Sīmǎtái Great Wall 司马台长城
Part of A Better Guide to Běijīng’s coverage of Běijīng Suburbs and Beyond
This section of the Wall was closed in 2010 and has only partially reopened, with ten towers accessible. Tickets must now be reserved one day in advance, by calling 8100 9999 (not checked). There’s been much fresh construction in breach of World Heritage guidelines, including a brand-new ‘water town’ with a separate entrance fee.
Despite its reputation among budget travellers as the cool and ‘I’m not a tourist, I’m a traveller’ place to go, Sīmǎtái has perhaps more crassly inappropriate transport options then any other: a cable car, a funicular, and a zip line across a river (¥35). A chain bridge links two sides of the valley, with 15 watchtowers to the east (right) and 20 to the west, towards Jīn Shān Lǐng, which may be reached on foot.
Alarmingly described as being ‘the most dangerous part of the Great Wall’, this section was the most popular for day trips run by backpacker accommodation, although it may now have been superseded by Jīn Shān Lǐng. Long sections have been reconstructed, and there’s a cable car. The ‘danger’ is in the ease of access to sections both unrestored and very steep and narrow, where outer stones have disappeared to leave a barrierless raised walkway. The towers are partially ruined and heavily weathered, and are entered by balancing on wobbly piles of stones. There’s a 15min walk from the ticket office to the Wall, where it plunges down both sides of a steep valley to be cut by a stream. This having now been dammed, it’s possible to travel part of the way by boat when there’s enough water, and a chain bridge has been constructed to connect the two banks, which, if you plan to walk to Jīn Shān Lǐng (west, left) you’ll need to cross (¥5, see below) or take a long detour back nearly to the ticket office and then up the other bank.
The Wall on the left-hand side of the valley is in a better state of repair, but the right-hand (eastern) ‘dangerous’ side has about 15 watchtowers rising up to 986m above sea level. These are reached by a section called the Tiān Qiáo or ‘Heaven Bridge’ (天桥, also the expression used more prosaically for pedestrian overpasses), about 100m long. Here the spininess of the ridge became too much even for the Míng artisans, and the Wall becomes merely a wall, only two bricks in width. This section is also of early date, being constructed during the reign of the Hóngwǔ emperor, first of the Míng, from 1368.
▶ Sīmǎtái Cháng Chéng, about 120km NE in Mìyún County, gps 40º 38.333’ N, 117º 11.136’ E, t 6903 1051, 24hrs. ¥40. b to 密云汽车站: 970, 980, 980快, all from stop 东直门外, in 东直门斜街, just northeast of the Dōng Zhī Mén Bus Station, east of m Dōng Zhī Mén, ¥15; then minibus. A clamour of taxi and minibus drivers will surround you on arrival by bus at Mìyún bus station. The taxis are too unreliable to be worth considering. A seat in a minibus costs about ¥20–30, but make sure that you are being taken to the entrance to the Wall and not just to a nearby village. Alternatively, take a long-distance bus from Běijīng’s Liù Lǐ Qiáo bus station for Chéngdé (承德) and hop off at the well-marked turning, where there’s usually minibus or farm vehicle transport for the last 10km (or you flag down a vehicle coming from Mìyún). Last bus back 8pm.
The route is northeast from Běijīng on the G101 or parallel Jīng–Chéng expressway (京承高速公路), to the well-marked turning onto the X014. A taxi should be no more than ¥500 return, all-in. The route along the edge of the Mìyún reservoir is pleasant, with plentiful blossom in spring, and in the autumn people sell walnuts, russet apples, and neon persimmons at the roadside. Boats dragged up from the reservoir are filled with water and used to sell live fish (signs say 活鱼, huó yú).
The turning to Pánlóng Shān Great Wall is 8 or 9km beyond the turning to Sīmǎtái, and the Jīn Shān Lǐng turning about 10km beyond that. For details of the walk between them and onward see those entries.
Next in Běijīng Suburbs and Beyond: Pánlóng Shān Great Wall
Previously: Mùtiányù Great Wall
Main Index of A Better Guide to Beijing.
For discussion of China travel, see The Oriental-List.
