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Simatai (daily 8am-4pm; Y20), 110km northeast of the city, is the most unspoilt section of the Great Wall around Beijing, and, as it snakes across purple hills that resemble crumpled velvet from afar, with blue mountains in the distance, it's easily the most beautiful. Peaceful and semi-ruined, it fulfils the expectations of most visitors more than the other sections, though it gets a little crowded at weekends and is being rapidly developed. The only vendors around are local villagers. Make it understood from the outset that you are not interested in what they have to sell, otherwise it is quite likely that some poor kid with two cans of soft drink and a few postcards will follow you all afternoon. Most of this section is unrenovated, dating back to the Ming dynasty, and sporting a few late innovations such as spaces for cannon, with its inner walls at right angles to the outer wall to thwart invaders who have already breached the first defence. From the small car park, a winding path takes you up to the wall and regularly spaced watchtowers allow you to measure your progress uphill along the ridge. The less energetic can take the new cable car to the eighth tower (Y20). The walk over the ruins is not an easy one, and gets increasingly precipitous after about the tenth watchtower, with sheer drops and steep angles. The views are sublime, though. After about the fourteenth tower (2hr), the wall peters out and the climb becomes quite dangerous, and there's no point going any farther
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