Mutianyu Great Wall (慕田峪长城)

Attraction · Beijing. A restored Great Wall section with ridge walks, shuttle buses and optional lifts.

Source: https://chinafootnotes.com/places/mutianyu-great-wall · Data checked 2026-10-06 · Rendered for 2026-10-08 (Asia/Shanghai). Facts carry their status; "not found yet" means we searched and found no reliable source.

Notices in effect

• 2026-04-27 to 2026-12-31: The upper Haohan Slope (好汉坡, Tower 19 toward Tower 20) is reported closed during phase-3 restoration, expected to finish by the end of 2026 (The Beijing News, 27 Apr 2026; the start date was not published); an outside ecological path reaches Towers 21–23.

Why go

Mutianyu Great Wall (慕田峪长城) is a separate, restored section of the wall in Huairou District. The wall climbs wooded ridges and has dense watchtowers, so the visit combines a mountain walk with a clear architectural route. Getting from central Beijing and choosing between shuttle, cable car and chairlift are as important as the entrance ticket; these products are sold separately.

What to do

• Walk between watchtowers. Follow the open, restored wall between its numbered towers. Choose how far to climb before setting out; the path is steep and includes long stair sections.
• Choose an uphill option. The ticket catalogue separates the basic entrance ticket from shuttle-bus and cable-car combinations. Read the product name before payment so you know whether your ascent and descent are included.
• Arrive from central Beijing. The operator lists buses from Dongzhimen to Huairou Beidajie, then H-series local buses to the scenic area. A tourist shuttle from Qianmen is another operator-listed option.
• Use the gate that matches your lift. Cable-car ticket holders enter only through the North gate; chairlift and toboggan ticket holders enter only through the toboggan gate. The cable car and the chairlift/toboggan are run by two different companies and their tickets are not interchangeable.

• Don't miss: Foreign passport bookers need no ticket exchange: bring the same original passport used for booking to the designated entry gate.

• Best time: Leave a full day from Beijing
• Skip if: Skip if you want a short city-centre stop or cannot handle steep stairs.

