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Dear Travellers, We’d like to have the following travel guide to remain...
Dear Travellers,
We’d like to have the following travel guide to remain updated for the benefit of new visitors coming to Mutianyu Great Wall.
If anybody having used the piece finds necessary updates, please leave a message or feedback. Thanks!
There are several ways to reach Mutianyu Great Wall from downtown Beijing and choose the one that suits your trip best and good luck!
Note: It is a bit tricky to find Dongzhimen Wai Bus Station. So how to get to Dongzhimen Wai Bus Station Compound ( 东直门外车站）?
You exit from Exit E of Subway Line 2 at Dongzhimen, walk along Dongzhimen Wai Dajie (东直门外大街), then turn left and walk along Dongzhimen Wai Xiejie (东直门外斜街), soon you will find the open-air bus station compound on your left side, the same bus station going for Jinshanling Great Wall and Gubei Water Town.
With your personal tour guide, you will have more interaction with the locals which will enrich your travel experience in Beijing. It is a non-shopping private tour and no Hidden Fee!
| Tour Type: Exclusive Private Tour |
| Vehicle: Your Exclusive Vehicle with free Wi-Fi & Bottled water |
| Operates: Daily |
| Pick-up point and time: Your Hotel around 8:00am or 13:00pm |
| Finishing point and time: Your Hotel around 13:00pm or 6:00pm |
| Tour Code: BHDT-01 |
Hiring a car with driver gives you much flexibility to visit Mutianyu Great Wall. For car rental rates with driver, please check out the link Beijing Car Rental with Driver for information.
Check out the detailed step-by step guide below for getting from Beijing Dongzhimen to Mutianyu Great Wall by 916 Express Bus.
These three forms of public transport are connected underground as a whole in a massive building.
916 Express Bus has to be taken from inside of the building of the Dongzhimen Public Transport Hub.
When you leave the subway there are a lot of stops at your right side and you have to get into the building and will see the signs since your bus is inside the transfer hub hall.
The Bus Transfer Hall on the ground floor is mainly composed of two parts – North Platform and South Platform.
Your Mutianyu-bound Bus 916 Express ( 916快 / 怀柔方向) is on the northern platform. There are signs overhead to guide you in the direction to the 916 Express Bus Stop.
Wait in line for the Bus 916 Express and the bus fare at 12 yuan. In the 916 bus you have to pay the exact amount.
In the bus entrance door, at your left, there is a small box where you have to put the exact amount. You get ready for the small money and often they don't have the change.
The 916 buses are clean and air-conditioned.
There are totally 20 stops for Public Bus 916 Express and you get off at the 15th stop of Huai Rou Bei Da Jjie (怀柔北大街 ) in Huairou District. Then take a local taxi ( about 50 yuan per taxi ) or further connect the local public Bus H23,（ 5 yuan ).
Note: Try to catch the earliest bus to Huiarou Bei Da Jie so you can arrive to Mutianyu around 8am. There aren't many people.
The H23 buses are few and far between, so you may consider taking a taxi from Beidajie （Huai Rou Bei Da Jie ) . Taxi drivers are nice and aren't trying to scam passengers.
Below is the current bus stop plan (bus line 916 express) submitted by Franziska from Berlin):
The 916 express runs every couple of minutes, so there is not much waiting. A lot of people get off at Huai Rou Bei Da Jie ( 怀柔北大街）, so even if you don’t speak Chinese, you’ll know when to get off.
Basically, the bus makes a couple stops in Beijing after leaving Dongzhimen, then doesn’t make any stops for a long time, until it gets to Huai Rou District, where it makes stops every couple of minutes. After a handful of those stops, you’ll be at Huai Rou Bei Da Jie ( 怀柔北大街).
For each stop, Bus 916 Express will announce the name of the bus stop both in English and Chinese. But only the Chinese stops will be shown on the electronic screen on the front of your bus, and make sure you get off at the 15th stop of Huai Rou Bei Da Jie ( 怀柔北大街).
The following bus interior photo shows the Chinese name of the bus station "Huai Rou Bei Da Jie" ( 怀柔北大街) where you should get off. The photo was provided by Franziska from Berlin.
Huai Rou Bei Da jie ( 怀柔北大街) Station is located by the sidewalk in front of the large governmental building (Beijing Huai Rou Department of Civil Affairs) 民政局.
