Is the Great Wall of China on your bucket list? It has always been on my list but I just never knew how we would get there. I’ve always imagined one day walking on the famous wall that was built over 2300 hundred years ago. A dream of mine that finally became true! Last year when my family and I decided to take a trip to Japan I knew immediately I had to make this happen. Maybe schedule a few days in Beijing, China or possibly just have a layover? If you are like me and want to take advantage of every minute and second of your trip, especially if you don’t know if you’ll ever make it back to that part of the world, then keep reading for some helpful tips and tricks of how I made this happen for us!
Planning My Trip
As I started searching for flights to Tokyo I had many options to choose from. I decided the best city to fly from was Houston, Texas (IAH) because they have straight flights to Asia versus having layovers in the U.S. or Canada. I figured since we are traveling with our little one (4 year old daughter) it might be best to start with a long flight first versus a short flight and then a long flight. I hope that makes sense, LOL! So after many enduring hours of looking and searching for the best flight possible I found one. I chose a straight flight to Beijing, 15 hour flight and then a 2.5 flight to Tokyo. I then had an option if we wanted a short layover or a long layover. After much thought I decided to do an 8 hour layover in Beijing to give us just enough time to visit the Great Wall of China. I did this because I also wanted to dedicate as much time as possible to Japan since that was our main objective. Once I settled our flights and I had a clear vision of what was to happen I started researching for private tours of the Great Wall!
I highly recommend a private tour because time is of the essence. With security, running through the airport, having to obtain a visa and finding your tour guide it can take a good 2 to 3 hours to just get out of the airport. I promise you, time flies by quickly!
After reviewing many private tour companies I narrowed it down to 2 tour groups, I put a lot of trust in TripAdvisor and thus far have had great luck. I ended up choosing Mr. Bejing Tour and highly recommend them! This group specializes in private Great Wall Tours and best of all had worked with several similar flights and layovers as ours. We communicated via email and they were very quick to respond at every question or concern I had. This put my mind at ease and confident that I chose the right tour group!
Arriving in Beijing
Once we arrived in Beijing and survived a 15 hour flight ( I was so proud of my daughter) we got ready to depart the plane. It is important to note that it was 4:50am in the morning and we felt pretty good and excited to stretch our legs! As we cruised the tarmac, my awesome guide Dirk with Mr. Bejing Tour sent me again very thorough instructions on how to navigate through the airport. His instructions were very specific and in big red letters said do NOT go to the International Transfer Counter before obtaining a visa because then we could not step out into Beijing. FYI, you cannot purchase a visa before arriving in China.
As we are walked through the airport I immediately realized this was going to be a little more difficult than I anticipated. We followed the crowds and were able to grab our credentials at the kiosk stop with no problem and then head towards security. It was after this point that it became confusing. I knew we needed to grab visa’s to get into China but the signs were not registering with us and the people were not as friendly as I thought they could have been. But I did know one thing for sure DO NOT go to the International Transfer Counter which we kept passing by and for a moment thought it was the only way out. After about 30 to 45 miserable minutes of walking back and forth we somehow managed to find the Visa counter that was literally 20 ft from us the entire time!! Time was quickly moving by and the line to obtain our visa’s was very long.
It took us almost an entire hour to finally grab our visa’s. After we obtained them and got the clear, I was like fantastic let’s get out of here! Nope, we still had to wait in a whole other line to reshow our passports and visa’s to enter Beijing. By this time it must have been at least 2 hours and I’m totally freaking out because we need to meet our guide at 7:30am. We were cutting it close but we finally made it out of customs and I could finally breathe a sigh of relief.
Our guide, Dirk, was kind enough to have us meet him at a Starbucks which we found fairly easy. We grabbed our coffee to go, bottles of water, snacks for our daughter and then we were finally on our way to the Great Wall of China!
Private Tour of the Great Wall of China
Dirk told us we would be heading to a part of the wall called Mutianyu since it is the closest to the PEK airport. Luckily for us having arrived so early at the airport, there was no traffic whatsoever on the road so it only took us about 1 hour to arrive. We arrived, parked and headed straight up a path to purchase our tickets. Here you have an option to buy additional tickets to take a chairlift to the top to not waste too much time walking up. You also have the option of taking the toboggan down (looks like a sled and gets you down the mountain quickly) which we also opted to buy because we wanted to spend as much time as possible on the Great Wall.
Let me just say that I am absolutely TERRIFIED of heights and at the time did not know the chairlift was actually an open chairlift until it pulled up in front of us. My anxiety level went up 100% but I sucked it up and put on a brave face for my daughter although I was honestly dying of fear!! My husband and daughter were over the moon riding up the side of this huge mountain while I quietly prayed none of us fell out.
We reached the top after about 7 to 8 minutes of going up. I was beyond excited to put my feet back on Earth and even happier because we were only steps away from the best preserved wall in the world. Because we opted to take the chairlift as soon as they opened the grounds we were the FIRST people at the top! I promise we had the entire Great Wall of China to ourselves for a good 15 minutes or so!! Not a soul in sight but the bright blue skies, sunshine and us! It was truly a magical and breathtaking experience! We walked up and down the wall as our guide explained the area and how it came to be. I was mesmerized by how far the wall continued and how long it has stood throughout these centuries. Some parts of the wall are in ruins which no one is allowed in but where we stood it was as perfect as it could be! We were even taken to the ONE spot that allows visitors to go to the top of a watchtower to overlook the great wall in its full glory.
Entering the mini fortresses of the watchtowers had my imagination wander and think of what these soldiers experienced on days and nights inside these areas. The cool breeze on a hot August day reminded me of how mother nature offered natural air conditioning on days like this. I also observed all the windows that were made to allow the guards to keep an eye out for potential invaders and self protection. Walking back and fourth for a good 45 minutes and taking in every bit of the wall and its history we were in awe!
The entire Great Wall of China was created for military defense and to help protect China from invaders and enemies such as the Mongols.
As we left one of the wonders of the world, we took the toboggan down. The instructions were in Chinese and English with pictures so we learned quickly what needed to be done, said a little prayer and then headed down! My husband took our daughter and I went solo. A toboggan looks very much like a sled with a stick in the middle to speed up or slow down the “ride.” Let me just say my daughter laughed and appreciated every second of the ride. She is fearless at the moment which make me one proud mommy! We all made it down safely and in record time, maybe 6 minutes or so.
Wrap-Up
All in all we had a FANTASTIC quick layover and would do it all over again in a heartbeat. We had an 8 hour layover which gave us just enough time to collect our visa’s, find our tour guide, visit the Great Wall and get back with just enough time to catch our flight to Tokyo. I’ve read that if you have a 10 hour layover you can have enough time to visit the Great Wall of China and the Forbidden City. If you and your family ever decide to have a quick layover like this in Beijing, I highly recommend a private tour and more specifically Mr. Beijing Tour! Without their guidance, quick communication and professionalism we would have been completely lost.
