It has been brought to our attention that some tour
companies and travel books are claiming that the Simatai Great Wall is
still open for hiking. However, in order to avoid any disappointment or
wasted money and time, please be advised that THE SIMATAI GREAT
WALL HAS BEEN PERMANENTLY CLOSED TO HIKERS, AND ANY ORGANIZATIONS
CLAIMING OTHERWISE ARE DELIBERATELY MISLEADING YOU. We are
posting this because we want you to know the whole truth, that way you
can make an informed decision on your travel plans based on all of the
available information. Thank you for your continued patience and
understanding!
Simatai section of the Great Wall is closed for renovation
from June 17, 2010. This is a very short notice from Miyun Government and Simatai Authority regarding the repair and renovation.
Recently, from our internal source with the company who has been doing
construction in Simatai, we were told the
Simatai Section of the Great
Wall will reopen in October 2014. However, we found from our
inspection that Simatai will get closed from being accessible from
Jinshanling. Our hiking cannot be resumed. And, opening only 10
watch tower is meaningless for a hike and you will NOT experience what
Simatai should be experienced at all.
June 13, 2014 Update
Unfortunately, we are sad to report that the Simatai
Section of the Great Wall will not be fully accessible from Jinshanling,
from where many people have hiked. The re-development of Simatai as a "watertown"
means that no one will be able to hike from Jinshanling to Simatai, and
that visits to Jinsahnling and Simatai must be conducted separately. As
of now, we are unsure of when the new Simatai will open, but when it
does we will be leading tour and excursions there. And as always, you
can still hike with us at Jinshanling and from the Gubeikou Great Wall
to the Jinshanling Great Wall. We thank you for continued patience and
understanding in dealing with the Simatai closure!
March 25, 2014 Update
We have some unfortunate news in regards to the Simatai Great Wall.
It seems the developer in charge of renovating Simatai has instead
purchased the S Simatai property only to focus on building a
Suzhou-style watertown called "Gubei Watertown". While building this
watertown, the developer has neglected in doing much for Simatai,
and as of now, 10 watchtowers of the Simatai Great Wall are open to
the public. We asked the developer's spokesman about any future
Simatai openings, and the spokesman replied that they had no idea
about any future openings.
March 1, 2014 Update
According to the latest whispers, Simatai will continue
to be isolated from Jinshanling for the foreseeable future. The reason
is that developers working on Simatai wish to turn it into a convention
and commercial center with a “watertown”-style theme. To protect their
investment the developers of the Simatai project continue to block
access from Jinshanling, so that they will be the only ones able to
charge for admission.
Some small and improperly licensed agents may try to
sneak customers into Simatai from an unofficial "backdoor" at
Jinshanling and claim that you are allowed to hike through. This is both
incredibly risky and also illegal. If you are caught, you'll either be
fined or reported to the police. Second, most try to sneak into Simatai
at night. Once dark, this piece of Great Wall is incredibly dangerous to
hike, and if you are hurt or injured there will be no one to help or
assist you.
What this means for you is that you will be unable to
cross over into Simatai from Jinshanling. In the future, when Siamatai
is officially reopened (the opening date is still just a rumor at this
point), we should be able to open a special route to visit Simatai only.
However, we will still be running our modified
Jinshanling and Gubeikou
programs programs to make up for the loss of access to Siamatai, so
you’ll still get the same Great Wall bang for your buck. For more
updates on our Simatai programs please continue to check back at this
space. We thank you for your patience and understanding!
October 28, 2013 Update:
According to our inside sources, the Simatai portion of the Great Wall
is due to open on October
28.
Yes, it was opened today. However, it will get shut down in a couple of
days and reopen on May 1, 2014.
This means that once again we
will have to wait until May 2014 to offer our most famous and popular
Great Wall program, the Jinshanling-Simatai hike, as well as a whole
assortment of Simatai-related Great Wall treks. We have also heard that the entrance ticket to Simatai will
be 280RMB (about $45), while this price may seem high, we are still
working to confirm if this is indeed the truth. Please look back to this
space for more news and updates on the Simatai Great Wall reopening.
As you may well be aware, many government projects
in China are secretive and information is not readily available to the
public, leading us only to hypothesize based on the scraps and bits of
information we have received. The Simatai project has been done to meet
the interest of certain interest groups, and not to the greater public
at large. The Simatai project was undertaken not for the improvement of
visitors like yourself, but for a better atmosphere for conferences and
conventions (which is why a 5-star hotel has been recently built near
there). There has been no public announcement about the official
re-opening date as of yet, nor do we know what the entrance price for
the re-opened Simatai will be. However, once we learn of the official
re-opening date, we will be sure to let you all know, and we'll get
hiking and trekking tours to Simatai as soon as it is humanly possible.
