Travel and Hiking

We are happy to offer this incredible trip regularly. It is now the sixth time that we organize it. Not only did we improve the entertaiment items such as sand skiing or riding a camel in the endless desert. Also we have upgraded our accommodation and have a storng logistical support to ensure everyone can finish the trip. You have enough water and food supply. We are even upgrading the lunch box this time - something more Western, light, and stylish rather than Chinese snacks style. Don't hesitate to join the trip with us. :))

Tengger Desert, also called Tenggeli Desert in Chinese, is located in southwestern Alxa Left Banner, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. It borders the Gansu Province and Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region. Tengger Desert is 240 kilometers (149 miles) from north to south, and 160 kilometers (99 miles) from east to west, making it the fourth largest desert in China with a size of 43,000 square kilometers (16,602 sq miles). Sand dunes cover 71 percent of this area, accompanied by several inner lakes, flatlands, grasslands and hills. At first glance, this large-scale desert seems to extend to reach the sky.

Swan Lake Viewing

Swan Lake is the most famous one among all the inner lakes of the Tengger Desert. Along the lake shore are many sand jujube trees. The best time to visit Swan Lake is March to May. Many swans roost and play here in late March and early April; at the same time visitors can enjoy flourishing Malan flowers.

Moon Lake Sightseeing

Another attractive scenic area is Moon Lake, around 35 kilometers (22 miles) from Swan Lake. It is a favorable desert adventure camp site. Surprisingly, half of the lake is fresh water, and another part is salty water. The shape of Moon Lake is similar to that of a map of China.

Itinerary：

For this trip, we are traveling by train. Here is train information:

Train recommendation:

Date: April 2nd (night sleeping train)

Train number: D267

Destination: Yinchuan

Departure time: 19:59pm

Arrival time: 07:00am (second day)

Day 1: April 3rd - Hiking Distance: 11km

Brief: we set out from Yinchuan train station at 08:00am and towards to the Tengger Desert by vehicle. All people who meet at train station will have an easy breakfast together, then we set out. (The specific location we will post in the group before arriving there.)

During the trip, we will stop 2 times. One is bathroom short break; One is for having a group photo at the beginning of the hike.

11:00: Arrive the Tengger Desert, beginning of hike.

12:00: Have a lunch break.

19:00: Arrive the Swan Lake and end of hike.

Group dinner: Local dishes with some meat.

Accommodation: Mongolian yurt shaped tent/luxury solo camping (There is a public showering place, if you'd like to take shower, you need to pay by youself. )

Note: You can put your luggage on the vehicle and take drinks and food you need when you are hiking.

Day 2: April 4th - Hiking Distance: 27km

Brief: We will have a local breakfast at the accomodation. They will offer hot water. We offer some tea, instant coffer and milk. Please pack your luggage and put on the vehicle. Then, take drinks and food you need when you are hiking.

07:00: Breakfast.

08:00: Starting the hike.

11:30: Arrive at Wulan lake to have a lunch break.

17:00: Arrive the terminal.

Group dinner: Local dishes, lamb stew with rice.

Accommodation: Mongolian yurt shaped tent/luxury solo camping (There is a public showering place, if you'd like to take shower, you need to pay by youself. )

Note: We hike 27 kilometers all day in the heart of the desert. When lakes show in front of your eyes, all is worthy it. It is a big day. If you feel not good, let leaders know ASAP.

Day 3: April 5th - Hiking Distance: 18km

Brief: We will have a local breakfast at the accomodation. They will offer hot water. We offer some tea, instant coffer and milk. Please pack your luggage and put on the vehicle. Then, take drinks and food you need when you are hiking. After hiking, we will have a noodle soup at somewhere.

06:00: Breakfast;

(The distance will be shorten; It depents on hikers status.)

07:00: Starting the hike

12:00: Lunch break at Jigetu lake

14:00: Ending the hike

16:00: Arrive back Yinchuan

Note: After the hike, we rent a vehicle back to Yinchuan around 4.00pm. If you book a flight, you could choose a flight after 6.00pm.

If you will take a train go back Beijing, then train No.D265, from Yinchuan to Beijing West is recommented.

Return ticket information:

Date: April 5th

Train number: D265

Destination: Beijing West Station

Departure time: 21:12pm

Arrival time: 08:34am (second day)

3-Day trip information:

Date: April 3th - April 5th

Leaders: Lengzhi and Nuanyang

Price: 2319/person (6 people)

Price: 2219/person (7-8 people)

Kids/Students: 1915/person

Includes:

Transportation during the trip in the hiking.

