You can walk on the Great Wall at any section that is open to visitors, and the best day hikes cover 6 to 13 km in 3 to 6 hours. You cannot walk the whole wall in any practical sense: its walls total about 21,196 km, much of it is ruined, and organized walking on closed sections is banned.
A few people have crossed the country along it, on expeditions that took months. For a visitor, the real question is which open section to walk and for how long, and that is where most of this guide goes.
Can you walk the entire Great Wall?
Not as a continuous path. China’s 2012 survey counted 21,196.18 km of walls from different dynasties across 15 provinces. Many are separate lines, built centuries apart, and long stretches survive only as earth mounds or scattered stones. Only 8.2% of the Ming wall is intact, Live Science reported when the survey results came out.
Even the Ming wall, the single best-known line, measures 8,851.8 km, and only 6,259.6 km of that is built wall; the rest is trenches and natural barriers such as hills and rivers. Near Beijing, where the wall looks most walkable in photographs, less than 5% is open to visitors.
Has anyone walked the entire Great Wall?
Yes, though always as an expedition and along one line.
Dong Yaohui, 1984–85. Dong, then in his twenties, set out from Old Dragon’s Head on the Bohai Sea on May 4, 1984, with two friends, Wu Deyu and Zhang Yuanhua. They walked west along the Ming wall and reached Jiayu Pass in Gansu 508 days later, recording the wall’s condition as they went. They are described as the first people to walk its full length, and Dong later co-founded the Great Wall Society.
William Lindesay, 1987. The British runner travelled the other way, from Jiayuguan to Old Dragon’s Head, covering 2,470 km on foot in 78 days. He split the journey into spring and autumn legs to avoid the summer heat. Police stopped him nine times for trespassing, arrested him twice and deported him once.
His distance is much shorter than the official length because he followed one route between the two ends. The survey figure measures the whole Ming system, including side and parallel walls, trenches and natural barriers.
How long would it take to walk the Great Wall?
The records give a sense of scale. Lindesay averaged about 32 km a day for 78 days. Dong’s team, stopping to survey, took 508 days. At a steady hiker’s 20 km a day with no rest days, the 8,851.8 km of Ming wall alone would take more than 14 months.
On a visit, the useful unit is a section. Walking the open stretch at Mutianyu takes about 2 hours. A long day hike, such as Jinshanling or the wild wall from Jiankou to Mutianyu, covers 10 to 13 km in 4 to 8 hours of hard walking.
Is it legal to hike the wild Great Wall?
The national Great Wall Protection Regulations, in force since December 1, 2006, ban organized activities on sections that have not been opened to visitors. In serious cases the fine is 1,000–5,000 yuan for an individual and 10,000–50,000 yuan for an organization.
Beijing’s own Great Wall Protection Regulations took effect on March 1, 2026. Article 22 again prohibits organizing group events on sections not designated for visitors. The rules require warning signs on roads near unopened wall, allow electronic fences that send a text message when someone enters a restricted area, and let patrollers call in enforcement officers rather than simply persuading people to leave.
Neither set of rules expressly bans an individual from walking unopened wall, as the Beijing News pointed out when the new regulations came in. In practice, though, guided “wild wall” tours on closed sections are now the kind of organized activity the rules target, and patrollers turn people back. The wall itself is the bigger risk: crumbling steps, loose stones and sheer drops, far from roads and help.
How much of the Great Wall can you hike from Beijing?
Times are walking times for a reasonably fit adult, not counting the drive. They come from operators and guides as well as official pages, and they vary, so we give ranges.
| Walk | Distance | Time | Difficulty | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mutianyu, end to end | About 2.25 km, 22 towers | About 2 hours; 3–4 hours on site | Easy to moderate; steep past Tower 14 | Open, ticketed |
| Badaling, north and south | About 3.7 km open | 3–4 hours on site | Moderate; crowded | Open, ticketed |
| Juyongguan loop | About 4 km | About 2 hours | Hard: 1,500+ steps | Open, ticketed |
| Jinshanling to its eastern end | 6–7 km one way; about 13 km return | 3–5 hours; about 6 hours return | Moderate to hard | Open (Hebei); no through route to Simatai |
| Jiankou to Mutianyu | 10–12 km | 4–8 hours | Very hard, exposed | Unopened; organized groups banned |
Jinshanling and Simatai
The classic Jinshanling to Simatai walk of about 10 km is no longer possible. Simatai is now fenced off and run with the Gubei Water Town resort, and the link between the two is closed. Today you walk east from the restored stretch near Jinshanling’s main entrance to the area known as Simatai West, then turn back or descend. It is partly restored, with steep climbs between towers and views along the ridge; Jinshanling has 67 towers on 10.5 km of wall, and a cable car can save you the first climb.
Jiankou to Mutianyu
This is the route in most dramatic photographs, and the most precarious stretch of wall in Beijing. Jiankou is unmaintained, apart from a 750 m stretch repaired between 2015 and 2019, and has knife-edge sections where you need hands as well as feet. You cannot climb over into the Mutianyu scenic area at the end; walkers come down to the village of Yingbeigou instead. Under the rules above, joining an organized tour here now carries legal risk as well as physical risk.
Mutianyu on its own
For most visitors, this is the best walk. Ride the cable car to Tower 14, walk up to Tower 20 for the steepest climb and the best views, then walk back past Tower 14 to Tower 6 and take the toboggan down. Our Mutianyu guide covers tickets and the lifts.
How many steps is the Great Wall?
No one has counted them for the whole wall, and much of it has no steps at all, only a rough ramp or a ruined mound. On a single section the number adds up quickly: the 4 km loop at Juyongguan has more than 1,500 uneven steps, some only a few inches high and others close to two feet.
What to bring and how to stay safe
- Shoes with grip. Stone paving is uneven and polished, and wet steps are slippery. Avoid hiking in rain or snow.
- Water and food. There are no stalls or toilets on unrestored wall. Carry more water than you think you need.
- Sun and wind protection. The ridges are exposed. Bring a hat, sunscreen and a warm layer even in summer.
- A charged phone and power bank. Signal is weak in the mountains. Save your hotel address in Chinese and an offline map; see apps and internet.
- Your passport. Open sections sell real-name tickets, and you will be asked for it.
- Gloves and a walking pole if you plan a long hike on rough wall.
Tell someone your route and when you expect to be back, and turn around if the wall ahead is crumbling. Our Great Wall map shows where each section lies.
If you would like a local guide for a long walk on an open section, a Hosted China host can arrange a private guide.
