I signed up for the "Secret Wall" tour at the hostel I was staying at in Beijing. I'm not much for tours, but this one got my attention. Instead of going to the accessible places of the Great Wall, where bus loads of people go every day, they take you to an unrestored, original condition part of the wall that is apparently "off-limits". It seemed to be true, but either way, the experience was fantastic. After the trip in the minivan, we spent quite a lot of time hiking up a mountain to get to the wall itself. Once on the wall, we truly were the only group there, within view, and we could see quite far. We spent an hour or so hiking the wall, taking pictures, admiring the view. It really was a breath-taking site. We ended at a little makeshift "shop" - a man who must be in with the tour guides to sell little knick-knacks at the end of the hike. But compared to the plethora of shops and shopkeepers who will stop at nothing to sell you anything at any attraction in Asia, this was a breeze. He didn't stop us to sell anything if we weren't interested (which I never am), and he must have carried all of those things up the mountain himself, so it was quite a tolerable experience. We ended with a nice shared Chinese meal.

The Great Wall really is incredible! I highly recommend the section from Simitai to Jinshaling (even though I probably spelled the names wrong...). It's about 12km snaking through the hills, and the views are breath-taking. It hasn't been restored the way the Badaling section has been (this section I've been told is extremely "touristy" and very busy), but there were hardly any other people there that day, so it was nice to have some space to enjoy the view. You have to hike up the hill (15-20 minutes) to get to the start of that section of the wall, we did it in the snow and it wasn't that bad. When we were all done the hike there's an option to either walk from the wall to the pick up point to meet the bus back to Beijing (outside of an HI hostel that I wished I'd known about so I could've spent a night there!) or you can take a zip line down over a lake. The zip line was great, and a fun way to end a great day!!

Went here in 2002 as part of a group tour. Man if I have anything to say about organized group tours to these types of places - it's don't. But I digress. The Great Wall is certainly impressive, but there was something that felt a bit like a let down to go to the wall and to see it, well, so well preserved. That's because they've put in a lot of restoration work to this section, with the end effect of making the whole thing look new. I've since found out that other areas of the Great Wall - such as the Simatai Section for instance - to be far better to visit for both authenticity and experience. That all said it was impressive to walk along the walls, imagine the work it must have been for the labourers to actually build it, and to scale the giant and uneven steps up the slope. Worth a visit if you don't have time to go to any of the other sections.

I went to The Great WAll in MArch of 2008. The day was perfectly clear and we arrived early in the morning to beat the huge crowds. The beginning of the climb is steep and at times, your legs may feel like rubber but the climb to the top is well worth the effort. The walk provides an amazing view and although the crowds build throughout the day, if you are patient and you take the climb slowly, the rewards are unbelievable. The signs along the way alert travellers to the risk of thunderstorms and even though you may be gasping for breath, that is all forgotten when you reach the top. There are places to buy souvenirs, to dress in ageless costumes and to buy drinks so the adventure will be one that you will never forget. Springtime in China is the best time to go. We had 7 out of 9 days of pure, smogless, blue sky. What a treat!!

As most of you will know the Great Wall is more then 6000km long. Not all of these parts can be visited, but when you are staying in e.g. Beijing, you can make a day walk starting from Jinshanling up to Simatai. Therefore you need to go by bus to Jinshanling an return from Simatai. There are a lot of organisations in Beijing that do this. In summer, this walk can be pretty heavy because of the heat and high humidity, but the view is exceptional. Some parts of the Wall on this walk are renovated, which means that the there are stairs, other parts are quite ruined, which makes it sometimes more difficult to go fast. After all, when you've been in China, you must have seen the Great Wall!