All activities / Trekking / Hiking / Jinshanling
Trekking / Hiking in Jinshanling
A wild, largely unrestored stretch of the Great Wall on the Beijing-Hebei border, where watchtowers run the ridgeline for kilometers with a fraction of the crowds at Badaling.
Why here
Jinshanling is the Great Wall hike serious walkers come for. Northeast of Beijing on the border with Hebei, it strings dozens of Ming watchtowers along a broken ridge, some restored, many crumbling, over roughly ten kilometers of steep brick and stone. Unlike the cable-car sections nearer the city, you walk here for hours with the wall mostly to yourself, dropping into saddles and climbing back to towers with long views over the folded hills. The classic longer outing links Gubeikou to Jinshanling and on toward Simatai West, a full day of ridge walking through some of the least touched wall left. Spring and autumn are the season: clear air, low sun on the towers, and none of the summer haze.
Best months
The walking is steeply up and down, with tower stairs, loose stone and a few exposed edges, so decent fitness and grippy shoes matter. April to June and September to November give the clearest air and the best light; midsummer is hot and hazy, and winter brings ice on the steep sections. Carry water, there is little shade on the ridge.
Getting there & around
Jinshanling is about a two and a half hour drive northeast of central Beijing, most easily reached on a guided day trip with transport included. Fitter walkers add the Gubeikou to Jinshanling leg for a longer day, or continue toward Simatai West. A cable car covers the initial climb for those who want to save their legs for the ridge.
Skill levels: intermediate
Schools & guides (2)
Great Wall Hiking
OutfitterA Beijing ground operator running guided and self-guided Great Wall treks since 2009, Great Wall Hiking works the quieter and wild sections, Jinshanling, Gubeikou, Jiankou and Simatai West, rather than the crowded Badaling. Its small team of full-time guides spends much of the year on the wall, and trips range from day hikes to multi-day walks with camping on the ramparts.
Wild Great Wall Adventures
OutfitterFounded in Beijing in 2011, Wild Great Wall Adventures specialises in the unrestored, overgrown stretches of the wall, Jiankou, Gubeikou, Huanghuacheng and Jinshanling, where the towers crumble and the crowds thin out. It runs small-group day hikes and overnight camping trips with local guides, and keeps a no-shopping-stop, no-hidden-cost policy.