Private Beijing Day Trip: Mutianyu Great Wall and Ming Tombs

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Free cancellationExcellent quality

1/9

Duration9h

GroupPrivate

LanguagesEN · DE +6

PickupAt your hotel

The Mutianyu section stays quieter than Badaling, and the restored Wall has handrails where it climbs steepest.

A private day trip from Beijing to the Mutianyu Great Wall and Ming Tombs, with a professional guide, hotel pickup and drop-off, lunch and entrance fees included. The tour runs about nine hours, starting at 8am from your hotel and taking roughly 90 minutes to reach the Wall. You choose which Ming Tomb section to visit — the Sacred Way with its stone sculptures, the largest Changling Tomb, or the only excavated underground palace at Dingling — and a guide in your chosen language leads both stops. Comfortable walking shoes are essential; the Wall involves moderate climbing, and dietary requirements can be arranged ahead of time.

Step-by-step itinerary

Visit Mutianyu Great Wall and Ming Tombs

Pick up from Beijing hotel at 8:00am
Drive 1.5 hours to Mutianyu Great Wall
Explore Mutianyu Great Wall
Have lunch at local Chinese restaurant
Visit Ming Tombs Sacred Way and tomb
Return to Beijing hotel

The Experience

Your driver and guide pick you up from your Beijing hotel at 8am and drive roughly 90 minutes to Mutianyu, a restored section of the Great Wall that draws fewer visitors than the closer Badaling site. The Wall here has handrails bolted into the steepest climbs, and the views open across the ridgeline without the crowds pressing behind you. After you've walked the Wall, you head back down for lunch at a local Chinese restaurant.

The Ming Tombs come next — a sprawl of thirteen imperial mausoleums built between 1409 and 1644 for Ming dynasty emperors. The Sacred Way is the entrance, a stone-lined processional flanked by twelve animal sculptures and six officials carved in lifelike detail; it leads deeper into the complex toward the tombs themselves. You pick which section to explore: Changling, the largest and earliest, with the best-preserved buildings; or Dingling, the only tomb whose underground palace was excavated and opened to visitors. Your guide walks you through whichever you choose, then the driver takes you back to your hotel.

The tour includes hotel pickup and drop-off, a professional guide who speaks your chosen language (English, Spanish, Italian, French or one of four others), all entrance fees for one Ming Tomb section, transport by private vehicle, and lunch. Wear comfortable walking shoes — the Wall involves a moderate amount of climbing, and the tombs mean more walking across the grounds. If you need a vegetarian meal or have other dietary needs, let the operator know when you book.

What’s included

Hotel pickup and drop-off from your Beijing hotel.
a professional guide in your choice of language.
entrance fees for one section of the Ming Tombs (Sacred Way, Changling, or Dingling).
private vehicle transport.
and lunch at a local Chinese restaurant, with vegetarian options available if you request them when booking.

Good to know

Moderate physical levelInfant seats available

Operated by Beijing Tour Guide

Is this one for you?Book this if your first days are tight on time: a private guide and included transport mean you skip arranging pickups and tickets, while Mutianyu's location keeps you away from the heaviest crowds at Badaling.