The Great Wall at Badaling

This section is fully renovated, there's plenty of handrails to help you along the way, but the hardest part is battling the crowds and trinket vendors specially at the beginning. As you start to climb you can go:

(1) left which is shorter, and back the same way or

(2) right takes you to the highest peak. If you get past this point, you will leave the crowds behind. It takes about 3 to 4 hours to do both

Alternatively, there is a Cable Car that brings you about two-thirds to the top, and you can take it to come down also.

Another way to come down is the Toboggan. The Badaling Toboggan does not have individual "cars" like the one at Mutianyu which you control yourself. It is more like a series of trolleys linked together with one "driver" at the front, and it has a safety bar. It's sort of like riding a (very) slow version of a roller coaster in the midst of two thousand years of history... Watch a video of the Badaling Toboggan here.

There is now another alternative to Badaling if you don't have much time to make the trip to the other parts. The section at Juyongguan which has been recently renovated and is even closer to Beijing than Badaling, does not get as crowded as the Great Wall tour buses are just beginning to bring tourists here.

If you go to Badaling, get there early to beat the crowds, and by all means, avoid National Holidays!

...more Great Wall of China pictures...

My first trip to the Great Wall more than twenty years ago, was to this section. Crowds and all, Badaling was a magnificent sight and still remains such a special memory...

Have you been to Badaling recently?

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