Practical details

• Hours: 07:30–18:00 weekdays · 18:30 weekends in season
• Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri: 07:30–18:00, last entry 17:30
• Sat, Sun: 07:30–18:30, last entry 18:00
• Mar 16–Nov 15 (03-16 to 11-15), Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri: 07:30–18:00, last entry 17:30
• Mar 16–Nov 15 (03-16 to 11-15), Sat, Sun: 07:30–18:30, last entry 18:00
• Nov 16–Mar 15 (11-16 to 03-15), Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri, Sat, Sun: 08:00–17:30, last entry 17:00
• Tickets stop selling one hour before close; gate checks stop 30 minutes before close.
• Only Towers 1–20 are open to visitors.
• The official rules page says the day session opens Towers 1–20 and the night session opens Towers 10–15.
• Admission: Ticketed · adult entry ¥40
• Adult standard entrance: ¥40 (Regular day)
• Postcard ticket (exchangeable for a souvenir postcard): ¥45 (Regular day)
• Round-trip shuttle bus: ¥15 — Listed at ¥15 in the official ticketing system product list.
• Cable car, one way: ¥100 — Official product list; separate company from the chairlift and toboggan.
• Cable car, round trip: ¥140 — Official product list.
• Concession: Foreign minors aged over 6 up to 18 and at least 1.2 m tall ¥20 (Passport; the rules page lists a discounted ticket for foreign minors over 6 and up to 18 who are at least 1.2 m tall. The ticketing system has no foreign-minor ticket type (its student ticket needs an ID card and a student card, from age 18), so confirm at the ticket office (010-61626928); ¥20 is the standard-ticket price for the student and older-visitor types.)
• Concession: Visitors aged 60+ from outside Beijing (older-visitor ticket) ¥20 (Standard older-visitor ticket (¥20): the ticketing system says 'Only Chinese mainland, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan visitors can buy' (仅支持中国大陆和港澳台游客可以购买). Postcard older-visitor ticket (¥25) and the older-visitor bundles with shuttle or cable car: the product text says only 外埠年龄60（含60周岁及以上）老年人, with no nationality limit, so whether foreign seniors can buy them is not confirmed; ask on 010-61626928 or at the ticket office, otherwise prepare the adult price (¥40, or ¥45 with the postcard))
• Concession: Enrolled Chinese undergraduates aged 18–25; holders of military, disability, social-security, fire-service or rescue cards (Valid original document; the operator rules page names these groups but no amount)
• Free: Chinese-national minors aged 18 or under, including Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan (with an adult) (Operator rules; free entry is for Chinese-national minors, so foreign children buy the discounted ticket)
• Free: Age 60+ with a Beijing Tong card (Card shown at the gate; the rule is written for card holders)
• Free: Children at or below 1.2 m: free on the shuttle bus and cable car (Height check; the toboggan is a separate company)
• Cable car ¥100 one way / ¥140 round trip, the ¥15 shuttle and the ¥45 postcard ticket are on the official ticketing system product list; the chairlift and toboggan are a separate company and are sold on site.
• Reddit: Cable car and toboggan/chairlift tickets are sold separately; toboggan ticket bought on site (≥2 authors, 2026). Authors: TwelveButtonsJim, aerotiteuf, grumblepup, ruzzian99, thiscantbechanged. Does not change the operator or official value.
• Visitor-reported (not on the product list): chairlift plus toboggan combination ¥140 and toboggan down only ¥100, by 陌茉, 桃子Chloe and 强尼戴普 (2026) and 冷三岁 and 黄鸡米 (2025); sold on site by the separate chairlift and toboggan company.
• Booking: Real-name ticket; book up to 30 days ahead
• Mutianyu official booking (慕田峪长城全网购票) — https://fx.mutianyugreatwall.com/fore/index?disCode=736798 · passport: yes
• Passport accepted: yes — Home page lists passports for booking; the rules page says foreign-passport bookers verify with the original booking document at the designated gate and need no exchange.
• The home page says entry is by original ID, but the operator rules page spells out that bookers using a foreign passport need no ticket exchange and verify with the original booking document at the designated gate. Refund or change is possible before the visit day ends (24:00) if the ticket is unscanned; money returns within 7 working days.
• Last admission: Gate check ends 30 min before close
• Time to allow: 3–5 hr on site; full-day outing
• Getting there: Via Dongzhimen · Bus 916 + H-series bus
• Show a taxi driver: 北京市怀柔区慕田峪长城景区
• The route and timetable page is older; recheck departure times before travel.
• Foreign visitors: Passport books the ticket and opens the gate

Not found yet

• foreignVisitors.payment: The operator pages and visitor accounts read do not state whether foreign cards work on the official booking system, and the Reddit thread could not be opened. (searched: operator + web, English blogs, Reddit via web search)
• foreignVisitors.foreignPhone: No page read says whether an overseas phone number can receive booking confirmation on the official Chinese system. (searched: operator, English blogs, TripAdvisor via web search)