We thank you for your understanding and cooperation!
We have to continuously put the
following programs on hold.
TOUR 1A: Jinshanling to Simatai.
One-day hiking tour.
TOUR 2A: Gubeikou to Jinshanling, and
Jinshanling to Simatai. Two-day
overnight hiking tour.
The Simatai Great Wall is often described with the following three words:
perilous, diverse, and peculiar. The Simatai Great Wall is also known as
the "Wild Great Wall", meaning a section that has not been restored.
Much of the section is in a state of ruin with exposed bricks and
incomplete structures and the walls that go along precipitous jagged
ridges have mostly fallen down.
Recently, many news outlets have reported that much of the
Simatai Great
Wall has been closed due to renovation and maintenance repair. While
this is an inconvenience for all visitors, we understand that the work
is done to improve the safety standards of the section, with the
improvement also keeping in mind the Great Wall’s environmental impact
on its surroundings. Great Wall Adventure Club fully supports the cause
of these two vital issues, and the work to make improvements to
Simatai.
While the Simatai Great Wall tour may be momentarily closed, fret not,
for Great Wall Adventure Club is still continuing our Jinshanling Great
Wall hike and tour, which is a great opportunity to see majestic
watchtowers and real “Wild Wall”. The Jinshanling hike will start from
the same location as the previous Jinshanling-Simatai Great Wall hike,
but in the middle of your hike you will be diverted to another point on
the Great Wall, thereby passing the maintenance and improvement work on
Simatai.
In addition to our revamped Jinshanling Great Wall hike, we also offer
outings to other wild sections of the Great Wall, which will make up for
the momentary closure of the Simatai Great Wall hike. Our newest Great
Wall hiking program is from the Jiankou-Mutianyu, which like our Simatai
hike, is easily within driving distance from Beijing. This private tour
comes with your own driver and guide, who will accompany you during your
hike, ensuring your safety and comfort. The Jiankou-Mutianyu Great Wall
hike is a great way to see dramatic Great Wall ruins and peaks while
also experiencing classically restored brick and watchtowers. Starting
from Jiankou, you’ll trek over ruined paths and bricks, with passing
unrestored watchtowers along the way. About halfway, you’ll come to
Mutianyu, which, in many ways, is similar to Jinshanling in that it is
tastefully restored but not touristy at all. Here is some more
information about the Great Wall at both Jiankou and Mutianyu:
Jiankou
Jiankou translate from Chinese to English is 'arrow nock'. Jiankou Great
Wall is named after its peculiar shape, which likes a bended bow with
intangible arrow ready to be released to the target. Jiankou Great Wall
is going to be the focus of hiking and photography enthusiast. Unlike
the Mutianyu Great Wall in its east and Huanghuacheng Great Wall in its
west, Jiankou Great Wall with more twists and turns wriggles up to the
high mountain ridge retains in the natural state without any restoration
and reveals the beauties of imperfection, wildness and primitive
simplicity. Thus it is regarded as the most precipitous and picturesque
section of the Great Wall built in Ming Dynasty (1368 - 1644).
Mutianyu
The Mutianyu Great Wall winds 1.4 miles through lofty mountains and high
ridges, many sections of which are made of granite. The unique structure
makes the wall almost indestructible. There are 22 watch towers
distributed at close intervals along the wall. They are located not only
in the main wall but also at the distinctive 'branch cities'. Branch
cities are built on the hill ridge against the inner or outer side of
the wall. They measure from several yards to dozens of yards across. On
the northwest over 3,281-feet hills, lies a section of the wall called
'Ox Horn Edge'. On the steep and lofty peaks, there are two walls named
'Flying Eagle Flies Facing Upward' and 'Arrow Lock'.
Along with Jiankou, we also offer programs to other “Wild Wall” sections
like Huanghuacheng, Xishuiyu, Lianhuachi, and much more. For a Great
Wall thrill of a lifetime contact our travel specialists today!
Tour to Simatai and Hike in Simatai
You can join our private tour to Simatai or a bus tour to Simatai, and
even better, a hiking from
Jinshanling to
Simatai.
Join
Us Today!
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