How to visit Gu Bei Watertown, Beijing

Here's to all the banana friends out there, who may or may not have friends fluent in Mandarin. And to all non-Chinese who'd like to visit this underrated town that host the Great Wall that not many people talk about - 古北水镇 (Gu Bei Watertown) and 司马台长城 (Great Wall of Simatai). This is our experience planning the trip to Gu Bei and Simatai.

Context: We visited this town at the end of September, 2024. This was a low tourist season as it was between the Mid Autumn Festival and China's National Holiday week. Weather was gorgeous - about 22 Celcius, sunny with a light breeze, bright blue sky. We were coming from Beijing and intending to make this a day tour only.

Gu Bei Watertown and Si Ma Tai can be toured in a day, but apparently better experienced in 2 days, as you can take your sweet time appreciating it.

What's in Gu Bei Watertown

Gu Bei Watertown is a picturesque, quaint little town built in the style of ancient Chinese dynasties, with a scenic view of mountains and a river running through it. The town is right at the valley of the Great Wall of Si Ma Tai and host a variety of cultural exhibitions, restaurants, shops, and hotels.

The Great Wall of Si Ma Tai is said to be the best preserved public section of the Great Wall of China and can be accessible by hiking up the mountain to the first tower or a 7-minute cable car ride to the middle section of the wall.

A trick to get there

You may have (like us) read up a few websites saying you can take train or busses there from Beijing, and yet still unsure as not many websites tell you the schedule of the public transport, so you still can't really know how much time you have to tour the place and make it back to town on the return train or bus back. Or perhaps prefer the safety of a stricter schedule and don't want the hassle or risk of purchasing limited ticket to the Great wall.

This website seems comprehensive enough if you want to venture to the Water town on your own: Travel Guide to Gu Bei Water Town (you can autotranslate the website to English on your browser).

We found a nifty trick suggested by our friend who's a local in Beijing. You can actually buy Beijing-to-Gu Bei day tour tickets on Taobao for about 258CNY per pax.

Prerequisite for the tour would be to have WeChat app downloaded for communication purposes across the tour.

What's included in the tour

The tour we purchased included the bus ride, the entrance tickets to Gu Bei Watertown and Great Wall of Si Ma Tai, and a tour manager.

The tour manager will be the one communicating with you before and during the tour. They will also be expected to create a group chat on Wechat to share all details, locations, schedules, etc to the group to manage your expectations. Don't worry too much if you cannot fully understand Mandarin as WeiXin has a translate function. Just long press to select the message and click on the 'translate' option. The translated message will appear right below the one you selected.

The bus will depart from Guo Mao subway exit F (国贸地铁站F口) at 8.50am or Shao Yao Ju subway exit F (芍药居地铁站F口）at 9.20am. We went to the latter and there's a open space with benches for us to wait for the bus. Do note that the wait is not at the bus stop, which is nearby the waiting area as well. The tour bus will stop by the roadside in front of the subway exit instead. You may not be the only one waiting there anyway, so ask around perhaps to be sure.

What are the add-ons and what's not included

The tour we chose did not include the boat ride and the cable car tickets. However, on the bus ride to Gu Bei, the tour guide actually asked if we'd like to purchase these tickets through her/the tour company. You can pay her immediately on the bus. That cost us another CNY240 per pax (80 for boatride and 160 for cable car, I think).

The tour also does not include a tour guide in the town itself, it is a self-guided tour across the 8 hours there. The tour manager may give some briefing during the bus ride there about the town and how to best explore it. Although you can also look at the map when you get there and plan your own routes and timing.

Meals are also not included. You may select from an array of food stalls or restaurants at the Watertown. There are also halal restaurants available.

How much time to tour the town

The whole walk from end to end of the town is 2.1km and (without visiting anything) may take about ~40min or so. However, there's quite a number of nook and crannies in the town that you may want to visit. They have a scenic map that shows you points of interest you may want to go for a look-see. For example, there's the Sima distillery (which also sells Chinese wine and spirits), the Yongshun dyeing department, the Yinghua Academy, a hotspring, and a hill pagoda temple. You can also check out kite-making, paper-making, paper-cutting, and other Chinese arts, and some places also have DIY sections for you to try it yourself. And of course, there's snacks along the street you may want to grab a taste of as well.

So the recommended time to spent in the town would be about 3 hours at least.

Heading up to Si Ma Tai Great Wall

The Great Wall entrance is located at the northern end of the town. You would even be able to see the Great Wall on the hills already once you arrived to Gu Bei. Signages in the town are easily found and you can definitely walk your way to the end of town.

You can take either hike up or take the cable car. The tour manager suggested taking the cable car as there is still a ~15min hike to the wall from the cable car station to the Great Wall, and the path can be narrow. Depending on the season, it is better to go up before 5pm to allow yourself some time to hike up with the crowd and enjoy the view across the sunset hour into the night.

Cableway operation hours: (Opening hours may change according to season)

Daytime: 08:00-17:00 (40/person)

Night tour: 17:30-21:30 on weekdays; 17:30-21:30 on weekends

P.S.: Apparently they only allow 800 people up the Wall at one session. And the ticketing counter for the cable car closes by 4pm. So if you can get on a tour, they usually have reserved tickets for the cable car ride as well, which you can choose to purchase from them before arriving.

How to order through TaoBao app

1. Search for 北京至古北水镇一日游 (Beijing to Gu Bei Watertown 1-day tour). You should be able to find this option below that should translate into Bejing Gu Bei Watertown 1-day Tour Si Ma Tai Great Wall Fountain Light Show Watertown Hotel Hot Spring Unmanned Drone Performance CNY158.
2. Clicking into it should show this video thumbnail with the title: Beijing Gu Bei 1 Day Enjoyment Trip | Group Tour (Purely play, no shopping | Si Ma Tai Great Wall Night View + Musical Fountain). Clicking on the orange button on the bottom right is, you guessed it, 'Purchase Immediately'. Before you do, scroll down to see the tour packages of different pricing.
   1. We took the one that was CNY253 onwards, which was a day trip | includes Great Wall and Watertown. This group tour takes up a maximum of 35 pax.
   2. Above the package list is the dates of departure.

3. In the next page, you can add the number of pax for the tour before proceeding to the order page.
4. In the next order page, you will be requested the passengers details and lead contact person's details.
   1. You may need to fake a phone number to get through this page as the phone number blanks may only accept 11-digits China phone numbers.
   2. Make sure you look out for 留言备注 (Leave a message) section to add comments about your details, especially contact number.

5. Once you have completed all the passengers' details, and scroll down, you will be asked if you'd like to add on travel insurance. That's your choice.
6. Click on the bottom right orange button 去付款 to proceed to payment.

You can also contact the seller if you'd like to clarify anything. Look out for the seller profile button or the headset button to chat with them.

All the best!!

When in doubt, Google Image Translate helps. 😉🤓