Great Wall Badaling and Ming Tombs
Full-day chauffeur-driven private car or seat-in-coach excursion with lunch
This enthralling excursion combines two of China’s most fascinating sights – the Ming Tombs and a section of the Great Wall.
Driving north from Beijing your first stop is the Ming Tombs, the final resting place of 13 of the 16 Ming Emperors. The tombs follow a standard design, typically consisting of a main gate which leads through a series of courtyards to the main hall, through which stand further gateways and arches taking you to the Soul Tower, behind which rises the burial mound itself.
After lunch we take you to Great Wall, one of the world’s most extraordinary feats of construction (a UNESCO World Heritage site), which winds for 6,700 kilometres across deserts, grasslands, mountains and plateaus from the North Korean border through Inner Mongolia to the far north-west province of Xinjiang. Whilst the wall itself is over 2,000 years old, the Badaling section was reinforced with masonry during the Ming dynasty and is a prime example of this colossal structure.
We also include a visit to the Longdi Jade Factory, where you can watch the stone being shaped by craftsmen who have inherited their skills from the great masters of the past.