One of the main reasons to visit China is to see the Great Wall. The Great Wall is a series of fortifications stretching for over 5000 kilometers. The easiest and most convenient starting point for exploring the Wall is Beijing. From there you can choose to explore many sections of the Wall – from easy to access and well renovated to off the beaten track wild sections of the wall. As my first trip to the Wall, I have chosen Badaling – the most popular section. Badaling is a half-a-day trip so I would strongly advise you to visit the nearby Ming tombs.

It is very easy to get to Badaling from Beijing, which is why it is the most popular part of the Great Wall to visit. You can book the ticket on Trip.com from a number of Beijing railway stations. I chose Beijing North. Even though it says North, it is not far away from the Forbidden City (to the West). I took the train at 7:05 and was in Badaling around 7:40. It is a super modern train with speeds up to 200 km/h.

When you get out of the Badaling train station, you will see hundreds of people and many buses going to the right. Of course, that is the wrong way. That is the way if you plan take the cable car to the Northern Section of the Wall with. You should go to the left and walk down to the main entrance. There is no need to pay for the cable car. Basically, cable car takes you to a tower which is very high so that means that, while exploring the Wall, you will mostly be going down. But I don’t think it is worth it. Use it only if you feel you are not in good shape. The big downside of cable car is that the area around the cable car entrance is super crowded.

You will enter the Wall complex through a large guard tower which will take you to the main square. (see photos) This is where they will check your tickets. You can also buy the tickets on the spot, but for Badaling, definitely buy them in advance on Trip.com.

Badaling section of the Great Wall can be divided into two parts – Southern and Northern section. Northern section is much more popular since this is the area where most people go with the cable car. So naturally, you should go to the South Side. At the last tower I was completely alone and had the Wall fully to myself! You cannot miss the Southern Section, just after you start climbing the Wall – turn left. You can orientate yourself by how many people there are on the wall: many (north) and few (south).

I also walked the Northern section to the tower where the cable car will take you as well. Both sections of the Wall are stunning, it is just that one is less crowded. When you get to the top of the tower with the cable car, you can continue by steeply going downhill (see photo), but I was not sure where this will take me so I have returned back (also going downhill) the same way that I came from. I still had the Ming tombs to visit and I did not want to loose too much time.

I am in pretty good shape so it took me around 2 hours to hike both sections of the Wall. Also, I am a very restless person so sitting at one spot and looking around soaking the atmosphere for hours is really not my thing. If you are that type of person, add an hour or two to your plan. 

On the way back, when you get to the main square at the entrance to the Wall, turn right to the Ming tombs bus. It is the opposite direction to where you came from the train station. It is well marked – follow signs for bus 879; but of course I first took the wrong turn towards the railway station because I assumed the bus station is right next to the train station (never assume things!). Go straight and you will end up at a section with many busses. These are all tourist buses so you need to turn right (going downhill) and at the end you will see a sign for bus stop 879. The sign is quite small but this is the part with a lot of taxis so I asked taxi drivers where the bus stop to the Ming tombs is. The bus ride was 40 minutes and around 2 yuan. If you are in a rush and are travelling with other people, just take the taxi. I did not ask how much a taxi would be but from my experience on other locations, 30-minute ride cannot be more than 10 euros (80 yuan).

The bus will drop you off very close to the entrance to the Ming tombs complex, maybe 5-10 minutes walk. You pay by how much you want to see. Ming tombs complex has tombs of 13 emperors and many of their wives and concubines. The Empresses were buried with the Emperor (the hierarchy of emperors’ women is a subject for a PhD thesis). Only two Ming Emperors were not buried here: Emperor Hongwu, the founder of the Dynasty, whose tomb is in Nanjing and his heir and grandson Emperor Jianwen, whose burial ground is unknown. Emperor Jianwen was overthrown by his uncle Emperor Yongle and his faith is still a mystery. Emperor Yongle claimed that he died during the siege of Nanjing, but there are legends that he escaped the wrath of his uncle and died as a Buddhist monk. Even though this is a massive complex, you can explore only four sights:

1. the Sacred Way – a path guarded by beautiful statues of animals, generals and ministers to the area where the tombs are. Statues are in pairs and represent six animals in sitting and standing form (lion, xieshi, camel, elephant, qilin and horse), two generals and two ministers.

2. Emperor Yongle tomb (Changling tomb) – this is the most important tomb of the complex. Yongle is widely considered as the greatest Ming Emperor. Other than killing his nephew and usurping the throne, he was responsible for the two greatest achievements of the dynasty – building the Forbidden City when he moved the capital from Nanjing to Beijing and sending admiral Zheng He to travel the seas. He will reach the coast of East Africa!

3. Emperor Wanli tomb (Dingling tomb) – even though Wanli was the longest serving Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, he is widely considered to be a weak ruler. He tried to do the right thing and support his vassal Joseon kingdom (modern Korea), which was under attack by Japan’s super ambitious ruler Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Though Chinese and Koreans were ultimately victorious, the war was a disaster for all sides. Ming China was bankrupt and after his death in 1620, Ming Dynasty will last for only 24 more years. His bad luck continued even after his death. The communist China had excavated his tomb and has done such a good job that they decided never to excavate an emperor’s tombs again. But the worst was to come. During the cultural revolution the red guards – Mao’s elite progressive mob – broke into the complex, trashed the items from the tomb and burned the bodies of Emperor Wanli and his two Empresses.

4. Emperor Longqing tomb (Zhaoling tomb) – the least important and least interesting of the tombs. But when you are in the complex, it is a shame not to see this tomb as well.

You should take a taxi between these 4 sights. I paid around 17 euros for the combo – the driver was also waiting for me while I was exploring. I am sure he overcharged me so I suggest you always take a different taxi. There are enough taxis waiting for tourist at all of these four locations. You will probably need to bargain because you are in the province so not many Didi (Chinese Uber) drivers are around.

The best order of seeing these sights is Sacred Way – Zhaoling – Dingling – Changling. When you are finished with the sightseeing, you can take the bus or subway to Beijing. At the entrance to the Changling tomb is also the bus stop to Beijing. Take bus 872 and in one hour you will be in Beijing. They dropped us off at a random place but it was close to the subway so I managed to find my way to my hostel very easily.

There is also a subway that connects Beijing and Ming tombs. Ming tombs subway station is around 4 km from the entrance to the Ming tomb complex. You need a taxi to get to the subway station. It is a quicker but more expensive solution.

I left Beijing at 7:05 am and was back in the city around 5 pm so even if you are a slower walker, I am sure you can do Ming tombs and Badaling Great Wall on your own. Alternatively, you can take a tour, but it will be way, way more expensive.