Wall Meets Water
History buffs and beach bums celebrate: Shanhaiguan has it all. Nestled between impressive mountains and clean, breezy beaches, one of the Great Wall’s most important passes just so happens to be where the Wall meets the sea.

Start at the Jiumenkou Great Wall, then turn right at the ticket window and follow a set of steps onto a breathtakingly steep, pristine section of the Wall. You’ll be rewarded with a fantastic view and breeze blowing air so clean that colorful lichens (which are pollution-sensitive) can grow on the rocks. As always, be careful, and if something is off limits, it’s off limits.

Old Dragon’s Head, where the Wall drops into the ocean, offers a decent beach to lounge and a poetic illustration of the passage of time. The magnificently restored section of the Wall (which has been enveloped in barbed wire to encourage payment of the ￥50 ticket) leads straight into the old Wall, little more than a mound of dirt and crumbling rocks, surrounded by fields and, in the distance, luxury hotels.

Skip the hotels and spend the night in town, then greet the dawn at the First Pass under Heaven. Once one of China's most important strategic points, on a clear day the pass offers a stunning panorama running from mountain to the sea. After exhausting the Wall, head to Longevity Mountain (Changshoushan) for a day hike through strange rock formations of precariously balanced white boulders, or stop in at the ancient Temple of Mengjiagnu, built in the Song Dynasty (960-1279), before catching the evening train back to Beijing.

Mary Shaofung Dennis

Details

Make sure you take the express train (￥98, two hours travel time). Entry for Old Dragon’s Head: ￥50.