Huairou District

My favourite place to watch the sunset in Beijing in from the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall of China, which, contrary to popular belief, is virtually empty in the late afternoon as the tour buses make their way back to the capital.

Who here has also hiked the Great Wall in the blazing summer heat? 🙋🏻‍♀️ We decided to go on a spontaneous adventure and found ourselves gliding up to the wall in a frightening chairlift, leaping up the stairs of the Mutianyu section, marvelling at the lush greenery surrounding us, taking shelter in the watch towers to inhale our water supply before tobogganing back down again 1.5 hours later 🌠 ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ 📍The Great Wall of China, Beijing⠀ #beijingtrip #urbanexplorer

Rather than hiking and being touristy, 长城 (Great Wall) can also be fun. And the Mutianyu section gave exactly that to us. So this time we decided to take on a jolly ride than stretching too much. To go up the Great Wall we took the rope car, and what's fun in it is; not a closed one. Also when we are about to board the rope car, it doesn't stop and take the passengers; it keeps moving on. You have to jump into it and soon after that, it takes flight to the top of Great Wall haha. On the top, we went to the sightseeing lens that let you see for 10¥/min. Later on our way down, we took the Toboggan ride which is the super fun part of it. Yes, all you have is a lever that let you control the brake; otherwise it's a gravitational slide 😂 Also in Mutianyu you have the helicopter ride, which is a bit expensive (obviously); but worth it for once in a lifetime flying over the Great Wall. The day 2 we embarked on a spiritual journey, that led us to the Lama temple and the Confucius temple. It felt so divine in the morning and as it is early spring; the birds and freshly grown leaves in the trees gave a different level of experience. As always in Beijing, the last day of the trip is food exploration (including Peking duck) and we did some shopping in the Wangfujing street. In the evening we went to a Russian ballet show, and as always magical. #qingmingtravel #urbanexplorer #greatwall #urbanexplorer#qingmingtravel#lightthecity

Lakeside Great Wall

Being one of the seven wonders of the world, the Great Wall of China (长城) is the second most visited wonders, after the Effiel Tower in Paris. If at all you are looking for a short vacation and you're new to China, then I would suggest this is the place to start with. As the Great Wall is quite long, there are different sections of it that people love it. But especially, during any holidays even be it a weekend, the most famous ones like Badaling and Mutianyu are too much crowded as it is a must visit for the local tourists coming from different provinces. So it's always better to take an offbeat destination, where the beauty of it is serene and calm. In fact, I felt the whole section of that Great Wall is mine haha. So here's an isolated section named as Huang hua cheng(黄花城), you have to drive a little bit away from Beijing. Just putting up in Baidu would help, but we hired a car to go and come back on that day; as we also planned to go for an early hike to see the sunrise over the Great Wall which is once in a lifetime experience. If there's anything that you can squeeze in a 3 day trip, taking this offbeat path is a totally worthy one. P.S. As it is not maintained as tourist places, have your own sanitary and snacks/water stuffs. Have a great vacation guys !! #qingmingtravel #beijingtravel #greatwall #urbanexplorer#qingmingtravel#lightthecity