cloudeleven

Is it true that you can go to the Mutianyu Great Wall by taking Tourist Bus #6 from Xuanwumen in Beijing? If so, is this a feasible mode of transportation to Mutianyu and back to Beijing? I haven't come across anyone yet who has gone to the Wall this way. We're planning on going to the wall on a Sunday morning.

If not, can you take buses 916 or 936 to get there?

PeterN_H

I've taken it. Here are the current details:

http://www.bjlyjszx.com/info/lyjsinfoshow_262.html

And if your Chinese is not up to it, I can tell you that it says that it runs this year from April 7 to October 15 on rest days and public holidays. Tickets are on sale from 6.30am to 7.50am, and buses leave between 6.30am and 8am. They leave from Tian'an Men Square (this is the southwest corner), and from Xuanwu Men (this is the northeast exit of the subway station, outside the church). Xuanwu Men is a bit less of a bun fight.

The price of ¥110 includes entrance to both the wall and to the Red Conch Temple, which you also visit on this day trip.

The 916 and 936 will take you to Huairou where you'll find a lot of rapacious minibuses very keen to take you for a ride in two senses. The 936 will even get you to the Red Conch Temple. But I don't believe either bus will get you to Mutianyu itself.

Peter N-H

cloudeleven

Thanks for that info, Peter. I have a few questions:

-Where do you buy tourist bus tickets? At the bus stop?
-Is there an actual bus stop in Tiananmen that the tourist bus departs from? Is it easy to spot?
-How long does the tourist bus usually stay at the Wall before heading back to Beijing?
-If we missed the bus back to Beijing, would it still be pretty easy to get transportation from the wall back to Beijing (taxi/bus)?

The only Chinese words we know so far are "hello" and "thanks," although we will take our trusty phrase book .

PeterN_H

> Where do you buy tourist bus tickets? At the bus stop?

These are bus stations, rather than bus stops. The ticket is bought from an office or booth before getting on the bus. At Xuanwu Men English-speaking staff will approach you in the queue to check where you want to go.

> -Is there an actual bus stop in Tiananmen that the tourist bus departs from? Is it easy to spot?

It's a building marked 'Beijing Hub of Tour Despatch' with ticket windows inside and a lot buses parked next to it.

> How long does the tourist bus usually stay at the Wall before heading back to Beijing?

About three hours, if I remember correctly. Perhaps longer. Long enough for this particular section, I felt at the time.

> If we missed the bus back to Beijing, would it still be pretty easy to get transportation from the wall back to Beijing (taxi/bus)?

Anything can be achieved by those with determination and a bit of money in their pockets. The current situation in terms of transport I don't know, but the minibuses that bring people from Huairou are usually hanging about waiting to take people back. Not showing up for the return bus might cause some alarm, so you would be wise to tell the conductress, and to look at the alternative transport situation before climbing up to the Wall itself. Taxis not already chartered are probably few, and you would certainly need to be back in the car park by mid-afternoon.

Peter N-H

PeterN_H

Supplementary note: Departures are not guaranteed, and depend on there being at least 15 people wanting to go to your chosen destination. For somewhere relatively popular such as Mutianyu that's not often a problem. But other Great Wall sites can be reached in the same manner (not only Badaling and Juyong Guan, but Simatai and Huanghua Cheng, as well as many other scenic spots (albeit of mixed quality), so if your bus doesn't happen to run you can take another. The trip to the Eastern Qing Tombs is certainly worthwhile. The more interesting routes mostly leave from Xuanwu Men, not Tian'an Men.

Peter N-H

cloudeleven

Thanks again for the great info. I noticed that the copyright on that webpage is 2005. Do you think the info is still fairly accurate?

Also, I assume the "rest days" are every Saturday and Sunday?

PeterN_H

Nothing whatsoever is guaranteed in China, and absolutely anything can change from one day to the next with no warning or publicity, and particularly during the current hoo-hah in the run-up to the Olympics.

