Great Wall Adventure Club: Hiking from Jinshanling to Simatai

About Us

Photo: Members from Japan, Canada and Spain had a great time in Simatai. Since 2000, over 1,000 international backpackers have hiked the Great Wall by joining the famous Adventure Club for breath-taking Great Wall one-day tour.
Click to watch a great video about Simatai Great Wall

Great Wall Adventure
Hall of Fame

See pictures of our Hall of Famers, and listen to their testimonials.

"Appealing for its exploration potential, diverse architecture, and steepness, Simatai and Jinshanling contrast sharply with Badaling and Mutianyu in their less-crowded and crumbling condition."

– The National Geographic, USA

"It's worth it to see the Wall all natural, in contrast to the
heavily-touristed Badaling and Mutianyu sections, which are so well restored they could have been built yesterday."

– The Time Magazine

VEHICLE

Mini Vans to pick you up from your hotel and bring you back!

See all hiking programs from here!

Smart tour with smart agent.^TM

The Great Wall Adventure Club (GWAC)

WHO WE ARE

The Great Wall Adventure Club (GWAC) was established in Beijing and Xi'an in 1992. In the past 15 years, we have helped over 7,500 members from 55 countries to enjoy their tours to China including our highly-branded Great Wall hiking tour and adventure tours to remote areas of China such as Tibet, Yangtze River and Yunan. Since the Club was acquired in 2001 by North America Commerce International Co. (NACI Group), a multi-national communication service and marketing company based in San Jose, California and Dallas, Texas, our Club quickly expands to become a full-service travel agent, offering full packages of China tour service including hotel accommodation, domestic transport and sightseeing across China.

In Beijing, GWAC also manages The Beijing Smart Bridge Country Club and Conference Center, a huge entertainment complex of 4-star hotel rooms and suites, outdoor sports and entertainment facilities including tennis court, basketball court, bowling hall, billiards room, KTV suites, swimming pool, sauna and spas, ping-pong and game rooms, counter-strike field, fishing, rock-climbing, a small zoo of dogs, etc. Restaurants at the Country Club serve all organic vegetables, eggs and chicken meat. Today, GWAC is proud of helping thousands of visitors to Beijing during the 2008 Olympics.

Entering 2008, Great Wall Adventure Club opened her joint office with one of oldest China travel and tour agent in New York City - AG International Travel and Tours. AG will represent Great Wall Adventure Club to serve their existing clients and new clients who look for high-quality China tour packages. From March 1, 2008, AG also starts marketing 2008 Olympics tour programs developed by Great Wall Adventure Club. In January 2008, Great Wall Adventure Club also has become the official partner of GreenTree Inns Chain Hotels in China which are owned and managed by a California-based hotel management company.

Welcome to the Great Wall of China! When you visit Beijing, you GOT TO tour the Great Wall. "You are not a man of courage if you do not climb the Great Wall!" as a Chinese popular saying tells the world. It must be a huge regret if you miss the amazing experience of hiking the Wall in your life.

However, while the tourist masses tend to head for Badaling to grope the Great Wall, there are more challenging stretches of this historical and architectural marvel within an easy day-trip from Beijing proper. One of the least developed (for now) is Simatai (pictures), and it's not for the faint-hearted. The 19 km (12 mi) section is very steep, with a few slopes built at a 70-degree incline but it's worth it to see the Wall all natural, in contrast to the heavily-visited Badaling and Mutianyu sections, which are so well restored they could have been built yesterday - Gubeikou and Jinshanling (pictures) are another two sections which are also very original. WE TAKE YOU THERE!

The Great Wall Adventure Club is committed to environmental sustainability and history education.

Back to the old days of China
See how our teams enjoy their hiking (photos from our Hall of Fame) , listen to their testimonials and reserve your tour today!

HIKING PROGRAMS HIGHLIGHTS

Program 1: 1-day Jinshanling-Simatai tour summary

Hikers with Great Wall Adventure Club will be walking from Jinshanling to Simatai for about three to four hours at your own pace. We normally leave at 8:00 in the morning and we'll return to Beijing at 5:30 in the evening. Therefore, it is about a whole-day excursion to the spectacular unrestored sections of 500-year-old mountain-top Wall: quieter and further from Beijing but wild and challenging.

See where Jinshanling and Simatai are located and why they are

Program 2: 2-day Jinshanling-Simatai tour and camping summary

People who wish to hike longer over the Wall and stay overnight in a camp can participate our 2-day hiking plan that starts from Gubeikou to Simatai through Jinshanling. The 2-day plan is available during the summer. See details of this new thrilling 2-day-long adventure program.

See where Jinshanling and Simatai are located.

Program 3: 7-day Jinshanling-Simatai tour summary

Recently, we have added a 7-day Great Wall camping tour. In this tour, we will start from the Old Dragon Head in Hebei province, the eastern starting point of the Ten-thousand-li Great Wall, to Huangyaguan Pass in Tianjin, and trek on to Simatai, Jinshanling and Gubeikou in Beijing. The sections of the Wall you will visit are typical in architecture, scenery, wildness, and military importance.

See where Jinshanling and Simatai are located.

Program 4: Alternative tours to Juyongguan, Mutianyu or Badaling summary

This tour is designed for those who wish to tour the most popular Juyongguan, Mutianyu or Badaling sections of the Great Wall. These sections are closer to downtown Beijing, so the tour usually can be combined with another tourist attraction. Elderly-aged people are encouraged to take alternative tour to Juyongguan Section of the Great Wall. It's less challenging to walk on Juyongguan.

FYI: Transportation to Simatai and Jinshanling

How to get to the Wall? No direct transportation can take you to Jinshanling and Simatai, unless you wish to pay expensive taxi charges. There are tour buses to the Badaling section, but that is not the place you should go to for thrills. The Great Wall Adventure Club (GWAC) offers group transportation to send members to the Wall and bring them back. Members take convenient shuttle mini-bus or medium-bus from where they stay. So there is no early morning scrambling trying to catch a bus across town. The cost is minimal and you save lots of time and hassles!

We pick you up at your residence in Beijing. The bus will first take you to and drop you off in Jinshanling, and in late afternoon, it will pick you up in Simatai and bring you back to Beijing.

Tourists living in any hotel or hostel in Beijing can participate the hiking. No matter you are staying in economy hotels or 5-star Marriott, you'll find your fellow hikers from all over the world. What a fun! What a joy! You just need to show up in our departure stations on time.