Private Hiking Adventure at the Gubeikou Panlongshan Great Wall
Description
Your hike begins with a stroll past a small reservoir, followed by a brisk ascent up a dirt track leading to the Great Wall. The climb isn't challenging, yet upon reaching the Great Wall, you'll find yourself nearly at the highest point of the entire hike. The highest point of the entire hike is the 24-Eyes Tower. The name '24-Eyes' is derived from the number of windows—six on each of the tower's four sides. Presently, the tower only has two sides due to damage over the years. After the visit to 24-Eyes Tower, you'll hike back down the wall all the way to the General's Tower, enjoying the views of a long line of the Great Wall unfolding in front of you. The General's Tower is a large structure that likely served as the command post for this section of the Great Wall. You have the option to climb on top of the General's Tower, providing a unique perspective akin to that of a soldier on guard.
Tour Options
Itinerary
The Gubeikou Great Wall is one of the most accessible stretches of the 'wild' wall in Beijing. Even if there were a cable car – there isn't – you wouldn't need it. The hike is picturesque, offering stunning views without too much difficulty. You'll enjoy long views of the Great Wall running along ridgelines. As you reach high points, the wall unfolds before you, providing the perfect backdrop for your photos. Surprisingly, Gubeikou is seldom visited. There's a great chance that it will be just you and your guide, with the wall all to yourself. On this visit, we'll focus on the middle and top sections of Gubeikou's Panlongshan Great Wall, showing you the key highlights of this segment of China's Great Wall—24 Eyes Tower, Haowang Tower, and the General’s Tower. Later in the day, if you feel like taking a longer stroll, we'll offer the option to extend the hike to Gubeikou's North Gate—a large, restored arch in a ring of the wall that once encircled the village.
Highlights
What's included
Pickup Locations & Times
Our guide will meet you in the lobby of your hotel. If your pickup location isn’t listed, please pick one in the general area and we’ll contact you for details.
Traveller Ratings
Important Information
- Not recommended for travelers with spinal injuries
- Not recommended for pregnant travelers
- Not recommended for travelers with poor cardiovascular health
- Travelers should have at least a moderate level of physical fitness
- The remaining total duration is for travel time
- A moderate level of fitness is required.
Reviews(8)
We had a fantastic day with Xiran! She and the driver picked us up at out hotel in Beijing and we drove 2+ hours to the Gubeiko section of the Wall. I chose this company because I wanted good historical and cultural commentary during the hike. Xiran has great English and is very enthusiastic about explaining the history and how the wall was built. I am not very fit but I managed the hike. My 12 and 14 year old boys loved it. we were taken to an awesome resturaunt for a late lunch around 230 pm - fantastic food and cool old communist posters and art, we were so full we could not eat dinner. Xiran dropped us at out accommodation in Gubeiko. I appreciated that you can personalize this trip and make it flexible. we were amazed at the scenery and how few people we saw, in three hours we only encoured a goat Shepard watching his flock graze from the wall, 2 German pilots, an older Chinese hiking couple, and one Chinese dude doing live streaming! The Winter skies are clear and blue - you can see for miles! Advice; wear sunscreen and sunglasses! winter is a great time for this walk!!
Hi Beachesmum14! Very happy to customise the plan for you, and great to hear the hike was a good fit for you and the boys. Cool to see the shepherd at work! Thanks for the review and photos! Best regards, Hayden
Must do if want to see the untouched parts of the wall. Christmas hike was great- everything was perfect. The guides, the route, communication. Christmas lunch was super delicious. I wish I could do more trips with Beijing hikers. What a wonderful experience. One of the best days while in China.
Hi Lina P - thanks for joining the Christmas hike! Good tip on the fitness and climbing up and down: the Great Wall is built on the ridgelines of the mountains, and a hike will always involve ups and downs on the way up and along. Thanks for the photos! Best regards, Hayden
Xiran was a lovely guide and the experience was truly breathtaking. We enjoyed every minute of it. We highly recommend it!
Hi Lynda! Thanks so much for booking the hike, and I'll pass on your compliments to Xiran. Best regards, Hayden
We did private hike from Gubeikou to Jinshanling. XiRan was excellent guide with lot of knowledge of history. Five of us at the hike, youngest 13 year old. Highly recommend the Beijing Hikers. They picked us from hotel and everything worked as promised.
Thank you for the review, and thanks for booking a private hike! It's the perfect time of the year for a hike in Beijing, and Xiran always provides plenty of historical and wall info. Hope the rest of your trip went great! At your service, Hayden
Two families with tweens. We had an awesome trip camping in the wall and trekking on the Great Wall. Huang Wei our guide was fabulous, knowledgeable, kind and organised everything. Would highly recommend for a less touristy and great experience. Hayden was also great doing all the admin at the start of the trip.
Hi Katie! Thanks for coming back to write a review, and very happy to hear you enjoyed the camping and trekking. Will pass on your thanks to Huang Wei! Hayden
An extraordinary experience from booking to the meeting point to start to finish. If u r lookjng for an authentic and extremely invigorating experience look no further. Note not for the feint hearted. We left our hotel 7am and got back 7.45pm. Wqlk finished 1.5 hrs later than advised. But Hayden and amazing team on the ground made this an experience never to forget. Ps the finish drinks and snacks so appreciated!
Hi hotroc, This hike's definitely a big one. Glad you made it through to the beers and snacks at the end! For an also-invigorating but not quite as challenging Great Wall adventure, check out our Level 3 and Level 3+ wall hikes—shorter hikes, similarly great scenery. Thanks for the photos, some really nice shots! Best regards, Hayden
A good and complete day! Taken care of in the morning, we let ourselves be guided for a good hike on the Great Wall of China! The tour is planned on an isolated section of the wall so away from the crowds and noise. That day, it was raining a little, which gave us an incredible mysterious atmosphere in the silence of the fog! To finish the tour, our guide Soon took the small group to a traditional Chinese restaurant where we tasted all kinds of traditional dishes! In short, incredible day!
Hi quentin40200—thanks for the review! The translator tells me you had a great hike on mysterious and misty Great Wall, and enjoyed a delicious meal afterwards. Great to hear you enjoyed your hike! Hayden
I organized a private tour for me and 24 friends to hike the Great Wall. Beijing Hikers was amazing! First, organizing the tour was incredibly easy. I reached out via the website and they were great at helping me pick a private tour that would be best for my larger group. They are also incredibly responsive. Second, the tour was seamless. We were visiting China in July (not ideal for hiking since it is so hot), but they were great at providing us information to be prepared for our hike. The transportation to and from the hike was easy and very comfortable. They provided an adequate number of guides for our group. The guides were wonderful, spoke English (nobody in our group spoke Chinese) and we felt safe the entire time. The scenery and the hike were incredible. We didn't see a single other group when we were hiking the wall. Finally, the meal included after the hike was very very good. I would 100% book a tour with Beijing hikers again and plan on recommending this tour operator to any friends or family traveling to China. End to end the experience was easy, seamless and allowed us all to really experience getting to see a world wonder with no other tourists.
Hey aregan207! Thanks for asking us to help with trip planning, and happy to have you all back any time. We've been doing most of our private hikes for groups of 2-4 people, but it's no big deal for us to set up a trip a larger groups as well - plenty of experience with that. Appreciate you recommending us, thanks! Best regards, Hayden
