China Great Wall Entrance Recommendation
Jan 22nd, 2014, 10:32 AM
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China Great Wall Entrance Recommendation
It has been discussed with our tour operator where we should enter the Great Wall Juyong Pass or Badlaing section. Here is what she said: Badaling section. The Badaling section is a better part of the Great Wall. It would be more crowded than the Juyong pass but it is more popular than the Juyong pass. Does anyone have any recommendations on which they like better or pitfalls to either?
Jan 22nd, 2014, 11:30 AM
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Both sections are modern rebuilds.
Juyong Guan is a little closer to Beijing (in fact the closest officially open section) and the most recent major rebuild. It is much less popular than Badaling, and a few times I've been there has been nearly deserted. There are far fewer souvenir vendors and much less commercialism (although the site is really one giant commercial enterprise, of course). If you want Starbucks and KFC, go to Ba Da Ling.
Ba Da Ling was long the only officially open spot, and has been visited by more presidents and crowned heads than you can shake an ornamental sceptre at. It is fashionable to decry it, particularly amongst those who have never been there, went somewhere else instead, and want to assure themselves they made a better choice. It is often very busy indeed, being well served by direct buses and several trains, as well as a larger number of one-day tour routes than Juyong Guan.
Whichever direction you opt to head in once on the wall at Ba Da Ling, a good stiff climb and half an hour's effort or so will get you to more atmospheric unreconstructed sections, with few others having made the effort. The scenery, over which in vast panorama the Wall can be seen leaping and bounding, is as impressive as it ever was.
Juyong Guan, in addition to few visitors, has the highly unusual Yún Tái (云台, Cloud Platform) built in 1342, the stone base of three now-vanished stupas from the end of the Yuán dynasty, replaced in the early Míng with a Buddhist temple, now also vanished. The two longer sides and a passage through the centre are all very beautifully carved with Buddha figures, elephants, dragons, snakes, the four heavenly kings and inscriptions in Mongolian, Uighur, Tibetan, Sanskrit, Xī Xià and Chinese. But you've probably come to see the Wall, which in this section's case was originally built around 1368, at the very beginning of the Ming (not over 2000 years ago as your guide will tell you) and constantly improved until 1582, being a key point of defence against the Mongols. But by the end of the 19th cent. all but the Yún Tái had largely vanished. 4km were restored/rebuilt 1993–7, including 28 towers and 30 other temples, governmental, and military structures. The location in a narrow pass is also impressive, with the Wall sweeping down the mountain from either side.
Ba Da Ling can also offer you a Great Wall Museum with a 'Circle Vision' cinema showing 360-degree views from above, and a museum to Zhan Tianyou, who built the railway line beneath the Wall here.
Either way, you're almost certain to pay too much for the trip, and be taken to factory 'demonstrations' with shopping 'opportunities' either way, with less time on the Wall than you thought. Unless, of course, you intervene and block these. If they're unavoidable you certainly shouldn't do any shopping.
Juyong Guan is a little closer to Beijing (in fact the closest officially open section) and the most recent major rebuild. It is much less popular than Badaling, and a few times I've been there has been nearly deserted. There are far fewer souvenir vendors and much less commercialism (although the site is really one giant commercial enterprise, of course). If you want Starbucks and KFC, go to Ba Da Ling.
Ba Da Ling was long the only officially open spot, and has been visited by more presidents and crowned heads than you can shake an ornamental sceptre at. It is fashionable to decry it, particularly amongst those who have never been there, went somewhere else instead, and want to assure themselves they made a better choice. It is often very busy indeed, being well served by direct buses and several trains, as well as a larger number of one-day tour routes than Juyong Guan.
Whichever direction you opt to head in once on the wall at Ba Da Ling, a good stiff climb and half an hour's effort or so will get you to more atmospheric unreconstructed sections, with few others having made the effort. The scenery, over which in vast panorama the Wall can be seen leaping and bounding, is as impressive as it ever was.
Juyong Guan, in addition to few visitors, has the highly unusual Yún Tái (云台, Cloud Platform) built in 1342, the stone base of three now-vanished stupas from the end of the Yuán dynasty, replaced in the early Míng with a Buddhist temple, now also vanished. The two longer sides and a passage through the centre are all very beautifully carved with Buddha figures, elephants, dragons, snakes, the four heavenly kings and inscriptions in Mongolian, Uighur, Tibetan, Sanskrit, Xī Xià and Chinese. But you've probably come to see the Wall, which in this section's case was originally built around 1368, at the very beginning of the Ming (not over 2000 years ago as your guide will tell you) and constantly improved until 1582, being a key point of defence against the Mongols. But by the end of the 19th cent. all but the Yún Tái had largely vanished. 4km were restored/rebuilt 1993–7, including 28 towers and 30 other temples, governmental, and military structures. The location in a narrow pass is also impressive, with the Wall sweeping down the mountain from either side.
Ba Da Ling can also offer you a Great Wall Museum with a 'Circle Vision' cinema showing 360-degree views from above, and a museum to Zhan Tianyou, who built the railway line beneath the Wall here.
Either way, you're almost certain to pay too much for the trip, and be taken to factory 'demonstrations' with shopping 'opportunities' either way, with less time on the Wall than you thought. Unless, of course, you intervene and block these. If they're unavoidable you certainly shouldn't do any shopping.
Jan 22nd, 2014, 12:06 PM
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LOL! Thank you for that well informed advice of which I will now take and make sure that the guide proceeds! My 15 year old daughter has a rare disorder and long and "stiff" walks can really be difficult for her. While we don't want to miss anything would you say one way has less difficulty in climbing and walking and thus you recommend? I guess American style tennis shoes (I detest looking like one 
maybe on the docket for that day! 
maybe on the docket for that day!
Jan 22nd, 2014, 12:50 PM
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Can you try for the Mutianyu section of the Wall? It has a cable car that goes up and back. Depending on your daughter's mobility it also has an alpine slide option to get down. You still have walking when you get to the top but it might ease it a bit for her.
Jan 22nd, 2014, 12:53 PM
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The only parts of the Great Wall north of Beijing that are flat are a few ridge-top sections. Whenever you mount it's a steep climb in every direction. Ba Da Ling has a chairlift, but you may not get terribly far from where you dismount.
There are other sites to visit, by the way, but none so convenient from the guides' point of view for those shopping stops.
There are other sites to visit, by the way, but none so convenient from the guides' point of view for those shopping stops.
Jan 22nd, 2014, 01:09 PM
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Alpine slide! Now you are talkin! What fun. We did that on the romantic road in Germany. I will ask about that. She has low muscle tone so she just gets tired easily. We can push her but we try not to. This trip is a long one and we will have some down time the day before. She may have to grin and bear it.
