Travel and Hiking

Explore an ancient interconnected series of cave dwellings in the hills of Yanqing County; visit the Longqingxia Ice Festival on the way home.

Cost: ¥555 / ¥500 for members / ¥300 for kids

See a full description, more photos, and book online at https://www.beijinghikers.com/hike-in-beijing/view/445/longqingxia-ice-festival-and-tang-dynasty-caves/

Beijing Hikers—fun and friendly hikes and trips around Beijing and greater China, since 2001.

For more updates on hikes and trips follow our WeChat account BeijingHikers北京爱山 and keep an eye on www.beijinghikers.com

https://www.beijinghikers.com / info@beijinghikers.com

The Lupiguan ‘Deerskin Pass’ Great Wall was built during the Ming Dynasty to block off a pass in the mountains north of Beijing.

The Great Wall across the floor of the valley – a tall wall, with an arch called a ‘Water Pass’ to let the water through – was demolished to make way for a modern-era bridge over the river. The ruins of the Water Pass are now completely submerged by the Miyun Reservoir.

The large towers atop the ridges on either side of the bridge are still visible, and if you’ve done our White River hike before then it’s likely you will have spotted them high up on the cliffs as we drove past on the way home.

On this hike we’ll explore the east side of the pass, getting a look at the towers and nearby wall and checking out an internet-famous viewpoint of a horseshoe bend in the lower reaches of the White River.

Cost: ¥400 / ¥360 for members

See a full description, more photos, and book online at https://www.beijinghikers.com/hike-in-beijing/view/1951/lupiguan-great-wall/

Beijing Hikers—fun and friendly hikes and trips around Beijing and greater China, since 2001.

For more updates on hikes and trips follow our WeChat account BeijingHikers北京爱山 and keep an eye on www.beijinghikers.com

https://www.beijinghikers.com / info@beijinghikers.com

Hike through and out of a park filled with icy water falls and pools to reach a beautiful ridgeline trail with views of mountains and the Miyun Reservoir.

There's a lot to see on our Immortal Valley Loop hike – many pools filled with clear spring water, waterfalls, big trees, wild flowers, some Great Wall, the Miyun Reservoir, and views of valleys and mountains. Much of the valley is shaded, and we will walk by pools and waterfalls that have frozen into fantastic shapes—a really scenic hike in winter with all the ice.

The first section of the trail is through a park and is well shaded by leafy trees. A clear stream runs down through the valley, passing large granite boulders, forming natural pools, and flowing off cliffs in waterfalls that are up to twenty metres high.

After about twenty minutes’ walk up the concrete park trail, we'll climb a steep set of stairs to reach an overlook on the the first of the big falls. The waterfall is fed by water from the small reservoir above, and used for ice climbing when it's all frozen during winter.

From there we continue up Immortal Valley, passing pools of water and caves in the steep cliffs and heading for the shaded valley trail that will take us up to the top.

Cost: ¥400 / ¥360 for members

See a full description, more photos, and book online at https://www.beijinghikers.com/hike-in-beijing/view/1854/immortal-valley-loop-winter-3/

Beijing Hikers—fun and friendly hikes and trips around Beijing and greater China, since 2001.

For more updates on hikes and trips follow our WeChat account BeijingHikers北京爱山 and keep an eye on www.beijinghikers.com

https://www.beijinghikers.com / info@beijinghikers.com

Explore the Panlongshan section of the the Gubeikou Great Wall, starting with a climb up to the 24-Eyes Tower, finishing with a look at some of the Great Wall towers on the west side of the big North Gate, and hiking all the wall in between. Includes a post-hike lunch at a countryside restaurant.

We’ll start off nearby the small hamlet where we used to finish this hike, and hike up to the small reservoir further up the valley from the houses.

By the reservoir is a hill track that will take us up to the top section of the Great Wall at Gubeikou. It’s not a difficult climb, but once we’ve finished it we’ll be almost at the highest point of the whole hike.

The actual highest point of the whole hike is the 24-Eyes Tower, and we’ll follow the wall up for long views of more Great Wall and mountains all around.

24-Eyes Tower is the highest tower on the Panlongshan ‘Coiling Dragon Mountain’ part of the Great Wall, and was one of the largest, too. The name ‘24-Eyes’ came from the number of windows—six on each of the tower’s four sides. The tower only has two sides now due to damage over the years, including explosions and gunfire during a 1930s battle between Chinese and Japanese armies.

