"Downtown Beijing to Mutianyu Great Wall" Top 5 Page for this destination Beijing Shi Transportation Tip by sugarpuff

I took this trip in February 08 and had some problems trying to find the bus but fortunately I speak Chinese so any problems were soon cleared up!!! So I can give you all the info I know. I live at Dongzhimen so the walk wasn't too bad. Yes, basically get out of Dongzhimen subway exit B and it is literally there, the bus stop that is!! You will see the Airport Express entrance right there also. Now for the tricky part..there are SEVERAL 916# buses...yes, not so clever I know!! They have the same deal with 918# buses...don't ask me why!!

Basically there is the 916# that goes to every stop imaginable and takes forever, then there is the 916# air conditioned bus which stops at quite a few places along the way and then finally there is the 916# which is the fast one and doesn't stop that often according to the bus stop sign!!! I took the air conditioned one even though I didn't need air conditioning because it was Feb, but it was the first one that turned up that wasn't full (a popular route). It took about 2 hours to get there. I asked the bus lady to let me know which stop to get off at for Mutianyu Great Wall and she did. Before you get to that stop however you will have taxi touts jumping on the bus and trying to convince you to take their 'black' cabs. My friend who was with me said that if she hadn't been with me, a Chinese speaking person, she would have been so confused and would have probably got off at that point! The thing with Chinese people is that they don't tend to help you that often and so I had to keep asking the bus lady "is this the stop?" as I thought we were maybe going past it, but she didn't tell me that the taxi drivers were illegal and again, if I HADN'T been living in China for so long, I would have probably got off the bus and gone with the taxi drivers....anyway..finally we got to the stop..I think I have it written down somewhere..I'll look for it and get back to you...

Then we hired a mini van which cost us about 60RMB return. You will have to bargain with him and don't pay him until you're back at the bus stop later that day. Set a time you will be coming back down the wall and if you have a phone, take his number so you can call him in case your plans change..not that he will understand English of course!!!Hahah..sorry!

Mutianyu doesn't tend to have crowds and it really is very beautiful..far more so than Badaling which is like a Disneyworld.

Any other questions, please ask!

Mode: AROUND
Type: Bus