First, the first picture
The Magpie Bridge in front of Yuelao Temple in Gubei Water Town, and the Simatai Great Wall at night can be seen in the distance
Day and night comparison chart (beautiful ice surface)
Gubei Water Town overlooked by the church on the top of the mountain
hilltop church at night
Yongshun Dyeing Workshop in Gubei Water Town
It is too cold to climb the Simatai Great Wall at night.
The most beautiful Great Wall---Jinshanling Great Wall
2. Circle the key points (knock on the blackboard)
Before the Chinese New Year, it was only a two-day trip. In fact, there was nothing to prepare for, but I was used to planning the itinerary, so I spent some time doing a little strategy and briefly talking about my experience.
First, why did you choose to go to Gubei Water Town in winter?
Gubei Water Town in winter is really worth a visit. First of all, if you want to see water towns in summer, you can go to Wuzhen, Xitang, etc. in the south of the Yangtze River. Compared with the small towns in the south of the Yangtze River, there is no competition between Gubei water towns and small towns in the south of the Yangtze River. Only winter towns cannot be seen in the south. ;Secondly, there will be fewer people going in winter, and there will be no interest in visiting if there are so many people.
Second, is it a day or two to go to Gubei Water Town?
We were also struggling with this matter when we went. First of all, we were afraid that the second day of the ancient town would be boring, but we didn’t know where to go in winter (the surrounding Wuling Mountain has been closed), and then we saw it on the map. Jinshanling Great Wall is a 20-minute drive from Gubei Water Town. We decided to go to Jinshanling Great Wall if we didn’t want to spend another day in Gubei Water Town. It turned out that this decision was correct. It is indeed worthy of being the most beautiful Great Wall in China. title.
Third, which hotel to choose for accommodation, inside or outside the scenic area? Inn or hotel?
If you choose to climb the Simatai Great Wall at night or want to swim in the ancient town until late at night, it is more convenient to live in the ancient town, and there are many conveniences, which will be discussed later. When we went, it was not the peak season. The price of accommodation outside the scenic area was 200-500 per night, the price of hotels in the scenic area was generally 1000-3000 per night, and the price of inns was 400-800 per night. The advantage of the hotel is that the houses with high star standards are large and suitable for vacationing and leisure with children and the elderly, and there is the hotel's own hot spring, you can choose to soak in the hot spring to relieve fatigue. The inn houses are small, but very warm and clean. Each inn has its own style, and the price is more affordable. You can choose according to your family needs.
Fourth, if you choose to live in the scenic spot, which location of the hotel/inn will be more convenient?
The scenic area of Gubei Water Town is not very big. In fact, no matter where you live, no matter where you go, the distance to any scenic spot is not too far. Friendly reminder: If you want to book an inn hotel, you can just call the customer service of the scenic spot directly. The vacant room location you see on the Internet is not updated in real time, so don't waste time entangled. Due to the unified management of the scenic spot, the quality of each inn is guaranteed, so it’s good to choose the one with vacancy at ease (we just wasted an afternoon of entanglement, infinite comparison choices, and finally the hotel we want to live in is all It was full, and we chose Yinghua Inn, the only inn that can meet our housing needs, but the environment is surprisingly good).
Fifth, will it be particularly deserted to go to Gubei Water Town in winter, and will the accommodation be particularly cold?
The temperature when we went was around -10°C, and it was really cold outside, especially when climbing the Simatai Great Wall at night. But in the state of exercising all the time, you will not feel cold, and the temperature is acceptable if you wear a hat, scarf, and gloves. There is no need to worry about the temperature when staying at the hotel. The inn we live in needs to turn on the air conditioner (cold wind) when we sleep at night, or it is too hot. . .
Sixth, will you be uncomfortable with eating, and will the price be outrageous?
We ate three meals in Gubei Water Town, and one lunch at the Roasted Meat Restaurant, which cost less than 300 yuan for 4 people. Except for Roasted Meat, the other dishes were delicious. The boiled mutton for dinner costs 450 yuan for 4 people, which is quite satisfactory. A normal dinner is mainly warm. One meal is breakfast at the inn, you can order it, it's free, and the taste is okay. Therefore, the price of food in Gubei Water Town is very conscientious among similar scenic spots, and the taste is also guaranteed. There are also a variety of special meals and snacks here, generally speaking, you can eat with confidence.
Seventh, my overall evaluation of the scenic spot!
