I did the 2-day hiking/camping option, and it was the highlight of my trip to Beijing. I would highly recommend using this company. Everything was very well-organized and they were very professional. I was traveling alone, and as a female doing the hike/camp, I really needed a guide I could trust. My guide, Peter, was awesome; he even braved sleeping outside with me with the temperature at -5C. I have absolutely no complaints. The hike was challenging, but definitely doable for someone who is reasonably fit.

Original review on TripAdvisor42

Travel date: March 21-22, 2011
Clients: April Young
Nationality: United States
Tour: Hiking and Sleeping on the Great Wall

We throughly enjoyed our experience hiking the Great Wall with our guide Peter. The hike from Jiankou to Mutianyu was a nice challenge and had some breath taking views. We did not see another person for the first three hours of our journey. There were no stops to try to have us buy things, and we just passed all of the hawkers on the Wall without any problems. The post-hike meal was delicious, and the restaurant had a great atmosphere.

This was a great experience and I highly recommend Great Wall Hiking.

Original review on TripAdvisor41

Travel date: March 14, 2011
Clients: Patrick Maxton
Nationality: United States
Tour: Trail of Great Wall Hiking- One-day Jiankou to Mutianyu

I spent three weeks in China, Cambodia, and Thailand, and our hike with Gary of Great Wall Hiking was my favorite part of the trip. The Jinshanling section we visted was very remote, but worth the 2-3 hour drive from Beijing.

Be warned, it is a very difficult climb to the top, which is physically demanding. But once you are up there the views are great, and there are few other hikers to bother you.

Gary and his company picked us up at our hotel, guided us on the wall, and finished the day with a delicious lunch in a small, local, chinese restaurant in a small village by the wall. Cannot reccomend highly enough.

Original review on TripAdvisor40

Travel date: March 4, 2011
Clients: John Jacobsen & Gorgetown University
Nationality: United States
Tour: Highlight of Great Wall Hiking- One-day Simatai West to Jinshanling

I was in Beijing on business and on the recommendation of TripAdvisor reviewers decided to hike the Jiankou and Mutianyu section of the Great Wall through Great Wall Hiking. Peter was our guide and went out of his way to make the hike a highlight of the trip. He shared his knowledge of the history of the wall and made sure we did not miss the best photo opportunities. Very professional.

I will definitily use Great Wall Hiking when I return to China on vacation with my my family.

Original review on TripAdvisor39

Travel date: March 5, 2011
Clients: Darrell Cira
Nationality: United States
Tour: Trail of Great Wall Hiking- One-day Jiankou to Mutianyu

Anyone who wants to see the Great Wall in one day should do the hike from Jiankou to Mutianyu. It was an amazing experience. I wasn't happy that I had to pay a $50 deposit before our trip, but paid anyways since this was one of the few tours that offered hike from Jiankou to Mutianyu. Peter, our guide, and the driver (never got his name) picked us (one girl was already in the van, and coincidently two other hikers and I were staying at the same hotel) promptly at 8 in a decent minivan. We drove to a small village where we took a short bathroom break and Peter showed us where we were hiking to. Peter thoughtfully gave us a banana and snickers bar. The van had a box of bottled water. We drove to the beginning of the trail and started on our 40min-1 hour hike up the mountain. It was not particularly difficult, but definitely not an easy climb. After that, the view was just incredible. The hike along the wall was just beyond my expectation. There were some rough areas, but nothing too dangerous. After about 3 hours on Jiankou section, we finally reached Mutianyu section. It was nice to see the restored section after hours on unrestored "original" section of the wall. After the hike, Peter took us to a nice restaurant and bought us late lunch and some beer (food was pretty good- and he ordered plenty that there were some leftovers). After lunch, we came back to our hotel right around 6 PM. By far the best thing I did while I was in China. The only two things I did not like was that Peter, while decent guide, was not that talkative (some may prefer this) and that he did not know that the cable car at Mutianyu was closed all week for maintenance (it would have been nice to get the update on this since I was in pain and was looking for a nice rdie down from the wall instead of 40 extra minutes of hiking down). If you are an expert hiker and can speak Mandarin, there are plenty of guide books and websites that can show you how to do this hike without spending $120 or so. Since I am not an expert hiker and do not speak Mandarin, $120 was well worth it.

Original review on TripAdvisor38

Travel date: March 8, 2010
Clients: Kyong Suk Choi
Nationality: United States
Tour: Trail of Great Wall Hiking- One-day Jiankou to Mutianyu

Meine Frau und ich wurden pünktlich im Hotel abgeholt und nach zwei Stunden Fahrt erreichten wir den Ausgangspunkt der Wanderung. Eine Stunde ging es durch Wald bergauf bis zur Mauer. Kein Tourist begegnete uns. Der Abschnitt von Jiankou ist noch nicht restauriert, aber gut begehbar, landschaftlich spektakulär und um diese Jahreszeit fast menschenleer. 4 Stunden wanderten wir auf der Mauer dann Richtung Mutianyu, einem sanierten Abschnitt der Mauer. Peter, unser Führer, war hervorragend und versorgte uns mit allen gewünschten Informationen.

Auf dem Rückweg stoppten wir noch für 45 Minuten am Olympiagelände.

