Qinhuangdao

At Qinhuangdao, the Great Wall juts out into the sea. The original wall is long gone, but an extensive rebuilt section has been put up. Bus 25 will take you there for ¥1-3. To get onto the wall and into an area with several rebuilt halls, you need to buy a ticket for ¥60.

The area between the sea and the mountains at Qinhuangdao is called the "First Pass under Heaven", being the place where the Ming dynasty Great Wall began. Guarding the pass is the city of Qinhuangdao, with its (restored) east gate marking the main road through the pass. You can see the tower guarding the gate and, depending on choice of ticket, various exhibitions or take a walk along the city walls.

The walls of the old city of Qinhuangdao can essentially be considered part of the Great Wall: the whole city was built as a wall fortification to guard the pass between the mountains and the sea. The walls of Qinhuangdao are square, with a perimeter of around 4 km in length. The walls reach the height of 14 m, and are 7 meters thick. The east, south and north sides of the fortification are surrounded by a moat 3 m deep and 5 m wide. There are drawbridges to get over the moat. You can only go up on the wall by buying a ticket for the First Pass under Heaven (see above). The other sides of the city have gates as well, but these have been rebuilt: the original buildings long gone.

Further inland, there's a fairly extensive park near another section of the wall. Here, the wall can be seen snaking it's way over the hills. The lower part has been restored in the 1980s, you can walk up the hill about 2/3 of the way before an unrestored part of the wall has been blocked off by a concrete barrier. Next to the wall, there is a walkway towards a temple further back in the hills (alternatively, you can take a chairlift from the bottom). From the temple, you can reach the rear part of the wall going over the hills, where it is made of raw stone rather than bricks and in many places not much more than a convenient walking path remains. By walking south from here, you can reach the other end of the unrestored brick-wall section, blocked by an iron fence on this side. For the adventurous, the barriers on either side are not insurmountable, but some steep parts and loose stones makes this section less safe than those below and above it.

When heading out to Jiao Shan (above), you will see a large earth wall on the right side about 50 m from the road. This is actually a (completely unrestored) part of the Great Wall. On the barbarian side (east) you can still see the bricks and the moat, while the top and the western side are overgrown and few bricks remain. Locals can be seen herding sheep or walking their dogs on this part of the wall. From the road, you can see small paths leading up this wall at intervals; to get to Jiao Shan, the walk up here is much more pleasant than going along the road. When you reach Jiao Shan, the wall is blocked off by a barbed-wire fence, so you will need to buy a ticket to get in. Alternatively, you can walk off the earth wall on the east side and follow a path leading up the hills to a small watchtower. There is another path from here leading off into the hills, but it's not used much and heavily overgrown in places.

Admission is included with some of the First Pass tickets, but it's not inside the compound.

A coastal park commemorating the legend of Qin Shi Huang searching for immortality. According to historical accounts, the emperor visited this area in 215 BC and sent expeditions into the Bohai Sea seeking the elixir of life. The site includes statues, reconstructed pavilions and seaside viewpoints.

Laodao Ocean Park, with the theme of Ocean Park, is 8 km from Qinhuangdao Airport and 2 km to Old Dragon's Head Great Wall. The park offers rich and colorful entertainment items, which all bring happiness in your tour. The park breeds numerous sea animals and the sea lion, dolphin, and beluga will play brilliant performance. At the bottom of the sea, you can get zero-distance contract with wild animal of ocean, and explore the arcanum of nature as much as you like. Meanwhile, if you are interested in the natural culture, you will have a chance to view the performance full of exoticism. The polar region exhibition hall takes you to the romantic world of ice and snow, and hope you will have a good time with the cute polar bear and penguin. At night, the ebullient bonfire party will give you an enthusiastic evening.