Compare Great Wall cable car options at Mutianyu, Badaling, and Simatai — 2026 ticket prices, ride times, and season-by-season visiting advice.
Last updated: 2026-07-30
Three Great Wall sections near Beijing operate cable cars or chairlifts — Mutianyu, Badaling, and Simatai — each carrying visitors up steep hillsides to watchtowers that would otherwise require a strenuous 40-60 minute climb from the parking area. Every site sells the cable car as an add-on to the standard wall entrance ticket, not a replacement for it. Mutianyu is the most complete setup, pairing a cable car ascent with a toboggan descent. Badaling, the closest section to central Beijing, runs the busiest cable car line. Simatai, farther out and less restored, uses its cable car to reach the eastern watchtowers for a wilder, quieter visit. None of the three sections has a cable car reaching every watchtower — all still require walking once on the wall itself.
Mutianyu Great Wall sits 70 kilometers northeast of central Beijing, a drive of about 1.5 hours by car or tour bus, and preserves 5,400 meters of restored wall with watchtowers numbered from No. 1 to No. 23, built during the Ming dynasty (14th-17th century). Roughly 3,000 meters of that stretch is open to visitors. The enclosed cable car covers 723 meters in five minutes, depositing riders at No. 14 Watchtower, one of the best-preserved and least crowded stretches of the route; a separate chairlift from the south entrance reaches No. 6 Watchtower and pairs with the toboggan descent. A third-phase restoration project that began on 27 April 2026 covers a 750-meter stretch of wall and has temporarily closed the upper part of Hero’s Slope (好汉坡), so confirm the open walking range at the gate before planning a route. Mutianyu suits travelers who want a full Great Wall experience — long ramparts, dense tree cover, mountain views — without the crush of tour groups found at Badaling. It’s not the pick for travelers chasing the oldest, least-restored stonework; for that, Simatai is closer to the mark.
Badaling Great Wall, the first section opened to the public in 1957 and the most heavily restored, sits 70 kilometers northwest of Beijing and is reachable by high-speed rail to Badaling station in under an hour. The aerial cable car lifts visitors to the No. 7 North Tower area, from which it is a short walk to No. 8, the highest tower and the section’s most photographed stretch. A separate pulley car — a rail-mounted sliding car rather than an aerial lift — runs as its own ride on its own ticket. Badaling draws the largest daily visitor numbers of any Great Wall site, so the cable car queue can run long on weekends, national holidays, and peak summer mornings. Badaling makes sense for travelers with a single free day in Beijing and no interest in a long drive, but it is not the choice for anyone prioritizing quiet or unrestored scenery.
Simatai Great Wall, 120 kilometers northeast of Beijing at Gubei Water Town, is the Great Wall section built around night visiting, with a ticketed night tour running year-round rather than in the limited seasonal windows Badaling and Mutianyu offer. Only its eastern stretch is open to visitors — 1.5 kilometers of wall running from Watchtower No. 1 to No. 10 — and the cable car carries riders up to that eastern section, with walking routes continuing from the lift station toward the higher towers. Simatai retains far more original Ming-dynasty brickwork than Mutianyu or Badaling, with narrower, steeper, and in places unrestored stretches beyond the lift station that require careful footing. Simatai fits travelers who’ve already seen a restored section and want the rougher, more atmospheric alternative, plus night photography options not offered elsewhere. Because the wall sits inside the Gubei Water Town resort area, most visitors combine the two — see our guide to Gubei Water Town from Beijing for the logistics.
Choosing between the cable car and the on-foot climb comes down to time, fitness, and season rather than which option is “better,” since both routes end on the same wall. The unassisted stairway climb at any of the three sections gains a few hundred meters of elevation over worn, uneven stone steps with no shade for long stretches — manageable for fit hikers but genuinely taxing for anyone unused to stair climbing, especially in Beijing’s humid summer heat. The cable car removes that climb, leaving more energy and daylight for walking along the wall itself rather than getting to it. Hikers who skip the cable car save the ticket cost and can start climbing at their own pace, but should budget an extra 40-60 minutes each way and carry water. Families with young children, older travelers, and anyone visiting in July or August heat generally do better taking the cable car up and, at Mutianyu, the toboggan down. For a fuller comparison of walking routes across sections, see our guide to hiking the Great Wall of China.
Every Great Wall section sells the wall entrance ticket and the cable car ticket separately, with one-way and round-trip fares priced differently. At Mutianyu, entrance is ¥40 per person with no peak or low season tier — a ¥45 version bundles a postcard — the cable car is ¥100 one-way or ¥140 round trip, and the shuttle bus between the gate and the lift stations is ¥15 round trip. A useful quirk at Mutianyu: the enclosed cable car and the chairlift-toboggan pairing are run by different operators, so a chairlift up with a toboggan down costs ¥140 round trip, while mixing the enclosed cable car up with a toboggan down means buying two separate one-way tickets for ¥200 total. At Badaling, entrance is ¥40 in peak season (1 April-31 October) and ¥35 in low season (1 November-31 March), the cable car is ¥100 one-way or ¥140 round trip, a combined entrance plus round-trip cable car ticket is ¥180 in peak season and ¥175 in low season, and the pulley car is ¥80 one-way or ¥120 round trip. At Simatai, entrance is ¥40, a day ticket with a one-way cable car is ¥110, a day ticket with a round-trip cable car is ¥180, and a night tour with a round-trip cable car is ¥160; Gubei Water Town admission is a separate ¥150, or ¥170 bundled with a Simatai day ticket. All figures are per person as of July 2026 — confirm at the gate, since tiers change without much notice. Buying same-day at the gate during peak season also risks queues; booking cable car slots a day ahead through an official channel avoids that.
Beijing’s Great Wall sections see the clearest skies and most comfortable hiking temperatures in spring (April-May) and autumn (September-November), when daytime highs sit in a mild range and haze is less common than in summer. Summer (June-August) brings heat, humidity, and afternoon thunderstorms that can pause cable car operations for safety, plus the year’s heaviest crowds at Badaling. Winter (December-February) is cold and can include snow or ice, which sometimes suspends cable car service for the day — a real risk worth checking ahead rather than assuming service will run. Autumn weekday mornings offer the best combination of clear light, cool air, and thinner crowds at all three sections, making it the strongest window for photography and unhurried walking along the ramparts.
Reaching any Great Wall section starts with a transport decision — self-drive, tour bus, high-speed rail to Badaling, or a private car to Mutianyu or Simatai — and that choice shapes how early in the day arrival happens, which matters more than almost anything else for avoiding crowds. Mutianyu tickets are sold under a real-name booking system, bookable up to 30 days ahead, with one ticket per identity document (passport, ID card, or permanent residence permit) per day — so bring the document you booked with. Arriving before 9:30am at Mutianyu or Badaling beats the mid-morning tour bus surge; Simatai’s smaller visitor numbers make timing less critical except for the night tour, which requires its own separate booking. Combining a Great Wall cable car visit with a broader Beijing cultural itinerary works well alongside the city journeys planned by China Trailfolk, and travelers piecing together a longer China route can cross-reference regional planning through the site’s travel guides. Whichever section is chosen, pack layered clothing, comfortable closed-toe shoes for uneven stone steps beyond the lift stations, and cash or a mobile payment app for on-site ticket purchases.
Prices, ticket rules, opening hours, and transport across China change often — sometimes month to month. The figures in this guide are dated estimates, current as of the “Last updated” date shown above, not live quotes. Confirm current fares, passes, and schedules locally (or with your operator) before you travel.