The overall development of Gubei Water Town is still very good. It is suitable for people of all ages to visit and vacation, and the service is excellent. No matter what time you are in the scenic area, you can find staff who will serve you enthusiastically. The humanized facilities are very well done. Well, it’s cold in winter, cotton cushions are installed in all the places for people to rest, hot water can be received everywhere, and there are advanced and invincible toilets (especially the one near the barbecue restaurant).
Eighth, try to bring some food and drink when climbing the Jinshanling Great Wall, and do what you can!
Jinshanling Great Wall is a long way, and there is no place to eat on the Great Wall, but there are aunts who sell things to earn a hard-earned money for carrying things on the Great Wall. Because climbing the Great Wall requires a lot of physical strength, it is necessary to bring some food and drink to replenish at any time, and the Jinshanling Great Wall basically preserves the original appearance of the Great Wall of the Ming Dynasty, and some places are steep and difficult to walk, so it depends on your physical fitness Do what you can.
Three, let's go! Gubei Water Town!
Our group of four set off from Tianjin, the journey took three and a half hours, and we assembled at 6 o'clock in the morning. I am the driver, the coach teacher Yang, the beautiful egg teacher, and the elderly fat teacher. Take a group photo of the car driving to the service area as the departure photo (Mr. Dan, who is sleeping to death).
At 10:10 we arrived at the Gubei Water Town Scenic Area. The road was happy all the way, and the driving was not so boring (in the second half of the journey, Teacher Dan drove after Teacher Dan got up). When you arrive at the scenic spot, go to the customer service center to check in, and you need to pay a certain deposit.
There are also several benefits for staying in the scenic spot:
1. Free round-trip shuttle bus. It can be delivered to the hotel for free and sent to the customer service center on the return trip. (The route of the shuttle bus is on the outskirts of the entire Gubei Water Town. It takes a certain amount of time to walk to the places you want to go, including going to the Simatai Great Wall, so it can only be said that it is better than nothing. And there are several inns that are closer to the customer service center There are no free shuttle tickets.)
2. Free checked luggage. If you have large luggage, you can check it to the hotel for free, and return the luggage to the customer service center when you leave. (We didn't bring anything, just some daily necessities and food, and we didn't use the consignment service.)
3. Discounted Gubei Water Town tickets. The original price is 140 per person, and after the discount it is 80 per person, so if you count it together, living outside the scenic spot is not much cheaper than living inside, and it is more convenient to live inside.
4. Simatai Great Wall is free of reservation. In order to protect the cultural heritage, the Simatai Great Wall needs to limit the traffic every day. You don't need to make an appointment to live in the scenic area with the hotel room card, and you don't need to make an appointment to climb the Great Wall at night. (The time we went was off-season, so we went straight to climb.)
5. Free hot spring experience coupons. If you don't go, you won't make an evaluation.
At the entrance to the scenic spot, you can enter the face recognition system. If you want to go to and from the scenic spot, you can do it, which is very convenient.
The first goal of entering the water town is to find our inn. Yinghua Inn is not far from the customer service center. We started to search slowly along the main road. On the way, I happened to meet a parade team.
It must be very blind to walk at first, but the streets are full of signposts, so it is relatively simple to find the place you want to go. Find our inn at the gate of the shadow puppet theater along the direction of the road.
Take a short rest and put all the things you don’t need to carry in the inn, and use this time in the evening to go around the ancient town first. Not far away is Yinghua College.
It is estimated that it has been renovated recently, and it feels relatively new.
It may be that it is almost time for dinner, and there is no one here, so you can take any photo you want.
Yuantong Pagoda can be seen in the distance
Not far from Yinghua Academy is the Yang Wudi Ancestral Hall. It is a place where the residents of the town commemorate General Yang. It doesn't have much meaning.
There is also a small stage at the door
Follow the main road to Riyue Island Square. The Chinese New Year will soon be here, and there will be temple fair performances here.
There are various folk performances and traditional snacks for sale in the square.
There is a large stage for performances in Riyue Island Square.
It costs 10 yuan to buy a bunch of candied haws
Passing through Riyue Island Square, passing by the snack street, I feel a little hungry, so I buy a few and eat a little. Beef skewers are 25 skewers, and the taste is average.
Shredded radish pancakes, the taste is okay, but there may be too much noodles. It costs 5 yuan each, and each person is limited to two. If you want to buy more, you will have to queue up a few more people.
Opposite this store is the late night cafeteria. If you are hungry at night and can’t find something to eat, this store is open until 3 am.
I didn't buy anything else, I just made do with it in the car earlier, and I still felt that I needed to have a proper meal. Roast pork is the specialty here, we decided to try it. Follow the sign and pass the Zhenyuan Escort Bureau, so let's take a look first.
