Private Beijing Day Trip: Mutianyu Great Wall and Ming Tombs

Beijing, China

Your driver and guide will pick you up from your Beijing city hotel at 8:00am. It takes 1.5 hours to the Wall from downtown Beijing.

The Great Wall at Mutianyu is a little further from Beijing than the most popular section at Badaling, but it doesn't get as crowded. This section of the Wall is fully restored, there are hand rails to help you up on the very steep parts and the views are spectacular.

After a nice lunch at local Chinese restaurants, we will visit the Ming Tombs. Ming Tombs are mausoleums of thirteen emperors of the Ming dynasty. It is the largest clusters of imperial cemeteries in China.Since 1409 with the construction of Changling Tomb for Emperor Zhu Di, the Ming Tombs was completed in 1644 when the Emperor Chongzhen was buried in Siling Tomb. There are three parts are opened to public, the Sacred Way, Changling Tomb and Dingling Tomb. The Sacred Way is the first attraction of Ming Tombs,which is a main way leading to the thirteen imperial tombs inside the scenic area. The two lines of stone lifelike sculptures (12 beasts and 6 officials) on both sides are the highlight of the Sacred Way which are quite popular with visitors.

Among the Ming Tombs,Changling is the largest, earliest and most magnificent with best preserved found constructions. Dingling is the only one that the underground palace was excavated. You will visit one of them based on your interests.

After finishing your trip to Great Wall and the Ming Tombs, you will be transferred back to your hotel.

USD $78.00

Review by:   GOFDFGO,    April 2018
We booked this private tour of the Great Wall through Viator and weren't sure what to expect. To say that we were pleased is an understatement! Rita, our guide, picked us up at our hotel along with our driver, Tom. Her english was easily understood and she had a vast knowledge base. She participated at each stop and that was nice as well. Rita even took pictures for us!

Review by:   Natalie K,    April 2018
This was a wonderful day trip, and Lina, a wonderful guide - friendly, conversational and full of interesting information. Both she and her driver made us feel relaxed and welcome. An early-ish start meant that we beat the worst of the traffic for a quiet time on the wall. We took the steeper route, which was a challenge at first, but throughly worth it although some of the steps are very high, and we noticed that smaller people and children were struggling to climb them, followed by an excellent toboggan ride down! After this, we were driven to a local hot spot, revered for its fish, which we tried - absolutely delicious, and then headed out, through winding mountain path to the Mong Tombs. Again, this was really fascinating, and gave us a much firmer understanding of Chinese heritage. Its also somewhere that western tourists are highly unlikely to make it to, without a guide. On the way back, the team very kindly went out of their way to drop us off a a different location to our start point Friends themed cafe - also ace. Again, this was a pretty amazing day trip. We highly recommend both it, and Lina as a guide.

Review by:   IUSLYWN,    November 2017
It was our expectation that a bucket list event like visiting the historical Great Wall of China would be a key highlight of our three week Asia vacation. Well, Viator and our guide Kelly came though with flying colors! Kelly met us in our hotel lobby and lead us to our driver and comfortable private coach. Kelly educated, narrated, and answered all of our questions during our ride to the Wall. Once at the Great Wall, Kelly escorted us up and gave direction on where to meet after our time was up and where to catch the lift back down to our designated rendezvous spot. It was foggy and rainy on the day we went so the sled ride was not an option for us, but that helped make for some great mysterious looking photos. My only recommendation would be to skip the souvenirs and T-shirts at the top of the hill near the Subway sandwich shop as they are much cheaper a few steps away down the hill where you can haggle with the small vendors on the way to your vehicle. The restaurant we stopped at for lunch was nice and the food was good. The Ming Tombs were a tremendous bonus to a great day. The historical lesson that Kelly provided was invaluable and we really appreciated the time she took with us as we value this type of history lesson. Once inside we were amazed at what awaited us. This tour is a must do if you are visiting Beijing and dont hesitate to ask for Kelly. She was engaging with our small group and kept the adventure flowing.

Review by:   Rebekah P,    September 2017
An awesome day all around. Jily was very knowledgeable about both the Great Wall and the Tombs, as well as general China history.

Review by:   ttcdp,    April 2017
Another great day in Beijing!!! Jily met us at our hotel and off we went on our adventure to The Great Wall! It was a dream of ours to visit this historic site and we were not disappointed! The drive was pleasant with Jily giving us some background info and when we arrived at The Wall she accompanied us up the hill on the ski lifts walked with us to the first part of the Wall and then left us to explore on our own the remainder of the time. We then ascended the hill by taboggen Such a blast!!! It was the perfect combo of guiding us and then leaving us to enjoy with just our family. We then enjoyed a yummy lunch at the foot of the wall and then went on to The Ming Tombs and a Jade Factory both interesting and beautiful!_br/_ We would highly recommend Jilyso much fun to be with and a nice variety of things to see and do all made for a full day of fun and adventure!!

Review by:   Gregbhunt,    October 2016
Tour was amazing! Susan was very friendly and knowledgeable about Chinese history. After visiting the wall, we ate at one of the local restaurants where she ordered a buffet of food that was outstanding. I would highly recommend this tour!!! Excellent...5 stars!!

Review by:   Vicky,    July 2016
WOW is all I can say -- this tour was awesome. Our tour guide was Lotus Lian in Chinese and she was definitely the best part. her English is impeccable, and she gave us so much insight not only the great wall and tombs, but also to live in Beijing and Chinese culture, which was a real added bonus. I will say the Mutianyu section is very steep and is not a particularly easy climb -- don't take any heavy camera bags or items, and wear comfortable tennis shoes. Also take bug spray, as I was stung by a hornet while walking! We did the toboggan down, which was really fun!!. Overall, a GREAT day out - once in a lifetime experience.

Review by:   Machellle R,    July 2016
This tour was amazing!