Use the code NY2025 for 20% off your reg fee
9am Thurs 2 Jan until Midnight Fri 31 Jan 2025
Your fundraising and training is about to pay off as the big day has finally arrived. Wave goodbye to family and friends and board your overnight flight to Beijing, where your challenge begins.
Ni Hao, welcome to China!
Your local Charity Challenge guide will be on hand at the airport to welcome you and organise your road transfer to the first night's accommodation. In the evening, you will gather together for a trek briefing and inaugural team dinner to prepare for your incredible adventure.
Accommodation: Lodge
Today’s trek will take you to the best preserved and most complete section of the wall. With classic views of the wall winding its way over the hills and into the distance, there will be plenty of perfect photo opportunities along the way. After conquering the final watchtower of the day, it will be time to leave this impressive fortification behind you to transfer to your accommodation for tonight to celebrate your first trekking day achievements.
Accommodation: Lodge
This morning you take a short transfer to the start of the today's wall, Lupiguan. An unrenovated part of the Great Wall with spectacular scenery every step of the way. Today's trek will take you walking on a part of the wall that runs along the mountain ridge, with the River Bai Gorge on one side and a reservoir on the other.
Begin with a steady 1 hour climb up to the wall itself on a countryside trail. As you reach the wall stop for a well earned water and snack break to take in the vast views and spectacular backdrop of the surrounding mountains. You will need to take care today as this unrestored section can often be loose under foot. Once you have soaked up the view, continue your trek along the wall in site of watch towers standing at several high points. To finish the day you will come off the wall to trek back down into the valley to pick up the coach for your transfer to tonight's lodge.
Accommodation: Lodge
This is the longest day of the challenge so get ready to push yourself to the limits! Today you will take on the demanding Gubeikou section of the wall, which begins with a steady climb on uneven ground, past several time-worn watchtowers. Gubeikou was once the site of incessant warfare and was heavily guarded leading to an interesting variety of defence structures. This part of the wall offers fantastic panoramic views over rural China so be sure to have your camera to hand. The end of the day walk to your lodge where a delicious evening meal will await you.
Accommodation: Lodge
Today, after a short group warm up, your trek on the wall will begin. After just a few kilometres, you will leave behind the tourists and reach an original section of the wall. Its steep, crumbling staircases will provide a fitting introduction to the enormity of the challenge ahead. Be sure to count the watchtowers as you pass through them and take time to look back and see what you have achieved. Tonight, you will get the chance to rest your weary legs at the lodge before getting a good night’s sleep.
Accommodation: Lodge
Today follows the Mutianyu section of the wall and will see you taking on the "Heavenly Staircase".
You will begin the day with a steep climb up towards the first watchtower on this section before following this along to the Heavenly Staircase. Once at the top, you can bask in the glory of the truly breath-taking scenery around you and take advantage of being on one of the quieter sections of the wall. Given the number of stairs and the scale of the climb, today will test even the fittest of legs. After completing the heavenly staircase you will return back down off the wall in time for a well deserved lunch before heading back to Beijing. Once settled back in the capital, you will enjoy an evening meal with your fellow trekkers and new-found friends.
Accommodation: Hotel
With the hard work done, it will be time to relax and enjoy some of the cultural highlights of China's historic capital, Beijing.
Today’s city tour of Beijing includes a visit to Tiantan Park and the Temple of Heaven, where you can join the locals as they enjoy a morning of Tai Chi, Mah Jong and their own unique version of ‘Strictly Come Dancing’! An opportunity for some shopping at the local market is followed by a tour around Tiananmen Square and the magnificent Forbidden City, before a final group dinner of traditional Peking Duck or a vegetarian alternative.
Accommodation: Hotel
It’s time to bid a fond farewell to China and make your way to the airport for your morning flight home. Filled with a profound sense of pride and a wish that the adventure could continue, you will return home armed with stories and memories that will last a lifetime...or at least until the next challenge.
BELIEVE >> ACHIEVE >> INSPIRE
We hold an Air Travel Organiser's Licence granted by the Civil Aviation Authority. Our ATOL number is 6546. Many of the flight-inclusive challenges on this website are financially protected by the ATOL scheme. But ATOL protection does not apply to all holiday and travel services listed on this website. This ATOL protection only covers challenges that include flights booked by Charity Challenge and that originate in the UK. Please ask us to confirm what protection may apply to your booking. If you do not receive an ATOL Certificate then the booking will not be ATOL protected. If you do receive an ATOL Certificate but all the parts of your trip are not listed on it, those parts will not be ATOL protected. Please see our booking conditions for information or for more information about financial protection and the ATOL Certificate go to: www.atol.org.uk/ATOLcertificate
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