Must-See Destinations: The Great Wall

Remember when I started a series on Must-See Destinations vs. Photo-Only Attractions?  And then I only covered mediocre attractions and never got around to the good stuff?

This week, fresh off a recent visit to Beijing, I'm going to cover the Big Daddy of China destinations: the Great Wall of China.  There aren't many places in the world that have given me such a giddy feeling of "I can't believe I'm here.  Oh my gosh.  This is so much cooler than even I could have imagined."

Now I'm a five-time veteran of the Great Wall, having visited five different sites in four different seasons (chilly winter, gorgeous green spring, sunny summer, and rainy fall).  I have adopted a theory that it's almost impossible to have a bad time at the Great Wall of China.  This theory probably doesn't hold up if you're a Mongol invader from the Middle Ages.

The Great Wall stretches east to west across much of northern China.  It ranges from a clay mound in the west to impressive, tourist-filled restored sections within driving distance of Beijing.  More information about the different Beijing sections is here.

Click any picture to enlarge

In order of their distance from Beijing, I have been to Badaling (closest, first-opened), Juyongguan, Mutianyu, Jinshanling, and Simatai (least restored).  Below, I will rank them in order of least favorite to favorite.

Juyongguan

June 2011, with a friend's tour

    

Bad:

Crowded, smelly, has a large tourist complex and parking lot that appear in many views

Good:

Not far from Beijing, has shopping and food at the base, some nice views across the valley

Why I ranked it #5:

I think this site actually has nicer views than Badaling, and about equally as crowded as Badaling.  I ranked it last because people really aren't taking care of it.  There's graffiti everywhere, the guard towers smelled strongly of urine, and my friend's shoes got puked on.

Badaling

October 2009, with a friend's tour

Bad:

Crowded, has a large tourist complex and parking lot that appear in many views, has a high ratio of Chinese tourists to foreign tourists, which is fine but only if you like having your picture taken by strangers.

Good:

Closest and most convenient from Beijing, has shopping and food at the base (including Starbucks!)

Why I ranked it #4:

Badaling is good if you only have a short time to see the Wall, but it's crowded and touristy.  In my opinion, Juyongguan and Badaling are the most convenient but really don't compare to the next few sites.

Mutianyu

January 2006, on a short-term trip with my college church

 

August 2009, as part of my teaching organization's training

 

Bad:

Takes a couple hours to get there.  Possibly over-restored.

Good:

Good views, not too crowded, has lots of options.  (For example, you can climb the stairs up to the wall or just take a cable car.  You can climb down, or take the Alpine slide.)  Pretty smooth hiking.

Why I ranked it #3:

I think Mutianyu is the best all-around option for most people.  It's close enough that you can do it in a day and easily be back for supper.  It accommodates almost all skill levels for hiking.  The views are great, the crowds are manageable, and it's fun without being too commercialized.

Jinshanling to Simatai

May 2010 with my family

10K hike from Jinshanling to Simatai

 

Bad:

At least 3 hours away from Beijing, expensive (both transportation and having to pay entrance fees at both locations).  The 10K hike would be tough for someone with knee problems or poor conditioning, but you don't have to do the hike; you can visit each location separately and do a normal up-and-down.

Good:

Spectacular views, no crowds (we hardly saw anyone), minimal restoration, minimal development, and a fun, long hike.

Why I ranked it #1/2:

This was my most beautiful and most enjoyable Great Wall experience.  For much of the day, it was just us and the wall and the beautiful mountains.  If you have a whole day and don't mind paying a driver about 1000RMB to get there and back, this is definitely the way to go.

I've enjoyed all of my Great Wall experiences, but the most magical were my first time (Mutianyu 2006) and the beautiful hike between less-restored sections (Jinshanling to Simatai 2010).  If you want convenience or shopping, stick close to Beijing.  If you want a more beautiful, less crowded, less developed experience, go to the farther sites.  And now I'll leave it to you to determine where I took the Great Wall photo from my blog banner.

Photo-Only Attractions in China

As you may recall, I have decided that some famous attractions are worth visiting, and some are not.  I call the nots "photo-only attractions" because you can get as much joy from gazing at a picture as from actually visiting the site.  In this post, I will highlight a few such places in China.

1.  The Bund in Shanghai

I know I am doing a great disservice to Shanghai and all of Shanghai's admirers by yawning at its iconic river-side district known as the Bund.  This is an area within Shanghai's former international settlement that has lots of old embassies and financial centers, a great view of the river, and many interesting wharves and buildings.

I once read an author who said the Bund at night was his favorite place in China, period.  So you can imagine the anticlimax when I arrived to be greeted with endless construction sites and smog.  The construction was the worst part, but it's probably mostly finished now that the World Expo has come and gone.

Someday I'd like to give the Bund another try, and I believe it has the potential to wow me out of my current indifference. Until then, enjoy the photos and visit this attraction at your own risk. 

View across the river to the famous Oriental Pearl Tower and the Pudong district.  Also, street repairs.

Historic buildings, hazy skies

 Recommended alternative:

If you find yourself near the Bund, save your feet and opt for some tasty treats at Dunkin' Donuts

2.  The Terra Cotta Warriors in Xi'an
A king dies and builds an army of thousands of individually unique clay soldiers to guard his tomb, which he has booby-trapped so elaborately that experts to this day cannot figure out how to get in.  Sound awesome?  Yes.  It's an awesome story, but the actual site is not that cool.

