice spot⁠—Jiankou is home to some of the most dramatic stretches of Great Wall in the Beijing area.

We’ll start off the hike by following a zigzag hillside trail that rises quickly to a Great Wall tower that is almost 1,000 metres above sea level. From the tower we can see the Jiankou basin, as well as the many other sections of Great Wall in the area.

From there we’ll head east, following the wall towards Mutianyu. There is some steep climbing, and you’ll need a good head for heights and some balancing skills – at some points the Great Wall is overgrown with bushes, and this will force us to walk along the very edge, quite high above the ground.

Along the way we’ll pass through many towers. At one point we’ll have an option – take a forest detour past an old meeting place that would make a very good campsite, or climb up and down a steep broken down section of wall that’s named the Ox-Horn.

We’ll end up at the northern end of the Mutianyu Great Wall, and cross over on to the restored section. Even though the wall here is restored, it’s still steep, and you may find the long descents tough on the knees.

We’ll follow the Mutianyu wall all the way over to the south side, and then head down to the carpark where we’ll find our bus. There are a few choices when it comes to getting down to the park entrance – walk down the hill trail, or buy a ticket for the luge or the cable car and speed down to finish that way.

And then, after we’re all done with the hike, we’ll continue by bus to the restaurant where we’ll have a big (although maybe not so traditional) Christmas feast of Chinese food, washed down with a good amount of beer.

After lunch, we’ll have a dumpling-making contest, with prizes awarded for ‘Most Dumplings’ and ‘Best Dumpling.’ If your dumplings are up to scratch, we may be be able to eat them as well!

COVID-19 and participation precautions

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

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Photos and trip reports: Great Wall Christmas: Jiankou to Mutianyu Great Wall

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