Activities: sand surfuing, camel riding in 1km.

Attractions tickets such as entrance desert, and lakeside area.

Formal meals as listed in the itinerary.

Accommodations listed in the itinerary.

3 days Insurance.

HikersFamily's snacks bag.

3 days lunch box, and one noodle soup at the last day after hiking, water during the hike and one beer/person/day.

Sand gaiters.

Subsidies: Meals and accommodation subsidies for a driver and two guides.

Excludes

Transportation to and from Yinchuan.

Personal expenses such as taking a shower.

Pay full payment when we confirm the trip. We will confirm the trip on Mach 16th.

The cancellation fee will be calculated as follows:

Cancellation received after Mach 16th: 0% refund

Join us:

Add mona_zhangli as your wechat, or scan the QR in below. I'll add you into the group.

Walk from Gubeikou to Jinshanling, following stretches of restored and unrestored Great Wall and taking a detour through the pretty farmland that surrounds Hemp Village, finishing all the way over at the eastern end of Jinshanling.

The hike begins at the Gubeikou section of the Great Wall in Miyun County, very close to the border of the Beijing and Hebei provinces. Even though it’s designated as a park, this section of the Great Wall is largely unrestored. It’s not often visited either, probably because it is so far away from central Beijing.

We’ll start the walk with a short climb up to a tower on the Wall. There are a lot of towers on this stretch of the Wall – some in good condition, some tumbled down to foundations only. From the first tower we can see the Wall stretching off into the hills of northern Miyun. We’ll be following it the other way, towards Jinshanling, and Hebei Province.

It would be nice to walk on the Wall all the way to Jinshanling, but part of it borders military land and that section of it is blocked off. This means taking a detour through Spider Valley!

Along the way to Jinshanling we’ll get a different view of the wall, walking a trail by the base of the Mongolia side, and making a few tricky ascents and descents on the way to the archway that will get us back on top. This section is the west side of the Jinshanling Great Wall.

We’ll be following the Jinshanling Great Wall from west to east, starting off on the unrestored section before heading down into the main restored area. We’ll head straight through the restored area, and on towards the Simatai Great Wall.

Cost: ¥510 / ¥460 for members

See a full description, more photos, and book online at https://www.beijinghikers.com/hike-in-beijing/view/1115/gubeikou-to-jinshanling-great-wall-east-6/

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 relaxed outing featuring strolls in two mountain villages in Beijing’s west mountains—one village with courtyards and temples, the other with walls and large Great Wall towers.

Lingshui Village

Lingshui Village is also known as “Scholar’s Village”, because of the relatively large number of residents who passed the Imperial Exams.

The village is a compact collection of courtyards—some large, some small, some newly-repaired, and some falling down due to neglect. There are temples on the north, south, east, and west edges of the village, and a tall mountain looms over the west side.

We’ll do a walking tour of the village, starting with Wenchang Temple and Kuichang Lou and looping around to visit Immortal Mother Temple, Fire Dragon Temple and some of the other interesting locations, including several trees that are 1000 years old.

Yanhe River Fort

Thick walls encircle a village that was a Ming Dynasty fort, sited on the bank of a river that flows through to Beijing city.

The fort garrisoned soldiers who guarded the passes that lead through the mountains to Beijing, with the ancient path by the river being one of the easy ways through to Beijing from Hebei.

The walls were built in 1578, and the fort was used from the Ming Dynasty into the Qing Dynasty.

Yanhekou ‘Two Towers’ Great Wall

Not far from the fort are the ‘Two Towers’, and we’ll climb up to take a look at both of them.

The towers are sited at the end of a narrow gorge that held one of the ancient paths through the mountains, and their size makes them appear absolutely dominant. The two towers are both fully intact, and appear to have had only minor repairs done. Stairs in each of the towers lead up to the roof, and some of the original mantles and drains show special touches with carved designs.

Cost: ¥450 / ¥405 for members / ¥240 for kids

See a full description, more photos, and book online at https://www.beijinghikers.com/hike-in-beijing/view/2155/lingshui-scholars-village-and-yanhe-river-fort/

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 9km hike that shows small-village rural views, high mountain scenery, and early Ming Dynasty-era stone-built Great Wall and the remains of a rare mountain-top fort.

