Great Wall charity trek, China
| country: | China |
| location: | Great Wall |
| departures: | 2008: 13 Sep, 4 Oct |
| price: | From £225 deposit + £2500 fundraised (55% to charity) (9 days) including flights from the UK. Self funders pay £225 deposit + £1225 including flights from the UK & £100 donation to chosen charity. This trip can also be booked without flights. |
the amazing things you'll be doing
Choose to support one of your favourite charities or travel on one of our selected charity departures.
The Great Wall of China was originally constructed to keep out nomadic tribes who raided China’s northern frontier. Your trekking challenge starts in Jinshanling with a vigorous trek that loops along the mountains either side of the Gubeikou Gateway.
Each day you will trek approximately 12kms along the stony path, twisting and winding its way along the mountains, interspersed with crumbling watchtowers.
It is demanding but also very rewarding, particularly on a clear day when you can look at the vast and beautiful mountain ranges. Your imagination will take you back several centuries to when the wall was the frontline defence of Imperial China.
On completion of your challenge you will return to Beijing to explore some of the many attractions of China’s capital city: the Forbidden City, the Temple of Heaven and the Lama Temple. Optional Beijing (£150) or Terracotta Warriors & Xian (£275) extensions available (min. 4 people).
Peak season price increases: 13 Sep 08 and 04 Oct 08 departures.
Please note: Some of the dates are exclusive for specific charities, please contact us for details.
The Great Wall of China was originally constructed to keep out nomadic tribes who raided China’s northern frontier. Your trekking challenge starts in Jinshanling with a vigorous trek that loops along the mountains either side of the Gubeikou Gateway.
Each day you will trek approximately 12kms along the stony path, twisting and winding its way along the mountains, interspersed with crumbling watchtowers.
It is demanding but also very rewarding, particularly on a clear day when you can look at the vast and beautiful mountain ranges. Your imagination will take you back several centuries to when the wall was the frontline defence of Imperial China.
On completion of your challenge you will return to Beijing to explore some of the many attractions of China’s capital city: the Forbidden City, the Temple of Heaven and the Lama Temple. Optional Beijing (£150) or Terracotta Warriors & Xian (£275) extensions available (min. 4 people).
Peak season price increases: 13 Sep 08 and 04 Oct 08 departures.
Please note: Some of the dates are exclusive for specific charities, please contact us for details.
day-by-day itinerary
| Day 1: | Fly to Bejing airport. |
| Day 2: | Transfer to the start of your trek and meet your expedition leader for a trek briefing. |
| Day 3: | Begin your trek in the lush environment of the Black Dragon Pools National Park (10km / 5 hrs). |
| Day 4: | Trek the Gubeikou Gateway; the great variety of defense structures on this section are good examples for studying the architecture of the great wall (12km / 5 hrs). |
| Day 5: | The walk from Jinshanling to Simatal is partly along sections with steep, crumbling staircases and ruined watchtowers, and has views of Mongolia on a clear day (11km / 6 hrs). |
| Day 6: | Continue to the stunning east section of the wall and through a local village (12km / 6hrs). |
| Day 7: | Trek a steep but paved walk through lush woodland to join the wall and take the steep ascent to the Heavenly Stairway viewing platform (10km / 4 hrs). |
| Day 8: | Full day city tour of Beijing including the Old Imperial Palace and Tiananmen Square. Celebratory Peking Duck Banquet tonight. |
| Day 9: | Explore before your transfer to Beijing airport and flight back to London. |
| Day 9-11: | Optional extensions to explore Beijing or the Terracotta Warriors of Xian. |
Highly Commended
This tourism business was Highly Commended in our 2007 Virgin Holidays Responsible Tourism Awards - the largest awards of their kind in the world, and organised by responsibletravel.com in association with The Times, World Travel Market and Geographical Magazine, of the Royal Geographical Society.Since 2004, the Awards has recognised individuals, companies and organisations in travel making a big commitment to the culture and economies of local communities and helping to conserve biodiversity.
how this holiday makes a difference
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Our Responsible Tourism commitment extends to helping the local communities we visit. We employ local guides, porters and other essential support staff, and where possible use locally owned accommodation. We donate USD$500 per trek to Plan International UK, a humanitarian development organisation and their project in Yu Lin.
Yu Lin lies ten miles away from the Great Wall and is one of the poorest areas of China. Plan International UK is working on many projects in the Yu Lin district including a project to fund educational audio visual equipment in the schools.  The project provides primary and secondary schools with computers, printers, cameras, software and training for teachers in the use of the technological materials. These resources mean that the education of the children in these rural areas does not fall behind that of their contemporaries in the cities, and that they have the technology to access distance education system developed by the Ministry of Education in China. Having access to these materials means children make the most of their education and realise their full potential regardless of their family’s financial position. |
Tourism can be good and bad for destinations & local people. We carefully screen every holiday against our criteria for responsible travel. 'Look behind the brochure' to find how each holiday makes a difference (see left). We don't claim to be perfect - there is no global accreditation - but we've lead the way since 2001 and screened 1000's of holidays. We invite every traveller to write a review about their experiences and responsible tourism. This valuable feedback is sent to the people who run the holidays. We keep a very close eye on it and take off holidays that don't live up to our standards. |