We decided to check out the Mutianyu after we heard Mutianyu bus 867 service would reopen in later March of this year. There are a couple of big advantages to visiting Mutianyu Great Wall. It is easily accessible as a day trip from Beijing and it’s much more enjoyable to walk than Badaling.
We arrived at bus station at 8.10am on March 26th, and waited until 9.10am then the bus left Dongzhimen. The 53 seat bus was comfortable and wasn’t full. There were more than 10 stops along the way including a stop at Hongluo temple, which is not far from the wall.
There is no need to worry about which stop to get off, it will be the last one. We were dropped off at Mutianyu No 4. parking lot at 11.55am. The ride was long – nearly 3 hours. After riding chair lift, we walked up to tower 10, then got off the wall by chair lift again as there was a long queue at toboggan station, and back to No,4 parking less than 1.5 hours.
The 867 bus picked us up at the exact same spot as it had left us off. The bus left promptly at 2pm, and dropped me off at Sanyuanqiao at 4.10pm. All in all, we had a very short stay at Mutainyu.
It would have been better if we had taken the one departed at 7am from Dongzhimen or waited for the later one departed at 4pm from Mutianyu. Simply put, if you have full day and you are little bit adventurous, you can try it. If you have short time to Mutianyu (half day), a private car tour could be a better option.
Bus departure times: from Dongzhimen to Muianyu: departs daily at 7am and 8.30am. From Mutianyu to Dongzhimen: departs daily at 2pm and 4pm.
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Hi Ricky..thank u for your review of mutianyu trip by public bus!! my sister and i will be going to Beijing on 14Oct-20Oct 2014 and we are planning to go to Mutianyu on the 16th Oct 7am trip..my question is that :
1) Do we buy the bus ticket to/fro from the driver when we reach the station or do we need to but it earlier?
2) When we buy the ticket do we have to choose what time we wanna comeback from mutianyu..for example if we miss bus at 2pm can we take 4pm bus?
appreciate your help on this..thnx!!!
Hi, you can buy bus tickets from ticket seller when you get on bus. Normally you won’t buy tickets until you are on bus. If you miss bus at 2pm, you have to wait at the bus stop for next one departing at 4pm.
thank u so much for the heads up..phewww better hope not to miss any bus hahah it kinda scary to think that the options for public bus are not that much..anyway im still excited about this DIY trip without going with the tour company..once again thnx a lot!!