On the Jiankou ‘Big West’ Great Wall, with Nine-Eyes Tower just visible on the peak in the background.
Nine-Eyes Tower and the Jiankou ‘Big West’ Great Wall
On this hike you’ll visit the rugged west side of the Jiankou Great Wall, including Nine-Eyes Tower—a moderately challenging hike, with some steep climbs and sections with tricky footing.
Level 4
The hiking trail crosses loose rocks and bricks at certain points, with several tricky sections. Parts of the trail are very slippery, especially if wet. (Can I do it?)
The Great Wall on the east and south sides of Jiankou runs up and down impossibly steep ridgelines, and it’s known as one of the most dangerous parts of the wall to hike.
On the west side of Jiankou – where we go for this hike – the wall follows a lower ridgeline, and the hike is safer.
On a clear day in this spot in the heart of the mountains it will be possible to see Great Wall all around—the steepest parts of the Jiankou Great Wall on the opposite side of the valley, the Mutianyu Great Wall beyond the ridge, and glimpses of other sections of the Great Wall following nearby mountain ridges. When it's really clear, you can see all the way back to the skyscrapers of Beijing’s CBD.
English-speaking Beijing Hikers guide
• Round-trip transport in private vehicle from central Beijing
• Trail access fees and/or local guide
• Bottled water, with some light snacks and drinks after the hike
• Hiking sticks
Beijing Municipality has more than 600km of Great Wall, found mainly in the mountains north and northeast of the city. The majority of Beijing’s Great Wall dates back to the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), but there are remnants of much older wall to be found, too.
The Jiankou Great Wall
Original construction of the wall at Jiankou started around 1000 years ago, in the Tang dynasty (618–907). Most of what we will see on this hike is the remains of the Ming Dynasty wall, built between 1568 and 1615 by General Qi Jiguang.
Nine-Eyes Tower is an unusually large Great Wall tower that sits at an elevation of nearly 1,200m above sea level—one of the highest in Beijing. In its original condition it had three levels and was large enough to have nine windows – called ‘eyes’ in the Chinese name – on each side of the lower level. Nearby the tower are large stone tablets with construction records carved in beautiful calligraphy, and a short walk away is a walled fortification that was barracks for soldiers stationed at the tower.
Nine-Eyes Tower and the connected barracks were repaired in 2014. The Jiankou ‘Big West’ Great Wall had light repair work in 2022—just enough to stop more of it from collapsing. In between Nine-Eyes Tower and the Big West Wall, you’ll some extra rough ‘wild’ wall—piles of rocks and stones, tumbled down battlements obscured by trees, and partially tumbled-down towers.