Google maps location of where you need to get off at Huairou Bei Da Jie at Bus 916 express in front of the large governmental building (Beijing Huairou Department of Civil Affairs) 民政局
Once you get off 916 express Bus, you have two options for next transport to your destination - Mutianyu Great Wall: Connect the local bus H23 ; or take a local taxi for Mutianyu.
You can continue to take Bus H23 for Mutianyu Great Wall. The Bus Stop for Bus H23 is just across where you get off Bus 916 express at Huai Rou Bei Da Jie ( 怀柔北大街). Important notice: This Bus Stop for Bus H23 is the same bus stop area for 916 Express back to Beijing.
By the way, on your 916 Express back to Beijing, there are two kinds of 916 buses here, the express and the normal one. Take the express one! The express 916 bus is recognizable because it has 2 Chinese characters after the number. The return 916 bus leave you in a different place. After leaving the bus you have to continue and turn right and you will be in the Dongzhimen entrance where you started.
Cost 3 yuan paid to ticket lady on the bus. The Bus h23 is green and there is a blue cardboard sign in the window next to the driver saying h23. The sign on the bus H23 are very small.
You should pay attention to the place - Mutianyu Roundabout (慕田峪环岛） where you get off. The easier way to identify Mutianyu Roundabout stop is a big aqueduct bridge over it.
There are totally 41 stops for Bus H23, keep in mind that you will alight at the 17th stop of Mutianyu Roundabout （慕田峪环岛)
The Bus H23 runs the route between Yujiayuan ( 于家园) and Tiekuangyu (铁矿峪) passing by Beidajie ( Huairou ) and Mutianyu Roundabout.
You may show your bus driver the Chinese characters "我要去慕田峪长城" ( I want to go to Mutianyu Great Wall) and the driver will remind you of the stop when the bus arrives at Mutianyu Roundabout (慕田峪环岛).
A photo of the Mutianyu Roundabout, it is recognizable because of the big aqueduct bridge overhead.
You can see both sides of the H23 bus stop. The right side is the arriving stop and the left one, where the people is standing, is the returning one.
Basically you need to walk about 310 meters to get to the ticketing office of Mutianyu Great Wall Scenic Area.
The Picture below shows the bus station of Bus H23 at Mutianyu Roundabout:
2. You can use your Yikatong card to pay for H23 bus and it costs 2 RMB each way.
3. If you don’t know which stop to take off and you can’t see the landmark in Mutianyu Roundabout, you can pin the address in Google Map and just check the app to see if you’re near your stop.
When getting off Bus 916 express at Beidajie ( North Street ), alternatively you can choose to take a local taxi directly bringing you to the ticketing box offices at Mutianyu.
The fact is that the moment you get off Bus 916, you will be approached by "black taxi drivers". We suggest you use the official metered taxis. Most of the official taxi drivers would stay inside their taxis and wait for customers ( maybe they don't want to have any conflicts with black drivers).
Taxi transfer is fast and comfortable.
When you arrive at Mutianyu, you should ask for a printed receipt which shows the taxi fare, distance and timing.
If you cannot find any official taxis by the governmental building, just wait for a while and they will definitely will come back after their business.
Black taxi drivers will charge you about 50 yuan for the ride plus 20 yuan for so-called parking fee at Mutianyu. Actually, Mutianyu official parking lot offers free parking within 20 minutes.
At the end of your Mutianyu visit, just retrace on the same travel route. Alternatively you can make use of the daily 4 pm departure fixed direct shuttle bus going from Mutianyu directly back to Beijing. The Mutianyu Direct Shuttle Bus starts from P1 ( Parking No.01 ) at the parking area of Mutianyu Great Wall Scenic Area.
1) Walk from Mutianyu Great Wall Service Area to the Mutianyu Roundabout and take the h23 back as well. Stops opposite to where you drops off. You can flag it down if you are not sure if it would have stopped.
2) Take an official taxi from the parking lot of Mutianyu Great Wall Service Area to 916 express bus stop at Huairou. But , it is not easy to find an official taxi back to Beidajie Huairou since it seems that the official taxis are outnumbered by black taxis. In addition, most of the black taxi drivers are local people. Basically people are not willing to offend them. You just wait until you see someone drops off and hail the same taxi back.
3) If you have to take a black taxi back ( not recommended ), you should bargain with them. Take a “black taxi” at the parking lot bringing you back to 916 express bus stop at Huairou ( a choice of no choice).
