Camping: Jinshanling Great Wall and Gubeikou Great Wall
Hike the Jinshanling Great Wall and then cross through farmland to reach our campsite in a tower on the Great Wall at Gubeikou. You’ll hike easier with just the essentials in your day pack; we’ll arrange delivery of the camping equipment to the campsite.
Booking info
May 31–June 1 (Sat–Sun)
¥1,700 / ¥1,530 for members
Payment in advance required for this hike. More about payments
We start the trip in Hebei Province, and you’ll need to bring your passport/ID card. Without ID you might be stopped at a border control checkpoint.
Dragon Boat Festival holiday—we might run into bad traffic on the way to and from the hike.
On this two day Great Wall adventure you’ll hike picturesque stretches of the wild Great Wall and camp in a Great Wall tower at Gubeikou.
We'll supply a tent, sleeping bag, and ground pad for you, as well as food for a basic dinner and breakfast. All you’ll need is lunch and snacks for the first day, plus a day pack to carry your essentials while hiking, leaving you free to enjoy the scenery, sunset, stars, and sunrise as we hike along the Jinshanling and Gubeikou sections of the Great Wall.
Maximum group size of 10–12 hikers; book early to make sure you get a spot!
Trail update
We’d usually go the other way on this hike, starting at Gubeikou and finishing at Jinshanling on the second day.
Starting the hike at Jinshanling gives us a longer hike on the first day. Finishing at Gubeikou means we won’t need to go through the border control checkpoint (and its potentially huge holiday traffic jams) on the way home.
Bad weather plan
We'll have a fairly good idea of the weather by about three days before the hike. If it's forecast to be dangerous, we'd need to call off the hike. If it changes suddenly while we're out there, we can shelter at our local friend's courtyard.
The campsite
Our campsite is a partially restored tower at the Gubeikou Great Wall. With the wall at our backs, we’ll have broad views to the south, east, and west, and you’ll be able to see the sunrise by poking your head out of the tower at around about 6:15am.
At night
The sun will set around 7:36pm, and from the campsite we’ll be able to watch as the sun slowly sinks below below a tall ridge of mountains.
Moon phase: Just after New Moon.
The sun will rise over the the hills and wall beyond our campsite at around about 4:48am.
Hiking trail
On the first day of the trip we’ll hike up park trails to get on to the eastern end of the Great Wall at Jinshanling. Most of the Great Wall here has been repaired and offers a great look at what the wall here would have looked like back in the Ming Dynasty. We’ll follow the Jinshanling Great Wall all the way over to the western end, passing through many large towers and climbing up and down steep stairs on the Great Wall.
From the western end of Jinshanling we’ll hike along the trails outside the wall and then head down to Old Zhou’s farmhouse. We’ll take a rest here, and have an early dinner before hiking on to the campsite. (We can’t have dinner at the campsite due to fire prevention rules.)
After early dinner and a rest, we’ll hike through the farmland around Hemp Village and up the ‘Spider Valley’ trail, getting back up on the Great Wall at Gubeikou’s 24-Eyes Tower. From there it’s a short walk down to the campsite, where we’ll have some free time to explore the wall after we set up camp.
Hike statistics, Day One
• Distance: 10–12km • Approx. 5 hours of hiking • Total ascent: 560m • Total descent: 600m
On the second day we’ll continue our walk at the Gubeikou Great Wall. The hike continues along the Great Wall, passing the General’s Tower on the way to Gubeikou’s North Gate.
Not far from the North Gate is the countryside restaurant where we’ll finish the hike with a delicious hot meal and drinks.
Hike statistics, Day Two
• Distance: 4–5km • 2–3 hours of hiking • Total ascent: 178m • Total descent: 328m
Maximum group size of 10–12 hikers; book early to make sure you get a spot!
Kid’s prices
For more details about meals, water, packing lists, and more, please see the sections below.
COVID-19 and participation precautions
The current precautions are minimal. Please read in full here: Operating hikes under COVID-19 precautions
