Gubei Watertown - day trip out of Beijing

#urbanexplorer #daytrip #greatwall #gubeiwatertown 

This water town by the foot of the Simatai section of the Great Wall is located in Miyun county. The town is surrounded by mountains, water and ancient style villages. This place has become more and more popular the recent years and we could feel that when walking around as there were a lot of people. The town is actually not that old but has been given characteristics as northern style architecture with history and culture of the late Qing dynasty. (1644-1911) the town is full of reconstructed buildings in courtyard style and hutong alleys. 

We were recommended to be there at sunset so we opted to leave Dongzhimen at noon time and returned with the buss at nine in the evening. There are plenty of options to stay over night and I would like to do that next time. 

Upon arrival you have to buy tickets to enter the gate and you will find signs for ticket office. In our entrance ticket we also got tickets for the Great Wall as well as the cable car to take you up. 

Food - As we were starving when we arrived we found a place to eat by the river. Chinese home cooking style at a small restaurant where the owner also ran a bed and breakfast. 

Local Liquor distillery - we had a quick look here, and it displays how they used to make their alcohol in the area.

Yongshun dye house - this is a good spot to take pictures with the different colors of the cloths hanging around. You can learn about cloth printing and dyeing here and even make your own prints into t shirts. 

The last thing we did was taking the cable up to see the Great Wall at sunset. They run the cable during the evenings from 5:30 to until 22:00. We got a beautiful view and now I have seen a new part of the wall. 

How to get there: 
We simply took the bus from Dongzhimen. It was 49Rmb per person and we spent two hours to go there and one hour and 40 min to go back. This tourist bus from Dongzhimen leaves at 9:00, 12:00 and 15:30 and takes you all the way. Look for the bus: 古北水镇 Gubei Watertown. We paid after entering the bus. *They prefer cash but I think you may be able to pay with WeChat as well