Hello

Which is the better site to view & access the Great Wall Of China - Badaling or Mutianyu ?

Mutianyu has been recommended as being less crowded however is access to & on the Wall the same as one of our party is of limited mobility ?


Many thanks

All I can tell you is my experience. I can't climb or walk or stand for long. I walk with a cane. We went to China & the Great Wall in 2004.

Everyone said go to Mutianyu, Badaling was too crowded. Well, we wanted to do everything we could, but had time constraints along with my limitations so our guide suggested going to Badaling very eary as it took much less time. We left the hotel a little bebore 7am and were there just as the ticket takers were opening the gates! The car drove me to the gate-none of the stalls on the way to the entrance were open yet-we walked up a bit of a ramp and maybe a step or two along the way and were out on the Wall. There were less than a dozen people spread out as far as you could see, that was it! We felt like we had the Wall to ourselves! I got tons of great pictures with no one in them. There was an incline either direction we could go. One direction went to a tower a good ways away and didn't look to hard to get to. We walked that way a bit, but it got too steep and uneven for me. So we went back to nearer the entance area and my husband took off up to a tower in the other direction with a steep climb, but much closer. He got some more great pictures in all directions. It was a cool morning with high thin clouds and a little sun. As I waited and took in the views, people began to set up their wares along the wall and the groups started arriving on the wall. It was maybe 9-9:30 by then. We rode the little cars back down to the parking lot ot meet the car and driver.

And yes, the crowds were pouring in by then. If you go to the Badaling section, get a driver and go very early, you will have a great experience. It was really beautiful (and empty) in the early morning light.

Badaling is insanely crowded by midday when I was there - but it sounds like cwn has given you a good plan. Keep in mind that all sections of the Great Wall are very steep and uneven in places, so Badaling may well be your best bet with limited accessibility since that person could still at least get up onto the wall.

I didn't visit the wall at Mutianyu. But at Simatai, there was no way onto the wall itself without a steep climb uphill (and that was after getting off the cable car).

The Great Wall at Mutianyu is much better than Badaling.Mutianyu is regarded as the most beautiful section,not crowded and not very steep,what's more,it's a little different with other sections,because we can go up by cable car and go down by toboggan,which is very interesting. Badaling is very crowded every day.

Violet, is the toboggan like the one I took at Badaling? (We were on a different side of the wall than where the cable car is...) It was like an amusement park ride, sitting low in a plastic seat with a safety bar that came down over my shoulders.

I took the toboggan at Mutianyu and it is as you describe but there is no safety bar. You sit very close to the ground. There is a stick-lever that you use to brake. I was quite scared when I began and therefore did not let up enough on the brake. As a result I did not generate enough speed to begin moving at a good clip and got stuck midway through. Several times. One of the workers nearby had to give me a push. Several times. Luckily there was no one behind me on the toboggan or they would have crashed into me! Scary but lots of fun.

The chair lift to the top was more scary to me..you sit on slatted seats and again, there is no safety bar that I remember...your feet dangle in the air. Scary...but fun in the end!

Note that there is also an enclosed cable car at Mutianyu which allows for easy access.

From which point does that enclosed cable car depart? I am surprised becaue I did not see one like you describe..

it is difference.the cable cars get together in Badaling.but it is one by one in Mutianyu Great Wall for going up.Tobbogan is slid car,you can contral the speed by yourself.

The cable car station is at the end of the long row of stalls selling stuff. You can see the cars here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozKV3...ed&search=

Ugh, I hated that toboggan at Badaling. And thanks to our endlessly unhelpful guide, we had no warning that that was what we were taking. He told us we were taking the cable cars!

At Badaling, the toboggan has no individual control. Maybe it's not a toboggan, but more like the cars of a roller coaster: one driver at the front with about 10 individual cars linked behind. That single hand brake sure looked paltry going down! I guess the one good thing is that I did manage to survive.

(BTW, all my friends thought it was great. Guess who's the old-lady-scaredy-pants in the group??)

We took a chairlift at Mutianyu, which is open. We didn't even know they had a cable car. Of course you can take the chairlift both ways and don't need to do the toboggan if it freaks you out. We were able to choose between the two while we were up on the wall. Some of us chose each one and they were so close together we were able to photograph each other on our way down. We were pleased with Mutianyu.