Traveler tips

• Book with your passport, no exchange. Choose a dated Mutianyu Great Wall (慕田峪长城) ticket on the operator's booking system and enter your passport as the ID. Each document can buy one ticket per day, up to 30 days ahead. Foreign-passport bookers do not exchange the ticket: show the same original passport at the gate named for your product. Unscanned tickets can be refunded or changed until 24:00 on the visit day. Caveat: Each mobile number registers one user on the booking site; whether a foreign number can register was not tested. source
• Match your ticket to the right gate. A cable-car (缆车) ticket enters only through the North gate (北检票口). Chairlift (索道) and toboggan (滑道) tickets enter only through the toboggan gate (滑道检票口). The two lift companies are separate and their tickets are not interchangeable, so check the gate printed on your product before you set off. source
• Separate shuttle from admission. The basic adult entry ticket is ¥40 on the official product list, and the shuttle bus from the car park to the gates is an extra ¥15 round trip. Cable car and chairlift products have their own prices or bundles. Compare the product name and the rides it includes before paying. source
• Foreign children aged 6–18 pay a discounted ticket. The operator's rules list a discounted ticket for foreign minors over 6 and up to 18 who are at least 1.2 m tall; the ticketing system sells a standard ticket at ¥40 and a postcard ticket at ¥45, with ¥20 and ¥25 student and older-visitor types. The standard older-visitor ticket (¥20) is sold only to visitors from the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan. The postcard older-visitor ticket (¥25) states no nationality limit, so whether a foreign visitor aged 60 or over can buy it is not confirmed: ask on 010-61626928 or at the ticket office, otherwise prepare the adult price (¥40, or ¥45 with the postcard). Free entry is only for Chinese-national minors under 18 and for people aged 60+ holding a Beijing Tong card, so foreign children and seniors are not free. Children at or below 1.2 m ride the shuttle and cable car free; there are no other discounts on those rides. Caveat: The rules page names foreign minors aged 6–18 but the ticketing system has no foreign-minor ticket type, so the ¥20 for a foreign child is an inference; call 010-61626928 or ask at the ticket office before a family trip. The nationality restriction is quoted only for the standard older-visitor ticket: 仅支持中国大陆和港澳台游客可以购买; the postcard older-visitor ticket says only 外埠年龄60（含60周岁及以上）老年人. source
• Pick cable car or chairlift plus toboggan. The enclosed cable car (封闭式缆车) runs from the west side to Tower 14; the official product list prices it at ¥100 one way and ¥140 round trip. The open chairlift (索道) goes to Tower 6 on the east side, and the toboggan (滑道) brings you back down; those tickets are sold on site by a separate company. Mariana Dias describes the cable car ride as about 5 minutes. A June 2026 blogger was told the cable car line is shorter than the toboggan side. Caveat: The official catalogue lists the cable car prices; chairlift and toboggan prices were not on the product list read, and blogs (Nic Hilditch-Short, Mariana Dias, Kitty71) quote about ¥140 for lift combinations. The shorter-queue remark is second-hand (Kitty71 was told it). (3 travelers) source
• Combine cable car up and toboggan down. Two 2026 visitors went up by cable car to Tower 14 and walked east toward Tower 6, where the toboggan starts. Because the cable car and the toboggan belong to different companies, buy a product that names both rides or two separate tickets. The toboggan run is about 1,580 m and takes around 5–6 minutes. Caveat: The Haohan Slope closure affects the walk west beyond Tower 14; see the restoration tip. Mariana Dias and Laura are the sources for the walk and the 1,580 m run. (2 travelers) source
• Toboggan rules for families. The toboggan has a brake lever, so you control your own speed; staff told one rider off for going too fast. One 2026 guide says children under 10 must ride with an adult, and a family with five-year-olds was not allowed to ride at all. Queues vary: a June 2026 blogger was told waits at the chairlift and toboggan side can pass an hour, while Laura says it is typically about 15 minutes outside public holidays. 桃子Chloe (Jul 2026) writes that visitors aged 60 or over are not allowed on the toboggan and must come down by chairlift. Caveat: 桃子Chloe (Jul 2026, in a reply under her own post) lists the toboggan rules as: under 3 not allowed, 3 to 10 on a family car with an adult in the back controlling the brake, 10 and over may ride alone, 60 and over not allowed; 哒哒尚 (Jun 2025) was stopped because her mother was over 60 and her sons under 10, and a stranger took one son down. An anonymous commenter says staff once let a nine-year-old ride alone, so enforcement may vary. (6 travelers) source
