How do I hike the Great Wall?

HI all!

My friend and I are planning our rtw trip and plan on being in China around March/April of 2012. We want to hike part of the Great Wall but are not having a lot of luck researching exactly how to go about it.

Does anyone know companies who lead Great Wall hikes?

Are there places to camp along the Great Wall or is it generally recommended to hike sections and stay in accomodations over night?

Does anyone have suggestions on which parts of the wall to hike? And approximately how much it would cost?

Thanks everyone!
Michelle

A google search revealed that it IS possible, though to walk the ENTIRE wall may require a whole set of travel permits for foreigners, which is probably best gotten through a Chinese contact in government.

There are ways to hike bits of the wall, here is one site

http://www.tour-beijing.com/great_wall/

Just google" Great wall of China, how to hike on it"

There is a lot of information there.

No, I have never been to China, but some people who have written about this have.

Hi Michelle,

It is NO need companies who lead you to hike great wall if you have enough time.

Which section of great wall depend on you but highly suggest you do not go to Badaling Great Wall where is most crowded anytime. And Jiankou great wall is not legally opened to the public yet, risky and treacherous as well. Gubeikou/Jinshanling/Simatai Great Wall (2-3 days) is the first choice and is the BEST section to hike and Mutianyu (1 day is OK) is the second option.

If you have a tent, you can overnight a tent inside a watchtower of great wall. And you can also stay the inns or courtyard hotels near great wall.

How to go and must to cost: 1) from Beijing take by public bus (RMB15) to Miyun County and then take a mini bus (about RMB20) from the downtown Miyun to Simatai/Jinshanling great wall (ticket each RMB40-50 for high-low season) or to Huairou County (RMB12) and then take a mini bus (about RMB40) from the downtown Huairou to Mutianyu great wall (ticket RMB45).
2）hire a private car or taxi to go and the price about from RMB600-800 to Mutianyu (about 85km) or to Jinshanling great wall (about 160km).

Hope above is helpful.

I imagine you may pick this guy's blog and/or brain for what would be a good section of the wall to hike:
http://www.thegreatwallker.com/

Happy trails!

Bjørn
http://bjornfree.com/

I did Muitanyu which was a day trip but quite a lovely one. Though to go from one end to the other is quite a hike that took us a few hours, and we ended up being more than a little late to get back to the group's dinner.

I stayed at a great hostel where the owner had a flier detailing how to get to each via public transport etc, but the Muitanyu section takes quite a bit to get there via public transport and it wasn't all that much more to go out with a group in a minivan with a guide. Basically they dropped us off and gave us X number of hours to hike, and that suited us quite fine.

Thank you so much everyone! I'll probably have more specific questions as I delve deeper into this.....so I'll be posting more later!