After a break at 24-Eyes Tower we’ll hike down the Great Wall, heading for Gubeikou’s North Gate. We’ll be on the wall most of the way there, passing through Haowang Tower and the General’s Tower along the way.

Just after the General’s Tower we’ll take a detour off the wall to head for the North Gate, hiking hill trails to get back to the wall that encircled Gubeikou Village, and then along the wall to the North Gate, an arched gate in the wall.

Cost: ¥470 / ¥420 for members / ¥240 for kids

See a full description, more photos, and book online at https://www.beijinghikers.com/hike-in-beijing/view/1772/gubeikou-great-wall-3/

Beijing Hikers—fun and friendly hikes and trips around Beijing and greater China, since 2001.

For more updates on hikes and trips follow our WeChat account BeijingHikers北京爱山 and keep an eye on www.beijinghikers.com

https://www.beijinghikers.com / info@beijinghikers.com

A moderately difficult hike that follows a line of wild wall up to a tall tower with 360° views of mountains, valleys, small villages, and a long line of wall heading high into the hills. Some sections extremely tricky underfoot.

We start the hike not far past Chenjiapu Village, taking a short walk up a concrete road before turning off on to a dirt track that leads up a valley towards the Great Wall.

The valley is narrow to begin with, and slowly opens up to give views of Great Wall and towers on a high ridgeline.

At the top of the valley we’ll find the Great Wall, with two mostly-intact towers sited to guard a pass at a dip in the mountains.

We’ll be headed north from the dip, following a rough line of ‘wild’ Great Wall through the two towers and up to the local “General’s Tower”.

At an elevation of 1,040m, the General’s Tower has superb views of all the Great Wall in the area.

Cost: ¥420 / ¥380 for members

See a full description, more photos, and book online at https://www.beijinghikers.com/hike-in-beijing/view/1884/chenjiapu-great-wall/

Beijing Hikers—fun and friendly hikes and trips around Beijing and greater China, since 2001.

For more updates on hikes and trips follow our WeChat account BeijingHikers北京爱山 and keep an eye on www.beijinghikers.com

https://www.beijinghikers.com / info@beijinghikers.com

Take a ramble through bouldery valleys and along hill trails and farmers’ roads, starting at Moss Mountain, passing a carved Buddha in an old quarry, before walking out a long road through a valley full of chestnut orchards to finish by the Walled Village.

Moss Mountain is the local name for the granite peaks behind a little park area north of Huanghuacheng, and you can see the cliffs and crags of the mountain from the high parts of many of our hikes in this part of Beijing.

Behind all the boulders in the Moss Mountain scenic area a flatter trail leads up a washed out valley towards terraced chestnut orchards that were farmed by locals in previous years. We’re not sure if they are still farmed—with the valley tracks washed out it must be difficult to get the loads of chestnuts out to the main road.

We’ll be following the valley up to cross over at a gap in the cliffs. On the way up we’ll offer the option to take a detour up a side valley to a small waterfall—usually just a trickle of water down the cliffs, but in winter that trickle freezes into what looks like a frozen version of the torrent that washed out the valley. (On this visit we’ll plan to hike up to the waterfall—it’s interesting to see all the ice in the valley, and it will make the hike longer.)

After crossing over at the gap, a well-formed track will take us down through old-growth forest, passing a giant pine tree and coming out the back of the remains of a rock quarry.

In the rock quarry we’ll spot a huge boulder with a Buddha carved into it, and if the timing has worked out, this is where we’ll stop for a lunch break.

The hike then continues down a dirt road, passing another optional detour—this time, a short walk up to the restored (and maybe closed) White Cloud Temple—and then on and out past the Walled Village.

Cost: ¥380 / ¥340 for members

See a full description, more photos, and book online at https://www.beijinghikers.com/hike-in-beijing/view/1700/moss-mountain-to-the-walled-village/

Beijing Hikers—fun and friendly hikes and trips around Beijing and greater China, since 2001.

For more updates on hikes and trips follow our WeChat account BeijingHikers北京爱山 and keep an eye on www.beijinghikers.com

https://www.beijinghikers.com / info@beijinghikers.com

Follow a trail that crosses a frozen river in Miyun District, walking out down a long canyon and passing below cliffs on the way to the end.

We’ll be following the White River as it winds through a deep and wide canyon with numerous forks and steep rocky cliffs, making this an extremely picturesque hike that is easy to finish.

All up, there are around eight places the path crosses the river. In summer we need to take our shoes off to wade across, but in winter we’ll be able to walk across the thick ice.

