Hebei Great Wall 2 Day Tour

Picked from your downtown hotel in Datong at 8:00am by our English speaking tour guide and then first drive to Huangyaguan Great Wall . Huangyaguan ( Huangya Pass ) Great Wall is located 130km to the east of Beijing and 30km in the north of Ji County ( or Jixian County) in Tianjin. This section of Huangyaguan Great Wall used to be 54km in length with 52 guide-towers and 14 beacon-owers. It was originally built in 556 in Northern Qi Dynasty (550-577). It was rebuilt with bricks and towers by Qi Jiguang (November 12, 1528 – January 5, 1588), the commander in chief Qizhen Garrison, one of the nine garrisons responsible for the frontier defense and the building of the Great Wall from Beijing to Shanhaiguan You are escorted to hike the east section of Huangyaguan Great Wall which is also known as Taipingzhai Great Wall, 2152m long with its east linked to the steep ridge of Banlagang Mountain and its west connected down to Huangyaguan Pass, or the castle in the valley. After the 2-3 hour hike, you are transferred to Panjiakou Great Wall , about 130km to the northeast of Huangyaguan Great Wall . The Panjiakou Reservoir has submerged the town of Panjiakou and some sections of the Great Wall. The submerged sections of the wall go throught the pass and the part of the Wall on the low hills are also submerged. If during the drought season and the reservoir has less water, you will see the underwater Great Wall, which has become a tourist scene, attracting a great number of tourists and photographers. You are ferried by speedboat to the farmhouse at the foot of Panjiakou Great Wall for an overnight stay (The room is quite basic.).

If a fine day, you are arranged to get up early to catch the sunrise. Climbing on the north section of Panjiakou Great Wall and the wall is dilapidated and overgrown. Standing on the third guide-tower, look at the farmhouse below. The Panjiankou Great Wall Pass is almost totally submerged. There are two farmhouses on the small peninsula protruding from the hill and the Great Wall at our feet. Some sections of the Wall are underwater. The reservoir and the Great Wall turns golden and bright under the fresh sunshine. After simple Chinese breakfat, you continue to take a speedboat to the nearby Xifengkou Great Wall , not far from the east of Panjiakou Great Wall Pass, which is an another famous great wall pass. Xifengkou Great Wall section was orginally built in the early years in Ming Dynaty (1368 – 1644) under the command of by General Xuda. Xinfengkou Great Pass was one of the 32 strategically imortant passes built on the Yanshan Mountain Ranges. It was successively repaired and rebuilt due to the numerous flights and battles in different dynasties. The Pass was also submerged in the reservoir. After 1-2 hour hike around Xifengkou Great Wall, you take the speedboat back to the bank of Panjiakou Reservior where your private car driver will take you back to Beijing. On the way, you are arranged to visit the Eastern Qing Tombs . The Eastern Tombs of Qing Dynasty in Zunhua County is one of the two burial sites for the remains of emperors, empresses, consorts,and princesses in Qing Dynasty ( 1644-1911). It is situated 125km away east of Beijing at Malanyu, Zunhua County, Hebei Province. In 1661, the 2nd year of Emperor Kangxi's reign, the emperor ordered its construction. The whole project took about two centuries to complete, until Empress Dowager Cixi was buried in 1908. The important tombs include the Xiao Tomb of the first emperor of Qing, Emperor Shunzhi, the Jing Tomb of Emperor Kangxi, the Yu Tomb of Emperor Qianlong, the Ding Tomb of Emperor Xianfeng, the Hui Tomb of Emperor Tongzhi, and tombs of the empresses Xiaozhuang, Ci'xi. All were erected over a span of 272 years. After hiking the Wall and visiting the Tomb, you are returned to your hotel in Beijing.