Badaling Great Wall Tour

Experience overview

Be picked up directly at Tianjin Xingang Port and set out for your day of adventure with your driver who will transfer you to downtown Beijing where you will meet your local, knowledgeable guide. In a small and exclusive group, make your way to Badaling Great Wall, a must for a tour in China. Badaling Great Wall in Beijing is the best-preserved and most complete section among the various, hence the most popular, even among world leaders. You should not miss this chance to visit this bucket-list-worthy, once-in-a-lifetime experience. This is the most popular section and the best-preserved and most complete section of the wall as well. Compared with other sections, most stairs are not very steep, and they are equipped with handrails, so it is a relatively easier climb. This section has been equipped with cable cars and pulleys to save energy, and it even has some facilities to make it easier for seniors and the disabled. Most of the preserved parts were built and reinforced during the Ming Dynasty (1368 - 1644 AD) to defend Beijing against the intrusion of northern Mongolians. The total length of this section is 7.5 miles with 43 watchtowers, however only 2.3 miles and 19 watchtowers have been restored and opened to visitors. In this section the wall averages about 26 feet tall, and 20 feet wide, which would allow five horses to gallop or ten soldiers to march abreast. It is built of huge bar-stones and bricks. The interior of the wall was stuffed with rammed earth and small stones to make it firm and solid. A number of holes have been drilled in the wall to shoot arrows and to watch enemies. The watchtowers were built to accommodate soldiers, send messages, observe the enemy, and store supplies. It also has shooting and observing holes. The wall has drawn tens of millions of tourists both from China and abroad. More than 370 foreign leaders and celebrities have visited it, including former US presidents Nixon, Reagan, Carter, and Gorge W. Bush, Queen Elizabeth II and former South Africa president Mandela. At the end of your tour you will be returned directly back to the port area and your ship.