By the way, when back to the Express Bus 916, there are two kinds of 916 buses, the express and the normal one. Take the express one! The express 916 bus is recognizable because it have 2 Chinese characters after the number. The return 916 bus leave you in a different place. After leaving the bus you have to continue and turn right and you will be in the Dongzhimen entrance where you started.
The large tourist service center mainly consists of ticketing offices, toilets, a Great Wall exhibition hall and a large tourist information hall where you can use ATM machine.
A return ticket is cheaper. But if you are going to take cable car up and the toboggan down ( so you are using two different companies), you have to buy two single tickets. If you take the chair-lift up and the toboggan down, you are able to buy a return ticket. This is a tricky part in Mutianyu Great Wall.
Note: After you get off the shuttle from the ticketing office, you still need to walk up a 600-meter long ramp leading to the cable car station. But on the way up, you will first come across the chair-lift ( toboggan ) station. They are different companies with separate accounts.
So it is up to you to decide whether you use cable car up and down, or chair-lift up and toboggan down, or cable up and toboggan down, or lastly just walk up to the summit for the Wall.
So once inside the wall area, you have four choices with three prices:
Ferry Shuttle Bus: 15 yuan
There are 23 towers on the Mutianyu Great Wall snaking the ridge for about 3000 meters. The watch towers at the Mutianyu Great Wall are distributed at short intervals. The 23 watch towers are numbered from right (east) to left (west). The or 23rd tower is highest point of the Mutianyu Great Wall.
Note: Two different companies operate cable car and chairlift (toboggan) separately. You either choose cable or chairlift (toboggan). The ticketing staff will ask you which you prefer, cable car or chairlift ( or toboggan down )?
If you have strong legs and prefer to hike up to the Great Wall, you can do the hiking without using the service of cable car or chairlift.
On the right side of the Tourist Service Building is the Exhibition Hall for Great Wall Culture, a brief introduction to the Great Wall of China and Mutianyu Great Wall in particular.
The large service center building where you can use ATM machine.
Clean and modern toilet.
At the ticketing box office, you are required to buy a 15 yuan ferry shuttle bus. From the tourist service center, you till need to walk about 200 meters to get to the shuttle bus terminal.
The 200-meter road leading to the shuttle bus terminal is lined with restaurants on the left side and vendors on the right side.
You have the choices of King Burger, Pizza, and Chinese food and more. Bottled water on the vendor stalls here is much cheaper ( 3 yuan per bottle ) than that sold up on the Wall ( 15 yuan per bottle ).
When you get off the ferry shuttle bus, you need to walk along an accessible stone path (600 meters long ) leading up first to the entrance area for chairlift ( or toboggan down ), second to the walking path up to the Wall and last to the area for cable car up to the Wall respectively.
2) The 23 watch towers are numbered from right (east) to left (west). The 23rd tower is highest point of the Mutianyu Great Wall.
Basically it is more convenient to use its smooth and gentle ramp leading up Badaling Great Wall. You don’t need to use the cable car. The area for the upper cable station is not wheelchair-friendly and teem with domestic tourists.
On the Mutianyu Great Wall, wheelchair users may take a cable car up and then use the accessible lane leading to the platform below the 14th watch tower for a good view of Mutianyu Great Wall.
On the Mutianyu Great Wall, wheelchair users may take a cable car up and then use the accessible lane leading to the platform below the 14th watch tower for a good view of Mutianyu Great Wall.
But unfortunately, the accessible ramp leading from the upper cable station to the platform below the 14th watch tower is too steep, very much challenging for wheelchair users.
The blue taxi cabs are not allowed to wait and collect passengers at Mutianyu. Not sure what happened, but didn't find a single cab while returning from Mutianyu and the office closed. There were several people asking me to board their taxi or minibus. I walked to the public bus stop and i waved down a passing blue cab. He was worried that someone might notice my getting into his cab.
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Hi, your instructions are great – followed them and got to Mutianyu and back without any problems. I can confirm, that a few stops before Beidajie Stop a man in a uniform very similar to public transportation uniform entered the bus and said, that those, who was going to the Great Wall should leave here.
There was lot’s of black taxis on that stop as well. I didn’t leave the bus and continued to go, and get off at Beidajie Stop where I took a metered taxi without any problem.
On the way back two metered taxis were waiting right on the roundabout. But I also found out, that now it’s possible to get DiDi app in English, so if there is no taxi, but one has mobile internet – the one can be ordered by DiDi without any problem.
If you don’t want to go the do-it-yourself route and prefer the hassle-free escorted tours, here are some options for guided tours to Beijing:
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