Ein wunderschgöner Tagesausflug, den ich jedem empfehlen kann.

Original review on TripAdvisor37

Travel date: March 5, 2011
Clients: Werner Knecht & Bernadette Knecht
Nationality: Germany
Tour: Trail of Great Wall Hiking- One-day Jiankou to Mutianyu

My very first adventure while in Beijing was to hike the Jiankou / Mutianyu portion of the Wall. Based on the reviews here on TA, I decided to go with Great Wall Hiking, which was an excellent choice. I liked the variety of itinerary options they have available, and selected the one I thought would not only give me a good amount of time on the wall, but would also expose me to the full variety the wall has to offer. The Jiankou section is completely unrestored, so it still possesses a lot of character and charm that you don't necessarily see in the modernized portion of Mutianyu. And the other reviewers are right - the views are breathtaking!

One thing I admit I wasn't expecting was the 45 minute hike up to the entrance to the Jiankou section. There is no car access, so you have to climb rather steep terrain over an uneven and very rocky dirt path. I did this in March so the weather wasn't as cold as some of the other reviewers dealt with, but there was still ice all over the place, which made things more difficult. It wasn't clear from the itinerary that this would be required, so it kind of caught me off guard. Thankfully, my guide was flexible and didn't pressure me to push ahead when I needed to take a break. He also lent me his walking stick over the really icy sections so I could better balance myself.

The reason I'm giving this only 4 out of 5 circles is because I had a similar experience to the other reviewer in that my guide was really quiet and only answered questions I asked him; he didn't offer anything. This made it difficult because once I ran out of things to talk to him about, we were basically silent for like the last 3 hours of the (5 hour) trip. I knew he'd just done a 4-hour hike the day before and he did look really tired, so I figured that was why. Overall, though, I was very pleased with this experience and would highly recommend this service to a fellow traveler.

Original review on TripAdvisor36

Travel date: March 12, 2011
Clients: Cheryl Tedder
Nationality: United States
Tour: Trail of Great Wall Hiking- One-day Jiankou to Mutianyu

We did the One-day Jiankou to Mutianyu trip. Everything was perfect and we even had a superb weather (little bit chilly however blue skies). My only little complaint was to the guide (thus no 5 stars), whom I expected to be little bit more talkative about the Wall, its history etc. Not that he didn't know it, or don't want to share it, but you needed to ask yourself, more than he would do some prepared narration. As for some this maybe preferred or unnoticeable I did notice :) Other than that everything was ok and I would strongly recommend this company.

Original review on TripAdvisor35

Travel date: March 8, 2010
Clients: Adam Trcka & Iveta Janova
Nationality: Czech Republic
Tour: Trail of Great Wall Hiking- One-day Jiankou to Mutianyu

I had high expectations for this hike prior to doing it. Without a doubt, Great Wall Hiking exceeded all of my expectations.

I chose the Simatai to Jinshanling hike because it is on the unrestored section and away from the high volume tourist portion. Gary at Great Wall Hiking was a great source of information as I did my reasearch and shopping for a tour. You can get a tour for much less, but if you want first class treatment then you can't go wrong.

my guide Peter was very knowledgeable about the history of the Wall and pointed out many things I would have just passed by if I did not have a guide. The lunch at the farmers house provided a peek inside everyday life in that area of China. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend Great Wall Hiking to anyone and, give the opportunity, I would be glad to use them again.

Original review on TripAdvisor34

Travel date: Feb 19, 2011
Clients: David Kuntz
Nationality: United States
Tour: Highlight of Great Wall Hiking- One-day Simatai West to Jinshanling

My husband and I hiked the Jinshanling section of the Great Wall on January 13, 2011 with our wonderful guide Gary. He greeted us at our hotel and clearly explained the plan for the day. Gary's command of English is excellent which made for a great day of conversation. In addition to giving us details about the history of the Great Wall, Gary was able to answer our many questions about everyday life in China without missing a beat.

This was our first visit to China and we were initially hesitant to hike the Jinshanling section because we thought it might be too difficult and dangerous to do in winter based on previous hikers' reviews. We decided to just go for it and we are so glad that we did. The wall has some very steep sections of nothing but steps and uneven paving but with my fear of heights, I felt quite safe having my husband and Gary walking in front and behind me. We are both of average fitness and used to hiking on unpaved terrain being from Canada and hiking this section certainly made us work up a good sweat.

For us, the payoff for visiting the Great Wall in low season is that we virtually had the entire wall to ourselves. Literally for the entire 3 hours we hiked, aside from a couple of guards and local farmers, we only crossed paths with five other tourists. We took a rest break on top of one of the watchtowers and enjoyed some snacks that Gary had brought - the view was priceless. At our last stop, Gary presented us with a certificate of completion for hiking the Jinshanling section which was a nice recognition for what I found to be a very challenging hike. We were also given a Great Wall Hiking button which was a fun souvenir.

We remember this day fondly as one of the greatest experiences we had in China and would highly recommend Great Wall Hiking and Gary to anyone who is looking for a personal, friendly and educational experience on the Great Wall.

Original review on TripAdvisor33

Travel date: January 13, 2011
Clients: Ian Williamson
Nationality: Canada
Tour: Highlight of Great Wall Hiking- One-day Simatai West to Jinshanling