In June last year I went to Beijing, China and I spent some magic moments at The Great Wall. It was truly a dream come true for me! There are several ways to get there and we did a lot of investigating beforehand and I wanted to share with you some tips if you plan to go there.
HOW TO GET THERE
There are several different ways to get to The Great Wall and also different places there to go to. We chose the closest part to Beijing which is called Badaling, you can go here either by train, taxi or bus. We decided to go there with public transport using the train. The train takes approximately an hour and costs only a few dollars (so cheap!). Besides you also avoid all the risks of being scammed which is frequent with the taxi drivers.
S2 TRAIN GUIDE
If you decide to go with by train, the ones that go to Badaling is called S2 Trains. Here is a step to step guide for you that will be very useful:
- Check the schedule of the S2 trains and the opening/closing of the Badaling Great Wall
- Take the subway to Huoying Station (subway line 8 and 13 stops here)
- From there follow the signs in the tunnel to Huangtadian Railway Station (About 10-15 min walk from the metro)
- Buy tickets and wait on the train to arrive, once on the train you can take any free seat, they are not numbered
- The ride takes a little more than 1 hour to go to Badaling station
- Once arrived you go out from the station and take left to walk to the entrance of The Great Wall (follow the signs) the walk is about 15-20 min (there should also be a shuttle bus but we did not see it)
- Pay your ticket to enter The Great Wall and enjoy!
- Check before which train you plan to go back with (it is usually about 2 hours between each train)
TIPS
- If asking for directions always make sure to use the wording Badaling (many people in China who have a bit poor english will not understand what you mean with “The Great Wall”)
- As you will discover most public bathrooms in China consists of basically a hole in the floor, so if you need to go to the bathroom while at the train be prepared.
- Make sure to not miss the last train back to Beijing which leaves around 19:00/21:00 depending on the season!