However this bus was running in October last year. It cannot be guaranteed that it is running this year, but there would seem to be no particular reason for change. But then there doesn't need to be any particular reason in China.

The buses run on Saturdays, Sundays, and public holidays, except the Saturday and Sunday of the weekend at the beginning of the October holiday, which are taken to be work days.

You can always have someone call the 24-hour information line:

8353 1111

Peter N-H

cloudeleven

One more question, I've heard there are two #916 buses, one that goes directly to the Mutianyu Wall and another that goes to Huairou. (I think maybe 916Z goes directly to the Wall). Can you verify if that's true?

I've tried to verify on the official Beijing Bus website, but it's a little lacking.

Thanks again for your wonderful help.

PeterN_H

I believe I've already answered this above.

There are in fact eight variants of the 916, but they all go to Huairou, including the 916zhi (支).

Peter N-H

cloudeleven

Peter, do you think it's worth the cost savings and effort to try to take the #6 tour bus to Mutianyu, or would we (2 of us) be better off hiring a taxi for the trip? If taxi, what would a reasonable rate be for the roundtrip and a 3 hour wait at the Wall? I think we'd really prefer a public transport option, but if taxi would be better, maybe we'd do that.

Also, are the seats on the #6 tourist bus comfortable for the long ride?

PeterN_H

Taxi drivers are generally more keen to go to Mutianyu than Badaling these days, because the highway tolls and parking charges are less. This can be arranged for as little as ¥250, but ¥350 is more commonly paid, and, of course, taxis (and some expats) will all try to persuade you that the 'right price' is ¥500 or more, which it isn't.

I can't speak for your ideas of comfort or reasonable cost, or the value of time spent bargaining versus doing other things. The buses are airconditioned, and about as comfortable as suburban buses in China come. The journey is not a long one. In China in general the seats tend to be a little smaller and there is not as much room between them, which isn't ideal if you are large. But China travel is full of such minor discomforts. I take these buses for hours at a time without thinking twice about it.

I think I've now exhausted all I have to say on this subject.

Peter N-H

cloudeleven

I'm posting this for those who are interested in the public tourist bus to Mutianyu (Peter, thanks for your help). I just returned from Beijing, and we took the #6 tourist bus to Mutianyu from the tourist bus station near the Xuan Wu Men metro stop (in front of the church). It was an all day trip, starting about 8:30 am and getting back into Beijing around 5:30 pm. It only cost 110 yuan per person, including admission to Mutianyu (cable car admission not included, 50 yuan extra), and admission to the required 90 minute stop at a temple on the way home. We had 3 hours at the wall, more than enough time for us. The buses were coach and air conditioned.

However, when we arrived at the bus stop that morning to catch our bus to the wall, it was very confusing and chaotic. We showed up at 7 AM, but had to wait until 8:30 am before our bus actually departed. You have to wait for at least 15 people to show up for your particular trip (there are several trip options: Mutianyu, Simatai, and several other tourist sites I can't remember). The process was totally disorganized though, as the women in charge kept loading us and unloading us from several buses. We probably switched buses 4 times. They would herd 20 people on a bus, only to tell them to get off and change to another bus 15 minutes later. Once your trip has 15 people, THEN you go to the counter and buy a ticket. There were lots of people standing around, seemingly as confused as were were. If we had not found a very friendly couple who were bilingual in Chinese and English, we would probably not have made any sense of the chaos and would have missed our bus. The women in charge of the buses speak some (broken) English, but that didn't help much given the chaotic process.

Once we got to the wall, there was another problem. Apparently they tell the admission gate people at the wall how many people are on the bus, then they pass the wall admission tickets out when you arrive at the wall. However, they gave our tickets to someone who hadn't paid (or something), so we were left without tickets. The bilingual couple again came to our rescue, speaking Chinese with the admission gate people for probably 10 minutes trying to sort it out for us, which they did somehow.

Overall, it was a good trip. If you don't feel like negotiating the trip with a taxi, or you are on a pretty tight budget, I'd recommend the tourist bus to Mutianyu.