Great Wall of China - Simatai Section
Part Of The UNESCO World Heritage Site The Great Wall (1987); Beside Gubei Water Town · Beijing, Beijing
The wildest and most dramatic stretch of the Great Wall near Beijing, climbing a knife-edge ridge above a reservoir about 120 kilometres northeast of the city. Built in the Ming dynasty and strengthened in the 1570s under the general Qi Jiguang, Simatai keeps its original stonework rather than the heavy restoration of the closer sections, and its 35 watchtowers crowd together along a ridge so steep that in places the wall narrows to a single-file crest. The upper towers include the Fairy Tower and the Sky Bridge, a strip of wall barely wider than a person with sheer drops on both sides; the highest sections are closed for safety, but even the permitted stretch is a stiff, exhilarating climb. Simatai is also the only part of the Great Wall regularly open at night, when the towers are softly lit and visitors climb by timed ticket to look out over dark mountains - an experience that has become one of the most popular things to do near Beijing. At its foot lies Gubei Water Town, a large resort village of canals, courtyard inns, workshops, restaurants and hot springs, rebuilt in northern Chinese style, from which a cable car and shuttle buses carry visitors up toward the wall.
Simatai Great Wall, Gubeikou Town, Miyun District, Beijing, Beijing, China
Day wall about 9:00-17:00 by timed slot, clearing by 16:30; night climbs about 18:00-21:40 from May to October, and 17:30-20:10 (to 20:40 on Friday and Saturday) from November to April (check).
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