(Once again, I'm probably offending all the people who loved this attraction, and I know many.)

There are two things I disliked about this attraction.  First, all the soldiers are just lined up in a couple warehouses where excavation is supposedly ongoing.  There's not that much to look at -- a glance will do the trick.  That's good, because all I could get was a glance, which brings me to the second thing I disliked: the crowds.  Any tourist attraction in China will be crazy on a holiday, and this place was no exception.  You had to fight your way to the railing to even get close enough to snap a picture.

October holiday crowds in the ladies' room

October holiday crowds swarm around the somewhat creepy giant terra-cotta warrior puppet that appeared at the Olympics

October holiday crowds swarm around the periphery of the warehoused soldiers

There they are!

Recommended alternative:  The Terra Cotta site has a Subway restaurant, which was the highlight of my visit.  If you're fresh from America and thus not dazzled by American fast food, skip the site altogether and take a bike ride around the Xi'an city wall at sunset:

Ooooo...

3.  Window of the World in Shenzhen
Picture this: Your town goes from fishing village to one of China's hottest economic zones in 30 years flat.  You have absolutely nothing to offer in the way of cultural or historic attractions, because your city is only 30 years old and most people are mostly interested in making money.  The solution?  Build a bunch of theme parks.  This is Shenzhen, China, across from Hong Kong, and the theme park pictured below is called Window of the World.  It has small replicas of more than 130 famous places around the world.  I didn't actually visit this attraction, but we went in far enough to get a taste and a picture.

Now that I think of it, this is probably more of an "even a photo is not that cool" attraction.

Fake mini-Louvre

Recommended alternative:

How about dessert at the mango place in the mall?

4.  The Forbidden City, AKA the Imperial Palace, in Beijing

This is a must-see on everyone's Beijing itinerary, and it doesn't need to be.  Yes, it's cool that emperors lived here for hundreds of years and no one was allowed in except family, concubines, and eunuchs (or something like that).  The problem is, now they allow everyone in.  This is another destination where the crowds are oppressive, elbowing you at every photo opportunity and forcing you to wait in long ticket lines.

Another problem is that every building starts to look the same after awhile.  They are all built in the same traditional style, and they are all nearly bare on the inside except for eclectic museum displays and ornate thrones that are really hard to see (because of the crowds and because you can't actually enter many of the buildings to explore them).  

Finally, there aren't nice places where you can just sit and rest, taking in the view and soaking in the history.  Overall, a nice photo book with some good articles would probably be just as good as the real thing.  Here are photos of my three visits:

2006, on a cold January day with my travel crew from Iowa

2009, on a sweltering day where I waited over an hour in line and kept getting jabbed in the head by people's sunbrellas

2010 with my family, just outside the entrance

Recommended alternative:  Go to the public park behind the Forbidden City, pay $1.50, climb the little hill, and enjoy the birds-eye view of the whole complex without the crowds or the ticket price:

There you go!  I've just knocked four attractions off your China to-do list.  But I can almost guarantee you'd still go, and that's OK.  I could be wrong.

Have you visited China?  Would you add or subtract any attractions from this list?   

"I can't believe I'm here!" vs. "Is this all?"

A 1997 family vacation evaluation, as completed by my little sister:

I've started a new mental classification of well-known tourist spots:  "Must See in Person" versus "A Photograph Will Do."  All the famous attractions of the world, which we've all seen zillions of pictures of, could fit in one of these categories.

A must-see attraction is one where experiencing it with my own eyes, ears, nose, and feet significantly adds to the interest or enjoyability of the place.  At a place like this, I think things like, "I can't believe I'm actually here," and "This is so much cooler than I expected."

Examples from my own experiences, in no particular order:   Yellowstone National Park, the U.S. Capitol building, Mesa Verde cliff dwellings, Pike's Peak, Teotihuacan (Mexico), Notre Dame cathedral (Paris), the Eiffel Tower, Angkor Wat (Cambodia), the Petronas Towers (Malaysia), and the Taj Mahal.

I would also include places such as Ground Zero and S-21 prison (Cambodia), where being there doesn't add much sensory interest, but helps you really feel the horrifying-ness of what happened on that spot.

My dad and brother at the Badlands, a definite must-see destination

My sister at Yellowstone

My family exploring the Mesa Verda cliff dwellings

Lentz kids at the Appalachian Trail.  We probably hiked a quarter-mile of this.

A photo-only attraction is one where you can see all there is to see just by looking at a photo.  Actually being there doesn't really add anything substantial.   At places like this, I think things like, "Is this it?" "I thought this would be more exciting," and "I want my money back."

Examples:  Niagara Falls, the Liberty Bell, Four Corners, Mt. Rushmore

Me at Niagara, disillusioned

I also think it's possible to guess in advance what types of attractions might be worth visiting in person.  For example: Stonehenge?  A photo-only attraction.  The moon?  A must-see destination.

With my parents coming to China next week, I've been thinking about the places I've visited in China and which category they'd land in.  Stay tuned for my take on some of China's better-known tourist attractions.