Ruijie & Sascha
Trail of China · May 2025
Gubei Water Town
Gubei Water Town is part recreated village, part light show — but the real reason to come is Simatai, the only Great Wall section you can walk at night under floodlights. The contrast of ancient wall and modern lighting is unforgettable.
Why You'll Love It
Let's be honest about Gubei Water Town: it's not an authentic historic village. It was built from scratch in 2014, a kind of Chinese Colonial Williamsburg with canals, stone bridges, and workshops where you can watch dyeing, brewing, and paper-making demonstrations. If you've been to Wuzhen or Zhouzhuang, you know the model — tourist-ready, photogenic, and about as spontaneous as a film set.
But here's the thing: the setting works. Nestled against the mountains at the Gubeikou pass, with the Simatai Great Wall looming directly above it, Gubei has a backdrop that no other water town can match. And the night transformation is real — when the lanterns come on and the canals reflect the warm glow, it's genuinely beautiful, even knowing it was designed to be. The food stalls sell actual decent food (the roast lamb and buckwheat noodles are regional specialties), and the craft workshops are staffed by people who genuinely know their trade.
The payoff is Simatai at night. Walking the wall under floodlights, with the Miyun reservoir glittering below and the watchtowers lit in sequence up the mountain, is something that doesn't exist anywhere else in China. The wall feels different in the dark — quieter, more mysterious, more like the military structure it actually was. You understand why this pass was strategic: you can see for miles in every direction, even at night. It's the Great Wall experience that Badaling and Mutianyu can't provide.
About Gubei Water Town
Gubei Water Town (古北水镇) is a reconstructed canal-side village in Miyun District, about 120 km northeast of central Beijing. Built on the site of the historic Gubeikou garrison town at the foot of the Simatai Great Wall, it opened in 2014 as a tourism and cultural complex covering 9 km² with hotels, restaurants, workshops, and performance spaces.
The water town features a network of canals crossed by stone bridges, with buildings designed in Ming and Qing dynasty northern architectural styles. Key attractions include a traditional dye workshop (永顺染坊), a distillery (司马烧锅), a shadow puppet theatre, and a kite museum. In the evening, thousands of red lanterns illuminate the streets, and the town hosts a water-and-light show on the central canal.
Simatai Great Wall (司马台长城) rises directly above the water town. Built during the Ming dynasty under Qi Jiguang, it's known for its steep, narrow construction and the distinctive "Fairy Tower" (仙女楼) and "Heavenly Bridge" (天桥) — a narrow wall segment connecting two peaks. In 1987, Simatai was the first Great Wall section opened to foreign tourists, but the more dramatic sections were later closed for preservation. Since 2014, a 500-metre restored stretch has been opened for night tours, illuminated from below by floodlights — the only Great Wall section in China with official night access.
The combined experience works best as a late-afternoon arrival: explore the water town at dusk, eat dinner as the lanterns come on, then take the cable car up to Simatai for the night walk. The tourist bus schedule is designed for this rhythm.
Practical Details
Getting There
By tourist bus (recommended): Direct buses depart from Wangjing West metro station (望京西站, Lines 13 and 15). Departures at 8:00 AM and 9:00 AM; return buses at 5:00 PM and 9:00 PM (extended to 10 PM on summer Fridays and Saturdays). Journey time: about 2 hours. Cost: ¥48 one-way. Book tickets in advance on the WeChat mini-program "古北水镇" or buy at the bus departure point. The bus drops you right at the water town entrance.
By DiDi or private car: From central Beijing, DiDi costs ¥250–350 one way and takes 1.5–2 hours depending on traffic. A full-day driver who waits costs ¥700–900. This is convenient if you want to stay for the night tour and return late, since the last tourist bus leaves at 9 PM.
By public bus (slower): Bus 980 Express from Dongzhimen to Miyun (70 min, ¥10), then local bus 51 to Gubeikou (60 min, ¥5). Total journey: 2.5–3 hours. Not recommended unless you're on a tight budget and have time to spare.
What to Skip
Don't come here for "authentic China." Gubei Water Town is a purpose-built tourism complex — enjoyable on its own terms, but not a real village. If authentic historic architecture is your priority, go to a real water town like Wuzhen or Zhouzhuang near Shanghai instead.
Skip the expensive hotel restaurants inside the water town. The food is fine but priced at 2–3× what you'd pay outside. Instead, eat at the street food stalls along the main canal — the roast lamb skewers (烤羊腿), buckwheat noodles (饸饹面), and Miyun chestnut cakes (密云栗子糕) are regional specialties and much better value.
Avoid visiting on summer weekends if you can help it. The water town gets crowded with Beijing families escaping the heat, and the Simatai night tour has limited capacity. Weekday visits are much more pleasant. Also, the night tour is cancelled in rain or high wind — check the weather forecast before committing.
Photography Tips
The Simatai night wall shot is one of the most unique Great Wall photos you can take. The floodlights create a dramatic upward glow on the stone, and the Miyun reservoir below reflects city lights on the far shore. Use a tripod (they're allowed on the night tour) and shoot long exposures from the watchtower platforms — 10–20 seconds at ISO 100 captures the light trails of the cable car and the ambient glow perfectly.
Inside the water town, the canals at dusk are the money shot. Position yourself on one of the stone bridges and shoot downstream as the lanterns reflect on the water. The best time is the 30-minute window when the sky still has blue in it but the lanterns are fully lit — pure magic for photography.
The dye workshop (永顺染坊) is photogenic during the day — long bolts of fabric hanging in the courtyard, dye vats in rich indigo and red. Shoot from the second floor looking down for a graphic, pattern-based composition.
Essential Information
Location
Walk the Great Wall at Night
Book a tour that includes the Gubei Water Town afternoon and the Simatai night walk — transport, tickets, and timing all sorted.
Book a Gubei + Simatai Tour →You Might Also Like
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