For stupefying hikes along perhaps Běijīng’s most incomparable section of wall, head to the rear section of the Jiànkòu Great Wall, accessible from Huáiróu. It’s a 40-minute walk uphill from the drop off at Xīzhàzi Village ( 西栅子村; Xīzhàzi Cūn) to a fork in the path among the trees that leads you to either side of a collapsed section of wall, one heading off to the east, the other heading west.
Tantalising panoramic views spread out in either direction as the brickwork meanders dramatically along a mountain ridge; the setting is truly sublime.