• Arrive early: the wall is calm until about 09:00–09:30. Visitors agree the wall feels calm early and crowded by late morning. Kitty71 arrived at 09:20 and had space, then found it unpleasantly crowded two hours later; Mariana Dias reached the wall at 09:30 and saw it packed by 11:00. On Reddit, visitors who left Beijing at 06:00–06:30 had the wall almost to themselves until about 09:00, while a tour leaving at 08:00 reached the cable car at 11:05 and found the wall too packed to move. Ok-Contribution-3541 took an 8:00 bus, hiked to about section 23 and had the wall almost to themselves. A 13:00 arrival found no crowds. Caveat: These are single-day impressions in different seasons and not counts; the 8:00 bus and 13:00 arrival accounts show crowds depend on date and section, so treat 09:00 as a rule of thumb. Comment dates on Reddit are the thread's post date. (8 travelers) source
• Plan three to four hours on the wall. Allow at least 3 hours for the wall itself and 4 hours to explore properly. A family finished in under 3 hours, and a June visitor walking Towers 14 to 19 stopped partway because of the heat. The stair sections are steep. Caveat: 冷三岁 (Nov 2025) gives walking times of 30 minutes from the north trail to Tower 10, 45 to Tower 14, 60 on to Tower 20 and 40 back to 14, about 3.5–4 hours in all; Paris小胖泪 (Mar 2026) did Towers 14 to 20 and back by cable car in 2.5 hours from arriving at the foot at 10:00. (5 travelers) source
• Join the MuBus tour with your passport. A June 2026 tour visitor met the group at Dongzhimen (东直门) station, Exit B1, well before the 07:45 departure. She says the passport served as the ticket at checkpoints and at the cable car, so do not leave it at the hotel. Return buses started around 14:00 and she could stay until about 15:30. Caveat: Details describe one MuBus booking made through GetYourGuide. source
• Hire a Didi driver for the day. Open Didi (滴滴), choose intercity hire and search for Mutianyu Great Wall. Two 2026 blog authors report about ¥200 one way, or ¥625 for the return trip with a waiting driver, and 1.5–2.5 hours each way. This avoids the two-bus transfer and the walk from the H-series stop. (2 travelers) source
• Use the Dongzhimen bus route. From central Beijing reach Dongzhimen (东直门), take express bus 916 to Huairou Beidajie (怀柔北大街), then transfer to H7, H23, H24, H35 or H36 for Mutianyu. Nic Hilditch-Short describes about 2.5 hours one way, and the H buses can be infrequent. Taxi from Huairou Beidajie is the fallback. Caveat: Bus timetables change; recheck before travel. source
• Ignore people steering you onto other buses. One 2026 blog author warns about unofficial helpers at the bus station near Huairou Beidajie who may try to move you onto other buses, take visitors to a village and then charge a lot to reach the wall. Stay on the 916 and the H-series bus, or use a tourist bus or Didi instead. source
• Consider a direct tourist bus. The operator lists a tourist line from the Qianmen Transportation Hub for ¥80 round trip, departing 07:00–11:00 with returns 13:00–16:00 from Parking Lot P4; there are also departures at 09:10 from Dongzhimen (Exit H) and 09:30 from Shaoyaoju (Exit E). Tickets are sold on the bus, starting 30 minutes before departure and ending when it is full. Nic Hilditch-Short describes a 1.5-hour ride. Caveat: The operator's route page is dated 2024-03-22, so check times before travel. Nic Hilditch-Short gives departures between 07:30 and 10:00, slightly different from the operator's list. The ¥80 fare is not valid with a Beijing Transport Card or free passes. Xiaohongshu authors (九日 Aug 2025, 陌茉 Jul 2026, 一颗桔子Or Sep 2026, 津津友 Jan 2026, 强尼戴普 Jan 2026) each describe the Beijing Tourist Distribution Center bus at Qianmen (west of the Zhengyangmen arrow tower; Line 2 Exit C or Line 8 Exit I), ¥80 round trip, rolling departures from 06:30 or 07:00 to 11:00, returns about 13:00–16:00 and a 1.5–2 hour ride. 陌茉 says staff sell the ¥40 gate ticket on the bus (default bundle ¥180 with the cable car, which you may decline), push lift and souvenir sales, and that other tickets bought online may have to be refunded; 九日 did not meet any hard selling, and a commenter says a bus ticket bought elsewhere drops you at the visitor-centre car park without the shuttle. Beware touts around Qianmen who offer cheaper rides (九日). (6 travelers) source
• Watch the final gate time. In the long season, weekday closing is 18:00 and weekend closing is 18:30; winter closing is 17:30. Ticket sales stop an hour before closing and admission checks stop 30 minutes before closing. source
• Check the weather closures. The operator closes the whole scenic area when mountain weather is dangerous: 10 and 11 July 2026 were closed under a red rainstorm warning, and further summer closures followed. Refunds go through the original ticket channel. Read the operator announcement list the evening before and again before leaving Beijing. source
• Check which towers are under repair. From 26 May 2026 the wall between Towers 16 and 17 is closed for restoration, while the inside of Tower 16 stays open. The upper Haohan Slope (好汉坡) toward Tower 20 is also reported closed during phase-3 work. This can cut the usual west walk from Tower 14 to Tower 20, so ask staff at the cable-car top. Caveat: The operator notice gives no end date for the 16–17 work; The Beijing News (27 Apr 2026) reported the Haohan Slope closure as expected to end by the close of 2026. source