At times, the trail leads us through trees, but for most of the walk we’ll follow the course of the river. It’s flat the whole way, and the only thing that might slow us down is slippery ice.

Cost: ¥420 / ¥380 for members / ¥220 for kids

See a full description, more photos, and book online at https://www.beijinghikers.com/hike-in-beijing/view/1954/white-river-ice-hike-7/

Beijing Hikers—fun and friendly hikes and trips around Beijing and greater China, since 2001.

For more updates on hikes and trips follow our WeChat account BeijingHikers北京爱山 and keep an eye on www.beijinghikers.com

https://www.beijinghikers.com / info@beijinghikers.com

A tough Great Wall hike over tricky terrain in a remote area of northwest Beijing, with a lot of ups and downs on the way to the end.

Midway through this tough hike the wall doubles back on itself in a sharp switchback, and that’s why we named this area the Switchback Great Wall. The local name is a little different: the Hunchback Great Wall!

After we pass the switchback section there are a few more steep ups and downs before a long descent along the wall – again, there are some tricky sections here, and we’ll need to be particularly careful right at the end as the path gets quite slippery.

Cost: ¥420 / ¥380 for members

See a full description, more photos, and book online at https://www.beijinghikers.com/hike-in-beijing/view/517/switchback-great-wall-reverse/

Beijing Hikers—fun and friendly hikes and trips around Beijing and greater China, since 2001.

For more updates on hikes and trips follow our WeChat account BeijingHikers北京爱山 and keep an eye on www.beijinghikers.com

https://www.beijinghikers.com / info@beijinghikers.com

There's a lot to see on our Immortal Valley Loop hike – many pools filled with clear spring water, waterfalls, big trees, wild flowers, some Great Wall, the Miyun Reservoir, and views of valleys and mountains. Much of the valley is shaded, and we will walk by pools and waterfalls that have frozen into fantastic shapes—a really scenic hike in winter with all the ice.

The first section of the trail is through a park and is well shaded by leafy trees. A clear stream runs down through the valley, passing large granite boulders, forming natural pools, and flowing off cliffs in waterfalls that are up to twenty metres high.

After about twenty minutes’ walk up the concrete park trail, we'll climb a steep set of stairs to reach an overlook on the the first of the big falls. The waterfall is fed by water from the small reservoir above, and used for ice climbing when it's all frozen during winter.

From there we continue up Immortal Valley, passing pools of water and caves in the steep cliffs and heading for the shaded valley trail that will take us up to the top.

Cost: ¥400 / ¥360 for members

Beijing Hikers—fun and friendly hikes and trips around Beijing and greater China, since 2001.

For more updates on hikes and trips follow our WeChat account BeijingHikers北京爱山 and keep an eye on www.beijinghikers.com

https://www.beijinghikers.com / info@beijinghikers.com

Head deep into the mountains of Fujian to see the tulou buildings of the Hakka, visiting those both well-known and obscure, and staying overnight in a tulou building in one of the smaller, less-visited clusters. Trip includes sights around Xiamen, including Gulangyu Island.

Trip overview

Day One
Meet up in Xiamen, visit seaside sights including Huli Mountain Cannon Fort, evening walkabout in downtown night market; overnight in Xiamen hotel.
Day Two
Drive to Yongding County and tulou area, check in at tulou guesthouse in small village, explore nearby tulou buildings; overnight in tulou guesthouse.
Day Three
Easy hike in the hills and rice paddies behind the village, drive to the Hongkeng tulou cluster area for a walking tour of the main buildings, drive back to Xiamen; overnight in Xiamen hotel.
Day Four
Tour of Gulangyu Island with included lunch; trip finishes mid-afternoon.

Please make your booking through our website, and we'll email you back to confirm the details. Reservations are essential, and making a booking is quick and easy.

Full information for this trip
Link: https://www.beijinghikers.com/explore-china/view/1844/hakka-tulou-clusters-and-xiamen-fujian-province-2

Online booking for this trip
Link: https://www.beijinghikers.com/explore-china/book/1844/hakka-tulou-clusters-and-xiamen-fujian-province-2

Beijing Hikers runs hikes and trips to the Great Wall, hills, mountains, forests, and villages around Beijing every week, with a wide range of hikes that are suitable for casual walkers as well as the super-fit.

Visit https://www.beijinghikers.com to find out more about hiking in Beijing and to see all the excellent hikes we have coming up.

Beijing Hikers – leading the way, since 2001

https://www.beijinghikers.com / info@beijinghikers.com / +86 (10) 6432-2876