Look like?
The Zhenyuan Escort Bureau is also a man-made landscape, which completely restores the place where the escort masters live and work.
There is also a big arena in the back, but it is full of people, so there is no filming. There are hot springs here in the Escort, so the water here does not freeze.
Passing by the Eight Banners Guild Hall in front, it imitates the Eight Banners costumes of the Qing Dynasty. You can rent clothes from the Qing Dynasty. There is also a place to experience archery. It is not very interesting, so I didn’t take pictures. After leaving the Eight Banners Guild Hall at the back door, you will arrive at the Roasted Meat Restaurant. I suggest you choose a small portion of Roasted Meat and taste it. There are more than 80 pieces of meat, but it is greasy and greasy. You can’t get used to it. Pimple soup and stir-fried dishes are very good. For food, lunch costs less than 300 yuan.
There is a very luxurious public restroom at the entrance of the roast meat restaurant, and we have used it as our resting place several times.
The river water in winter is basically frozen, and the cruise ships in summer are neatly arranged in the pier.
The Simatai Great Wall can be seen in the distance. We decided to climb it at night, and take a walk around the scenic spots of the ancient town during the day.
I know the approximate location of the Great Wall, so come here directly in the evening. Along the other road, we headed towards the ancient town in another direction. Walking and patting all the way, there are no people, and it is very pleasant to play.
There are many cats in the ancient town, not afraid of tourists.
From one side of the river, you can see the Yuelao Temple on the other side.
Walking through the connected Magpie Bridge, you can just take pictures of the beautiful ice surface. The thickness of the ice surface is 40cm. There is some artificial snow in the distance, and many children are playing snow sports.
The weather is fine, and under the sunlight, you can see many cracks under the ice, just like the ones drawn.
There are many wishing cards hung by tourists in Yuelao Temple.
The next stop we went to Yongshun Dyeing Workshop, in the Shuijie Historical Scenic Area. Here you can see the ancient craft of cloth dyeing and weaving, which is a place worth seeing.
As soon as you enter the door, you can see the whole row of fabrics swaying in the wind, and it is very beautiful with the blue sky.
It's also a great place to take portraits.
Entering the house on the second floor, you can see the exhibition introducing the hand-dyed cloth skills. It seems that you can also provide the service of dyeing cloth by yourself, but we did not find it.
The small alley from the back door of the dyeing workshop is directly facing the Sima Xiaoshaojiu workshop. You can taste some for free here, and the taste is good. We bought some to drink with dinner and to take some away as gifts when we left.
The yard is full of wine jars.
You can also visit the manufacturing process of winemaking here, but now they don't make wine here, and all of them have moved to the outside of the winery to modernize winemaking.
There is a Simagang restaurant at the door of Sima Xiaoshao.
There is also a large tank at the door to take pictures.
So far, all the scenic spots are short of the church on the top of the mountain and the Yuantong Pagoda. The Yuantong Pagoda is too far away and we need to climb up to save energy so we chose not to go. As for the church on the top of the mountain, we decided to go to see it at night, so we didn't waste time. Walking all the way back to the inn just in time for the free performance of the shadow puppet theater opposite, watched a shadow puppet show, and then went back to the inn to put down the wine, because the night climbing of the Great Wall started at 5 o'clock. Let's tidy up and take a rest, leave unnecessary things in the inn, and pack lightly.
Fourth, the night tour begins!
Because we have to climb the Great Wall and visit the night view, we decided to take a ferry to the Great Wall to save energy. The shuttle bus is 10 yuan per person, but it takes a long distance to get off the bus. The Simatai Great Wall in the distance has been lit up.
Festive lights are also lit up throughout the ancient town.
The ticket for night climbing Simatai Great Wall plus round-trip cable car is 120 per person, and it takes about 15 minutes to take the cable car. After getting off the cable car and walking for 15 minutes, you can reach the Great Wall. After getting off the cable car, you can already overlook the night view of Gubei Water Town, and there are free telescopes to overlook the ancient town.
In fact, it is said to be climbing the Great Wall. There is only a short section of the Great Wall that can be climbed. Due to the lack of lighting at night, it is not easy to walk on the Great Wall. Therefore, for the safety of tourists, it is not allowed to climb the whole way, just come up to experience it in the middle of the two towers. A section of the journey, watch the night view. Therefore, the overall feeling of climbing the Great Wall is a bit pitted, and there is no feeling of climbing the Great Wall, but the night tour experience is still possible. It is worth coming when the weather is good, and you can see the stars in the sky. However, it is too cold in winter. I took pictures here for an hour, and my whole body was frozen.
