The Great Wall of China was the reason this trip became a major Project 1177 milestone.
Japan had already given us our first experience of Asia, but China would give us something completely different: our first Wonder of the World.
We could have visited one of the easier viewpoints near Beijing, taken the photo and counted it. Instead, we chose a two-day hike on quieter sections of the wall, with an overnight stay and another climb before sunrise.
That choice made the experience harder. It also made it mean much more.
This was not a quick stop from Beijing
We headed toward the Gubeikou area to begin the hike, moving onto sections of the wall where the experience felt much less like visiting an attraction and much more like being out on a trail.
The path changed constantly. Some parts were solid stone, some were rougher and more worn, and the climbs made it very clear that the Great Wall does not politely follow flat ground.
When you see photos of the wall snaking over mountains, the mountains can almost disappear behind the scale of the structure. When you are walking it, the mountains become the entire conversation.
Doing the Great Wall in summer is hard
We visited in July. I would not pretend the heat was a small detail.
There were stretches where the combination of climbing, sun and humidity slowed us right down. The cameras captured plenty of beautiful views, but they also captured a lot of sweat and heavy breathing.
That honesty matters for families planning something similar. A Great Wall hike can be incredible without being easy.
Water, sun protection, good shoes and realistic expectations about pace mattered far more than trying to look impressive.
The kids handled more than I expected
One of the reasons I wanted this kind of Great Wall experience was to give the kids something they had to work for.
There were steep sections, long stretches of walking and plenty of moments when everybody had to decide to keep going.
What stood out was not that nobody complained or got tired. We absolutely got tired. It was watching the kids keep moving anyway, help each other, joke around and start treating a place they had only seen in pictures as somewhere they were actually standing.
That is the part of travel I care about most.
Sunset changed the whole feeling of the Wall
Later in the day, the Wall became quieter.
The light changed, the temperature began to ease, and the scale of the place became easier to take in once we were not focused only on the next climb.
Standing there near sunset gave us time to absorb what we had actually done. This was the first Wonder in a mission we had talked about for years, and suddenly it was no longer an idea on a map.
We were there.
The overnight stay became part of the story
After the hike, we stayed locally instead of driving straight back to Beijing.
That gave the experience a completely different rhythm. We ate, recovered, spent time together and even got involved in making dumplings.
It would have been easy to think of the lodging as the gap between two hikes. Instead, it became one of the parts I remember most because it gave us a chance to stop being travellers trying to reach something and simply be a family at the end of a very long day.
Then the alarm went off around 4:40 in the morning
The reward for staying overnight was the chance to get back onto the Wall for sunrise.
The price was waking up at an hour when nobody should be making important life decisions.
We got up, gathered ourselves and climbed again while it was still dark enough to make the entire plan feel questionable.
Then the sun began to come up.
There are moments in travel where the effort and the payoff connect perfectly. That morning was one of them.
Wonder number one
Project 1177 is built around a big idea: one family, one mission, seven continents and seven Wonders.
But standing on the Great Wall made something else clear. The value of the mission is not the number we can put beside a Wonder afterward.
The value was the hike, the heat, the jokes, the exhausted dinner, the early alarm, the sunrise and the fact that we did all of it together.
If we eventually reach all seven Wonders, amazing. But this first one already proved why the journey matters more than the checklist.
What families should know before planning a Great Wall hike
- Choose the experience that fits your family. A multi-hour or overnight hike is very different from visiting a developed viewpoint.
- Use a knowledgeable local guide for remote routes. Route conditions, access points and transportation are much easier to manage with someone who knows the area.
- Take summer heat seriously. Carry enough water, use sun protection and leave room to slow down.
- Wear proper footwear. Older sections can be uneven, steep and worn.
- Pack light. Everything feels heavier after several hours of climbing.
- Let the family set the pace. Reaching the next tower five minutes faster is not worth turning the day into a punishment.
Our Great Wall experience was supported by Wild Great Wall Adventure Tours, who helped us turn the idea of a more remote, overnight Great Wall experience into something our family could actually do.
Would we do it this way again?
Yes, although I might have a serious conversation with July before agreeing to the heat again.
The harder version of the experience gave us time on the Wall that a quick stop could not have. It made the first Wonder feel earned, not because 1177 requires suffering, but because we were fully present for the experience.
That is exactly what I hoped these trips would become.
Watch the Japan + China series
The Great Wall is the central milestone of our Japan + China 1177 journey. Follow the complete trip series on YouTube as the episodes roll out.
See the full Japan + China 2026 trip hub and learn more about Project 1177.
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