Shuitou Village is an isolated farming settlement that is now starting to empty out. On our first visits it was difficult to reach due to a rough and rocky road, and the village was rustic to the point that it made Big Boss Xiran feel like she was back in 80s-era China.

The Great Wall at Shuitou is at the western end of the long line of Great Wall that starts at Shuiguan and passes through Badaling, Shixiaguan, Big Camp Plate, and Zhenbiancheng.

It’s some of the highest wall in the Beijing area. Up by the mountain-top fort the elevation is around 1,560m above sea level. That’s similar to the wall at Huangcaoliang in Mentougou (also 1,560m-ish), and significantly higher than the ‘High Tower’ (1,440m).

The hike

The hike begins with a walk that follows farming tracks in the fields around Shuitou Village. The fields fill the flatter ground at the foot of the tall mountains behind the village.

From the fields to the wall it’s a long, steady climb with just a few steep bits. The first part is in a rocky valley where we’ll cross some slips and washed out sections. Further up, we start working our way up into the forest, leaving the valley floor and taking a winding path through the trees.

At the top, we’ll arrive at a clearing on the ridgeline, which is where we’ll find the remains of the old fort, and the beginning of the Great Wall. We’ll take a longer break here, with the option to make a short detour over to a repaired gate that’s also the back door of a far-off canyon scenic area.

On the other side of the crags and cliffs we’ll be able to walk on top of the wall and follow it all the way down to the bottom of the hill.

We’ll take another quick break at the bottom of the hill to check out the remains of the fortified pass, and then we’ll hike out along dirt roads back to Shuitou Village to finish.

Cost: ¥380 / ¥340 for members

See a full description, more photos, and book online at https://www.beijinghikers.com/hike-in-beijing/view/2184/shuitou-village-great-wall-loop/

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.

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/1741/gubeikou-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

Spend the day out in Cuandixia, a Ming Dynasty-era village in the mountains west of Beijing – first a walk in the hills near the village, then a good look about the old courtyards, temples, and narrow lanes of the village itself. Lunch included.

The name of this village – ‘Cuandixia’ – translates roughly as ‘Below the cooking-stove’, which could be interpreted as meaning a good safe spot that’s hard to find. You’ll also find it on maps as ‘Chuandixia,’ as the character for Chuan (川) is much less complicated than that of Cuan (爨).

We’ll start our day out with a walk in the hills around the village, making a loop that will bring us back to the starting point for a big lunch.

Then we’ll take a tour of the alleys, lanes, paved stairs, and courtyard houses. It will be quite a long day, but well worth it!

Cost: ¥450 / ¥405 for members / ¥220 for kids

See a full description, more photos, and book online at https://www.beijinghikers.com/hike-in-beijing/view/283/ming-village-day-trip/

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 the old Qingchashan track up to the clifftops on the east side of Zhenzhu Lake for views of the lake far below, with mountains and canyons and cliffs all around.

The hike starts at a truly obscure location in Mentougou’s mountains.

Heading out west on the old National Highway, we take a tiny turn off on to a narrow road built out to serve a now-decommissioned power plant and its train station, and then turn off that narrow road into the Nanshiyang Grand Canyon, following a concrete road that is even narrower.

The cliffs of the canyon rise vertically, hundreds of meters above the canyon floor. We’ll eventually arrive at a gap in the cliffs, the beginning of the poetically-named Walnut Valley.

The hike starts out gradually, hopping over rocks in a rill formed by a washout.

At a fork further up the valley we’ll turn on to the Qingchashan Trail, once upon a time used by travellers crossing over the hills and by farmers making their way to flatter sections of land atop the canyon cliffs.

We’ll cross another ridge, and then make a climb on a zig-zagging trail to reach the tops of the cliffs above Zhenzhu Lake.

Here we’ll take a tour of the main outlooks, with some lovely views of the green lake far below, plus expansive views of mountains, canyons, and cliffs.

The hike finishes with a long descent on winding gravel tracks to come down from the cliffs.

Cost: ¥400 / ¥360 for members

See a full description, more photos, and book online at https://www.beijinghikers.com/hike-in-beijing/view/1992/zhenzhu-lake-tops/

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 looping walk over tricky terrain and unrestored ‘wild’ Great Wall on the west side of Jiankou, peaking at the impressive Nine-Eyes Tower.