• Leave a full day for the wall. An April 2026 visitor left central Beijing at 06:00, reached the Mutianyu entrance around 07:15 and spent about five and a half hours on site including breaks. The return drive took substantially longer than the outbound trip in their experience. Allow a generous buffer if you have an evening train or flight. Caveat: One visitor's April 2026 day trip. Comment dates on Reddit are the thread's post date. source
• Cable car and toboggan tickets are separate. The official site sells the postcard ticket with the shuttle bus and the cable car; the chairlift/toboggan ticket is bought on site. The cable car lands at Tower 14 and the toboggan starts at Tower 6, so doing both means walking the stretch between (about 1.5 hours in total). Caveat: Comment dates on Reddit are the thread's post date. (5 travelers) source
• Toboggan queues run from minutes to two hours. Reported waits for the toboggan ranged from 10–15 minutes off-peak to 1 hour on a weekday morning and 2 hours on a Friday, where the visitor took the chairlift down instead. Reach Tower 6 before 11:00 and ride when it is quiet. Caveat: Holiday weekends were said to reach 2–3 hours. Comment dates on Reddit are the thread's post date. (3 travelers) source
• Private car and Didi prices. Reported prices: one-way Didi around 215 CNY (about 1 hour out, up to 1 h 45 min back in traffic); a premium car with a 3-hour wait for 800 CNY return; a private car for two at 450 CNY plus tickets of 680 CNY and a 100 CNY shuttle. Caveat: Comment dates on Reddit are the thread's post date. (2 travelers) source
• Passport checks at the gate vary. highly-regulated (Aug 2026) had passports scanned at the Forbidden City and at the Great Wall, section not named. Expensive-Pea1963 says the Forbidden City asked for ID and the Great Wall did not ask for anything, but only for someone holding a China travel card. Caveat: Neither commenter names the wall section, and Expensive-Pea1963's reply is conditional ('if you have your China travel card'). At Mutianyu the operator's rules say foreign-passport bookers verify the original passport at the designated gate. Comment dates on Reddit are the thread's post date. (2 travelers) source
• What visitors pay for the lifts. Several authors give the same prices: cable car (14) ¥100 one way or ¥140 round trip; chairlift (6) ¥100 one way or ¥140 round trip, up and down allowed; toboggan down only ¥100. Popular combinations are cable car up plus toboggan or chairlift down at ¥200 (黄鸡米, 今晚打老虎) and chairlift up plus toboggan down at ¥140 (陌茉, 桃子Chloe, 强尼戴普 who adds that under-10s must ride with an adult). Chairlift and toboggan tickets are bought on site. Caveat: The official ticketing system product list prices the cable car, the shuttle and the entrance tickets; the chairlift and toboggan amounts are from visitor posts (黄鸡米 May 2025, 冷三岁 Nov 2025, 强尼戴普 Jan 2026, 今晚打老虎 Apr 2026, 桃子Chloe Jul 2026, 陌茉 Jul 2026) and are recorded in the admission notes. (6 travelers) source
• Cable car up, walk Towers 15–20, then choose the slide or the cable car. 今晚打老虎 (Apr 2026) rode the cable car from the north gate to Tower 14 (the 'Hero' stone), walked to Tower 20 (the highest point), back through Tower 15 to Tower 6 and took the toboggan down. Paris小胖泪 (Mar 2026) skipped the toboggan after a driver said the queue was 1–2 hours and the 6–14 stretch is the dullest, going up and down by cable car and walking Towers 15–20 in 2.5 hours. 冷三岁 (Nov 2025) recommends walking down and sliding if you have the energy, and the north cable car over the south chairlift for better views. Caveat: Authors disagree on whether the slide is worth its queue; waits of one to two hours are reported on busy days (anonymous commenters add a one-hour slide queue and a two-hour cable-car queue on May holidays), so go early or on a weekday. (3 travelers) source
• Hiking up the trail is an option. Jay周末去哪儿 (Jul 2025) climbed the south trail to Tower 8, walked on to 15 and came back by the north trail in about three hours, saying the south trail is gentler and the north trail is mostly steps. 陌茉 (Jul 2026) walked both ways with parents, 30–40 minutes up for a brisk walker and 40 minutes down, with plenty of mosquitoes; 桃子Chloe (Jun 2026) says she reached the wall in 17 minutes on the shaded path. The north trail exit is a small gate near the cable-car station. Caveat: Times differ a lot between authors (17 to 40 minutes up) and in July the trails are hot; 陌茉 advises insect repellent and the lifts remain the easier choice for older visitors. (4 travelers) source
• The window sells the postcard ticket by default. 冷三岁 (Nov 2025) says the on-site window sells the postcard version of the ticket by default, ¥45, plus ¥15 for the shuttle, while the plain ticket is ¥40. Self-drivers pay ¥20 for parking at the gate and take the ¥15 shuttle to the foot of the wall. Caveat: One author; the operator lists the postcard ticket (¥45) separately from the ¥40 electronic ticket. source

