Morning - Drive north to Miyun (depart 07:30 AM)
Leave Beijing and follow the Miyun reservoir north-east for about two hours. Gubei Water Town is a canal settlement built in the northern Chinese style, its stone lanes, workshops and dye houses set along a river at the foot of the wall. Your guide walks you through the workshops - wine makers, dye houses and shadow-puppet stalls - before the crowds build.
Lunch
A restaurant inside the water town serving northern country dishes.
Afternoon - Simatai Great Wall
Simatai is one of the few stretches of the Great Wall that keeps its original Ming appearance, with the citadels and the barracks in their original form. It was built in 1378 and strengthened in the 1570s under the general Qi Jiguang, who is credited with the dense battlements and the watchtowers built to hold small garrisons. The wall climbs a ridge above the reservoir, and the light in the late afternoon throws the parapets into clear shape. A cable car reaches the lower towers for those who prefer not to climb every step.
Evening - Return to Beijing
Drive back to the city, arriving at your hotel in the evening.
Meals
Lunch
Accommodation
Day tour - no hotel night included.