The hike

We start out on a trail out the back of the village at Jiankou, climbing up and over a ridge and down again into a forested valley.

We’ll gradually head up the valley, turning off to climb a steep trail that leads to Er Dao Bian Tower, the start of the Nine-Eyes Tower loop. Er Dao Bian roughly translates as ‘Two Roads On Each Side,’ and at this point in the hike we’ll be at approximately 900m above sea level.

The Great Wall that leads up to Nine-Eyes Tower is not in good condition. The first section is now just a pile of rocks that leads up into a forest. Further up into the forest, we'll find the foundations of towers, and then some battlements and side walls begin to appear out of the trees.

The Great Wall that leads up to Nine-Eyes Tower is also very steep. We'll be gaining 300m of altitude on the way up.

Nine-Eyes Tower is nearly 1,200m above sea level. In its original condition it had three levels, and the lower level had nine windows on each side. It would have been an impressive sight, and still is to some extent—it's an unusually large tower, and repairs made in 2014 show the layout of its lower level.

We'll follow a hill trail back down to Er Dao Bian Tower and then hike the wall south towards the Chinese Knot section, passing around and over ten towers on a stretch of wall known locally as the 'Big West Wall'.

The first four towers are not in the best condition, and the trail we take sometimes skirts around sections that are too steep or too broken to walk on.

After a while we’ll be back on to more solid footing, and we'll get excellent views of the Big West Wall: solid and uncommonly tall foundations made of huge carved rocks topped with Ming Dynasty (1368–1644 AD) brickwork and towers.

At the tenth tower of the Big West Wall, just below the Chinese Knot, we’ll leave the wall and follow a trail back to Xizhazi Village – steep and slippery at the beginning, flattening out as we pass through a lovely forested area and the villagers’ orchards and fields.

Our bus will be waiting for us at the village carpark, and we'll unpack our picnic tables for snacks and cold drinks before we head back to Beijing.

Cost: ¥430 / ¥390 for members

See a full description, more photos, and book online at https://www.beijinghikers.com/hike-in-beijing/view/1987/nine-eyes-tower-and-the-jiankou-big-west-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 up and over repaired Great Wall and cross the glass bridge in the Lakeside Great Wall Scenic Area, and then hike out the back of the park area to find quieter trails and unrepaired Great Wall at Longquanyu.

At the Lakeside Great Wall we start off by crossing over the ‘70s-era dam that created the reservoir here, and then we make a short climb to get up on to the repaired Great Wall. From atop the wall here we’ll be able to see wall all around – an unrepaired section of Great Wall climbing a cliff above the reservoir, and more of the repaired wall on the other side of the lake. The views of the reservoir itself are also excellent – the wall runs high above the lake, and we’ll see little paddleboats dotting the water.

Just outside the Lakeside Great Wall park area is a short stretch of repaired Great Wall that soon turns rough and wild. We’ll follow the wall up to a large tower on a hill top, and then over and along to a dip in the hills. A short, steep, and somewhat tricky descent takes us down into the dip.

Beyond the dip the Great Wall heads up to cliffs and then dead-ends. We won’t hike up that way; we’ll instead follow field trails down into a valley, and then down a narrow track to get back to the Lakeside Great Wall scenic area.

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/1733/lakeside-great-wall-and-longquanyu-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

Follow the western end of the repaired Great Wall at Badaling up and over a big mountain or two to finish on the ‘wild’ section east of Stone Valley Village. (It’s not the super-touristy part of Badaling!)

This part is known as the Badaling Ancient Great Wall, and it has all been repaired and fixed up.

Most visitors here just take a look at the lower two towers and head back, as the Great Wall here gets rather steep.

What we’ll do for this hike is keep going up, and up, and then over and down, then up and over another hill … all the way to Stone Valley Village.

The views are superb the whole way—to the north, a broad plain lies below mountains; to the south, more mountains and maybe a glimpse of Beijing city; to the east, the Badaling Great Wall runs through the hills to a high peak; and to the west, more Great Wall running along ridges.

The exercise is also superb! For almost all the hike you’re either climbing up or climbing down, and it gets quite steep. And once you get over the first mountain and down the other side, there’s a smaller hill to go up and over, and we’ll see some unrepaired Great Wall here before hiking down to the finish.

Cost: ¥450 / ¥405 for members

See a full description, more photos, and book online at https://www.beijinghikers.com/hike-in-beijing/view/2145/badaling-ancient-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