On your next Beijing Tours the or on even as part of your China Tours the Great Wall is a trip that will leave your breathless and awestruck. Having just visited the site of one of the Modern Wonders of the World, its immensity leaves you with no doubt that it should be so called. The Great Wall of China 
was listed as a World Heritage by UNESCO in 1987. Just like a chinese dragon, the Great Wall winds up and down across the landscape, traversing deserts, grasslands, mountains and plateaus, stretching approximately 5,500 miles from east to west of China. With a history of more than 2000 years, some of the sections are now in ruins or have disappeared. However, it is still one of the most appealing attractions all around the world owing to its architectural grandeur and historical significance and around 1.5 million people flock here every year to marvel in its splendour.
The Great Wall has three main sections that you can visit from Beijing, the Badaling, Mutianyu and Jinshanling and Simatai sections.
Badaling
The most popular section of the Great Wall that gets visited year after year is 50 miles northwest of Beijing. This area has seen a large increase in development, including hotels, restaurants and a cable car; this is most likely why it is the most visited section of the wall. This part of the wall has undergone the heaviest restoration and has only been open to tourists for the last 53 years, the first section of the wall to do so. The easiest way to get here is either to hire a taxi for the day, which if you have some good 
bargaining skills can cost 400RMB whilst on the meter it would be around 800RMB. Or if your personal bargaining skills are not so good I would recommend the Badaling Expressway which connects Badaling with central Beijing.
Mutianyu
The second section of the wall is not as popular as the Badaling section but it is the best quality and has the largest construction scale of any section of the wall. Like the Badaling section, Mutianyu has a cable car for those who are not able to walk the Great Wall section, which takes about 2hrs depending on your fitness. However, unlike the Badaling, Jinshanling and Simatai sections, Mutianyu contains a metal toboggan ride that you can ride down from the wall.
Jinshanling and Simatai
Even though this is not the most visited section of the Great Wall, the Jinshanling and Simatai is the most authentic of the available sections near Beijing. However, this is a day hike from one section of the wall to the other, so if your unfit I wouldn’t recommend this. It boasts the most breathtaking scenery of the three sections and is more isolated. So if you do not like crowds this part of the wall is for you.
So when you are on your Beijing Tours, take the day to visit this amazing piece of architecture and culture that has survived the test of time.
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