Simatai 司马台长城

About Simatai

Its steep changes of level and closely spaced watchtowers make the wall's relationship with the mountain particularly visible: the defenses adapt to the terrain rather than forming a level promenade. The wall and the resort below offer contrasting perspectives, one from the ridge and the other from the water and courtyards. Limit the visit to the officially open route. Names of dramatic towers or narrow ridge sections in historical accounts do not mean those areas are accessible to visitors.

This section of the Great Wall was originally built during the Northern Qi dynasty; the structures now standing date from the Ming dynasty, built during the Hongwu Emperor's reign. It runs 5.4 kilometers from Wangjing Tower (望京楼) in the east to Houchuankou (后川口) in the west, connecting westward to the Jinshanling Great Wall, which many hikers visit together with Simatai. The wall was closed to visitors in June 2010 and reopened in 2014.

The wall is divided by Yuanyang Lake (鸳鸯湖) into an eastern section with 16 watchtowers and a western section with 19. Between the fifteenth and sixteenth towers on the eastern side is a stretch called Tianqiao (天桥), a wall about 30 centimeters wide with a cliff on its south side, the most dangerous part of the route; for safety, visitors may climb only as far as the twelfth tower on the eastern section.

In 2001, Simatai was listed, as part of the Great Wall, in the fifth group of Major Historical and Cultural Sites Protected at the National Level (全国重点文物保护单位); the Great Wall as a whole is also inscribed on UNESCO's World Heritage List. According to local tradition, the fifteenth tower, the Fairy Tower (仙女楼), was named for an antelope that had taken the form of an angel and fallen in love with a shepherd.

What to look for

• Watchtowers stepping along the mountain ridge and the sharply changing wall profile.
• Views toward the reservoir and Gubei Water Town from permitted sections.
• The contrast between the masonry defenses and the resort's waterside buildings below.

Location & getting there

Getting to Simatai

Approach through the Gubei Water Town–Simatai visitor area in Gubeikou, Miyun.

• Confirm the wall's own admission and ascent arrangements; a water-town visit does not automatically establish access to every wall section.