Gubeikou Great Wall camping | See sunset from the Great Wall at Gubeikou — See sunset from the Great Wall at Gubeikou.

Camping: Gubeikou Great Wall and Jinshanling Great Wall

Camp overnight in a tower at the Gubeikou Great Wall, and hike on to Jinshanling the next day. You’ll hike easier with just the essentials in your day pack; we’ll arrange delivery of the camping equipment to the campsite.

Level 3+

3–4 hours hiking each day, total distance 12–14km. (Can I do it?)

This hike is not currently scheduled

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 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 Gubeikou and Jinshanling sections of the Great Wall.

Maximum group size of 10–12 hikers; book early to make sure you get a spot!

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 6:03am.

Full Moon over the Great Wall at Gubeikou. (Click for larger image)

At night

The sun will set around 6:34pm, and from the campsite we’ll be able to watch as the sun slowly sinks below below a tall ridge of mountains.
Moon phase: New moon, good for stargazing.

Hiking trail

On the first day of the trip we’ll explore the Great Wall at Gubeikou, a relatively easy hike that has magnificent views of the Great Wall running through the hills. We'll hike up to the highest tower in the area, and then walk back down to our campsite to cook dinner and watch the sun set.

On the second day of the trip we’ll hike on to the Jinshanling Great Wall. We'll hike back up to the high point of the Gubeikou Great Wall, and then head down into the farmland that surrounds Hemp Village. After a 45-60 minute hike through the fields, we'll climb a hill trail to get on to the western end of the Jinshanling Great Wall. We’ll walk all of the Jinshanling section of the Great Wall to finish at the eastern end with a walk down a park trail to the carpark where our bus will meet us.

Maximum group size of 10–12 hikers; book early to make sure you get a spot!

Kid's prices

8–12 years old: ¥900
13–16 years old: ¥1,300

Extra information about the hike

12–14km over two days
5–7 hours of hiking over two days
225m start height
569m peak
418m finish height
859m ascent
676m descent
2–2.5 hour drive each way
Miyun District, Beijing

Day pack to carry the essentials.
Standard hiking gear and boots, and a waterproof jacket just in case.
Warm clothes for the evening, spare socks and underwear.
Hat and gloves.
Flashlight or head lamp.
Toilet paper and hand sanitizer.
Toothbrush, small towel.
Suncream.
Personal medicine and basic first aid supplies.
Entertainment: a book, cards, a bottle of something.
Extra food and snacks ie chocolate.

We supply one tent for each person, sleeping bag and liner, ground pad, hiking poles. We will have this equipment delivered to the campsite; you won't need to carry it yourself.

You'll need a day pack to carry the essentials: your clothes, food, water, and anything you can’t do without. If you have extra things that you'd like to bring to the campsite we can arrange for delivery at an additional cost.

Lunch, day one: We'll supply a sandwich, as well as a banana and a Snickers bar. You might like to supplement this with extra snacks.

Dinner: We'll supply basic camp food: things like bread and rolls, ham and salami, pickles and cheese, and some cup noodles and soups. We’ll bring gas burners to boil water for hot drinks. We'll also bring a bottle of red wine! Dinner will be tasty but fairly basic, and we’re not able to have open fires.

Breakfast: We’ll bring bread and jam and fruit, tea and coffee.

Snacks: We’ll supply an apple, and nuts and things to make trail mix.

Lunch, day two: We’ll head to a local restaurant and celebrate with a big meal and plenty of cold beer.

Water: We’ll provide 4 litres of bottled water per person, plus an electrolyte drink.

There are a few places along the way that are either narrow, steep, slippery, or all three.

For the hikes in Beijing our regular pick up locations are the Liangmaqiao Subway area and the Starbucks at the Lido Metropark Hotel. Occasionally we offer pick ups at other locations. Follow the link for details.

See details, maps, and photos of the pick up locations

For the day hikes in Beijing we collect your payment on the day.

You can pay with

Chinese dollars (AKA Yuan or Renminbi)
Wechat or Alipay mobile payments

For overnight trips and special activities we typically require payment in advance. We'll contact you to arrange that payment when we receive your booking.