Mutianyu Great Wall and BrickyardThe Great Wall of China is high on the list of bucket-list attractions and deservedly so. We would advise avoiding the popular tourist section of Badaling and instead travel slightly further to Mutianyu, around a 90 minute drive from Beijing (we stayed at the Grand Hyatt). We arranged transport by email through the Brickyard, a boutique hotel with spa (more of this later) at a very reasonable price for an chauffeur driven Audi A6.
After an interesting drive, we arrived at the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall, bought our passes and started the freezing walk past the hawkers offering hats, scarves and trinkets (we visited in mid December when temperatures were close to -20 C). The steep cable-car ride to the wall was slightly nerve wracking for those of us afraid from heights, but the views across the crisp blue sky were awesome. Briskly walking along the wall, marvelling at its construction (and trying not to slip on the ice) was unforgettable. On arrival at the second cable-car station, we were surprised to be told that our ticket was only valid on the first cable car (they are run by different companies it turns out) - so make sure you leave enough time. We had to jog back to the original station, from where we were able to take a toboggan ride down to the base station - great fun but the ride is guarded by police at regular intervals to stop you travelling too fast. |
The reason for our hurry was that we had massages booked at the Brickyard in their Gold Suite. Whilst this wasn't the typical Western massage experience, we would highly recommend taking the extra time and soothing your muscles after hiking on the wall. A smiley male massage therapist treated us each to a 60 minute Chinese massage (very different from Swedish but not unpleasant) - whilst one of us was having the treatment, the other was able to use the hot sauna with a view of the wall. In summer, an outdoor terrace and shower is available, but it was too cold in December. After our massages, we enjoyed soaking in the outdoor hot-tub, looking out over the snowy fields to the wall beyond - the perfect finish to a memorable day out. |