Juyonguan Great Wall and Shuiguan Great Wall, 2022/01/16

We picked a perfect time to visit the usually super-touristy Juyongguan Great Wall and Shuiguan Great Wall—clear skies, mild temperatures, great views, and practically no other visitors. See 26 photos.

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We wouldn’t usually hike at either of these two parts of the Great Wall, as they’re the closest to Beijing and are typically very crowded.

But with cold winter temperatures and travel into Beijing restricted due to the Winter Olympics we thought we’d take a shot, assuming there would be far fewer people about.

We first did the loop on the Great Wall at Juyongguan, hiking up the steep steps to the peak on the west side. From the top we had views north towards the Badaling Great Wall, and even further to the Winter Olympics ski runs on top of Haituo Mountain.

After completing the loop with a look at Juyongguan’s Cloud Platform we drove to the Shuiguan Great Wall.

At the Shuiguan Great Wall we warmed up with a big lunch before doing a short hike on the north side of the Great Wall there.