This is back to my June 2012 Trip to Beijing, I realized I didn't do any posting on that trip. This post will be specifically about visiting The Dragon's Head part of The Great Wall of China.
Dragon's Head part of the wall is in a city called Shanhaiguan.Now vising Dragon's Head is similar to other parts of the wall except that this is a very small portion of the wall that goes into the Bohai Sea. It takes about 3 hours to drive there from Beijing. Unlike some portions of the wall military was based here so much of your visit is not on the wall but checking out the military structures. This was a not tourist filled area of the wall, while there were people not anywhere near the amount you experience at tourist parts of the wall. If you can this probably one of the best parts of the wall. I went here because I've been to the classic parts of the wall, this is really for the traveler that's had a wall experience since you don't really feel like you've been on the Great Wall like you do when you go to tourist parts of the wall. However this location was super relaxing, and much less strenuous than usual parts of the wall.
Here are some fun pictures from my trip.
Walking the wall into the water, they make you walk on a bridge so your not touching the actual historical wall.
This is Part of the real wall and it is lucky to put money where you can
Overview from the wall to the military base
An older part of the courtyards that hasn't been redone
In one of the courtyards, there is a Jade Dragon in the box on the right
Under one of the entrances, to the base
Beautiful Labyrinth
Guard Tower, I'm standing on part of the wall.
This was their Jail, we saw people fitting through the bars to take pictures, I wonder how they kept the prisoners inside
I would like to talk about the accommodations, since that's the beginning of the trip. Shanhaiguan is closer to Dragon's head and some places are walkable. I am a HUGE TripAdvisor.com user especially when I travel to locations that I haven't been too but I was very unhappy staying in Shanhaiguan. Please read my Trip Advisor Review:
WHERE YOU SHOULDN'T STAY
Last night literally we stayed at Hai Sheng Garden Hotel ...I am a foreigner from the United States and we wanted to see Dragons Head (part of the great wall of China). On the plus this hotel is the closest to Dragons Head (2km) and it has a nice garden, pool, lobby and although I'm not a fan they had a good Chinese restaurant. However this hotel wreaked of cigarette smoke...I have Asthma and I was having a hard time breathing in Beijing so I thought I would get out of the city however this hotel just made the asthma worse...we stayed in a junior suite at the end of the hotel and the room defiantly showed signs of wear.
We paid about $100 usd
Problems:
#1 Not one person spoke English not even the manager. Like seriously how do you not have any English speaking receptionists...It was a pain to check in and check out...the person I traveled with had about intermediate Chinese speaking ability I would not advise if you are not familiar with Chinese
#2 The air conditioning did NOT work when we came into the room we put both AC units on they were at 25 degree's Celsius and even though we had the AC running for hours it never got any cooler when we left in the morning the AC read 26.5. Now we did open the windows around midnight because the room was so stuffy and the cigarette smoke was keeping us up. When we asked them to come and fix the AC no one ever came...then they asked us in the morning if the AC was good...OF COURSE NOT!
#3 is the cigarette smell although in the lobby there is a no smoking sign there were ashtrays everywhere for people to use and like I said with Asthma this was the worse we even considered leaving around midnight in search of another hotel because this one was so smelly.
#4 was the bed and OMG the floor probably would have been softer it was like sleeping on a board now some people are into FIRM mattresses I am not.
#5 There was not one English channel...occasionally a channel would put an English show on and we could watch it.
#6 Although breakfast was free there was nothing Western about this breakfast I only ate toast and a slice of watermelon but again people were SMOKING in the dining room and I really didn't want to stay I just wanted to get the heck out of this hotel at this point.
#7 I am a rather picky eater I had to check ever single dish on the menu in order to find one thing I would eat. It was steak with onions and rice now it was very good but if you want western food DO NOT eat here they had a fridge in my room which was a junior suite so if you were willing to go the grocery store it would be fine.
#8 They supposedly have Internet for you to use...I couldn't figure it out at all...maybe if you can read Chinese then you would be able to figure it out but we could not.
#9 The wallpaper was starting to peel and it was a little moldy on in the hallway...
#10 Besides the wall nothing else is in walking distance so make sure you bring snacks...
I think this hotel is okay if you want to be within walking distance of the Great Wall at Dragons Head and you are not affected by cigarette smoke because there is no smoke free rooms here but overall it was a good deal we paid $100 but we had a jr. suite so the value was good.
WHERE YOU SHOULD STAY
After our night at this hotel we moved to a Holiday Inn in Qinhuangdao this hotel is VERY western it would be similar to a Hilton in my opinion and they have SMOKE FREE floors and it really wasn't any more money than the other hotel, the downside is if you are visiting the Dragon's Head part of the wall you have about a 20minute drive so if you don't have a car its not very helpful. EVERYTHING else about this location is AMAZING, its right on the beach they have western food, a spa, and walkable to anywhere you need to go.