Sources

• Mutianyu Great Wall Tourism Service Co.
• Mutianyu Great Wall Tourism Service Co.
• Mutianyu Great Wall Tourism Service Co. (published 2024-03-22)
• Mutianyu Great Wall Tourism Service Co.
• Mutianyu Great Wall Tourism Service Co.
• Mutianyu Great Wall Tourism Service Co. (published 2026-05-25)
• Beijing Daily Client (京报网) (published 2026-07-09)
• The Beijing News (via NetEase subscription account) (published 2026-04-27)
• Kitty71 (published 2026-07-03)
• Mariana Dias (published 2026-09-28)
• Laura (published 2026-10-03)
• Nic Hilditch-Short (published 2026-08-26)
• machinaOverlord (published 2025-12-17)
• TwelveButtonsJim (published 2026-02-18)
• ruzzian99 (published 2026-02-18)
• Firm_Sentence_7660 (published 2026-04-23)
• grumblepup (published 2026-04-24)
• thiscantbechanged (published 2026-04-24)
• aerotiteuf (published 2026-04-28)
• l-owered (published 2026-04-29)
• ashkarck27 (published 2026-08-16)
• geomarq (published 2026-08-16)
• jesuistimide47 (published 2026-08-16)
• Expensive-Pea1963 (published 2026-08-22)
• highly-regulated (published 2026-08-22)
• Mutianyu Great Wall Tourism Service Co. (WeChat official account) (published 2026-09-23)
• Ok-Contribution-3541 (published 2026-08-16)
• 九日 (published 2025-08-21)
• 陌茉 (published 2026-07-04)
• 一颗桔子Or (published 2026-09-18)
• 津津友下班吃什么 (published 2026-01-08)
• 强尼戴普 (published 2026-01-17)
• 桃子Chloe (published 2026-06-03)
• 哒哒尚 (published 2025-06-26)
• 冷三岁 (published 2025-11-23)
• Paris小胖泪 (published 2026-03-21)
• 黄鸡米 (published 2025-05-16)
• 今晚打老虎 (published 2026-04-29)
• Jay周末去哪儿 (published 2025-07-04)
• Mutianyu Great Wall Tourism Service Co.

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