Hiking in Beijing

[sailorphyn]

I just picked up the Hiking Around Beijing book and was hoping to organize some friends to attempt to do one of these hikes (even though the maps are all hand drawn and scarily basic). They suggest hikes in the following areas:

- Silver Pagoda 银山塔林

- Huang Hua Cheng 黄花城

- North Huan Rou 怀柔北部地区

- Mi Yun 密云地区

- Miao Feng Shan 妙峰山地区

- Ming Village Ming底下村

- Yan Qing 延庆地区

I am very new to Beijing and so have no idea where these places are, how far away they are, and if there is any public transporation available (last part being especially important).

Any advice?

[imron]

Huang Hua Cheng 黄花城 used to be one of my favourite places to go hiking around Beijing. It used to be nothing but old crumbling Great Wall, with no ticket fees (unless you count enterprising locals charging 2 yuan for access to track that led to the wall, and even they were easy enough to avoid if you knew where you were going). There were several different segments you could hike along, each maybe a couple of hours in total. Then a little over 2 years ago they started renovations to "fix up" the wall to attract more tourists, and in my opinion ruined it (though on the plus side, I now have photos of the Great Wall being built ). I'm not sure how old that book is, but if it's more than 2 years old, the section on Huang Hua Cheng might be out of date, and possibly not worth the trip out there.

[roddy]

For the bus routes, you're going to need to get one of the maps sold at newspaper kiosks - 北京交通地图 - and cross reference it with the Beijing hikers maps. How close the public transport will get you to the actual start of the hikes though is anyone's guess.

A couple of simpler (but more expensive options) would be to hook up with one of the groups that does hikes - the Beijing Hikers and Chinese Culture Club both do hikes, and if you are at a university there may be a hiking club.

Alternative, you should be able to hire a car and driver for a day - I recently got a full day car (clean, reliable) + driver (likewise) for 400Y, and you could probably find cheaper if you looked. As always, it's money vs hassle.

Roddy

[ironmonkey]

Hey folks. I'm new to Beijing and am looking for ways to meet people who like to get into the mountains. I'm up for day hikes, overnight camping, or even mountaineering, I just need to get out of the city and see some green! Anyone want to plan a trip? We could rent a car and explore a section of the great wall, and maybe even try to get a camping trip together. I'll certainly need help planning, and any advice on possible ROUTES would be much appreacited..