The only section that can be climbed is the short section that takes pictures.
When the sky gets dark, you can see the stars all over the sky, which you can't see in the city.
Before leaving, take another picture of Gubei Water Town.
The time to go down the Great Wall is at 7:30, it’s still early, we decided to visit the ancient town now, and then go to have dinner. The night view of the Great Wall can just be photographed at the pier.
Gubei Water Town at night can just show the comfort and quietness of a northern town in winter.
During the day, there is an open-air foot bath, which can relieve the fatigue of the journey. At night, old movies are still playing here, but it is too cold.
The ice surface under the light is even more beautiful.
The quaint town with light lights is perfect.
There are ice games here during the day, and it is a little quieter at night.
Since we had just climbed the Great Wall and we were freezing cold, everyone unanimously decided to have dinner at a hot pot restaurant in the snack street. The hot pot restaurant is very big but almost full. It seems that everyone has been terribly frozen, so go to the hotel to get Sima Xiaoshao to drink. The hot pot is quite satisfactory and has no merits. I think it is very rare in the scenic area, and the total cost of Sima Xiaoshao is 450 yuan. After dinner, we are going to visit the hilltop church that we did not visit during the day.
All the way back to Riyue Island Square, the lights are lit up at night, which is also very beautiful.
It was really not easy to find the way at night. After walking countless wrong ways, I finally found the way to the church on the top of the mountain. It was already past 10 o'clock in the evening. Stepping on the steps leading to the church on the top of the mountain will have the effect of an electronic scale, but when the few of us go up together, it becomes a noise, and it is too dazzling, which is not a very comfortable experience.
There are many lanterns decorated on the top of the mountain, which is very beautiful.
There are also many decorations designed on the top of the mountain for tourists to take pictures.
Although the church on the top of the mountain is not high, you can also enjoy a beautiful night view.
On the way down the mountain and back to the hotel, we wanted to take another look at Yuelao Temple and take a picture of the night scene. Then go back to the inn.
On the way back, we decided to give up climbing the Simatai Great Wall tomorrow and go to the nearby Jinshanling Great Wall. So get some rest tonight and get your strength back. Back at the inn, it was unbearably hot, and the air conditioner was turned on to lower the temperature. After a day of hard work, I fell asleep instantly. It seemed that I was exhausted.
5. Go to Jinshanling Great Wall
After getting up and having breakfast in the morning, we decided to go to Sima Xiaoshao Distillery to buy some more wine to take home. Pack your things first and check out when you get back. The town is still a bit cold in the morning.
It's almost the New Year, and there are red lanterns and silks everywhere.
There are also shops selling all kinds of small lanterns.
The decorations at the entrance of the Children's Play Hall are full of children's interest.
Go back to the hotel and pick up your luggage to check out, and then take a picture of the small clay sculpture of the hotel.
Walk all the way back to the customer service center, go through the formalities, and return the deposit. Take the free shuttle bus to the parking lot to pick up the car and set off for Jinshanling Great Wall. After a short highway, you will come to Jinshanling Great Wall Scenic Area. After buying Jinshanling Great Wall tickets at the service center (55 yuan per person in off-season, 65 yuan per person in peak season), you still need to walk a while to get to the scenic spot, and the shuttle bus is 10 yuan per person one way. There is also a cable car here that can go up the mountain for 40 yuan one way and 60 yuan for a round trip. Jinshanling Great Wall was presided over by Qi Jiguang, a patriotic general of the Ming Dynasty, when he was the commander-in-chief of Jizhen (1567-1586).
Today is not a continuation of yesterday's good weather, which is partly cloudy.
Jinshanling Great Wall connects Simatai Great Wall to the east and Gubeikou Great Wall to the west.
Jinshanling Great Wall is the best-preserved section of the Great Wall of the Ming Dynasty, and is called the essence of the Great Wall of the Ming Dynasty by experts. Set up dangers by the mountains and fortresses by the water, the undulating city is like a steel wall. There are many carved buildings, like armored soldiers guarding, "one man guards the gate, and ten thousand men cannot open it". It is famous for its wide vision, dense enemy buildings, and unique functions of the architectural defense system.
On November 15, 1992, Ke Shouliang, the "flying man" of Asia, successfully flew over the Jinshanling Great Wall by driving a motorcycle.
There were basically no tourists coming to Jinshanling during this period of time ago, as if we were booking the venue ourselves.
The sun slanted down, shining golden on the stretching Great Wall.
The road on the Great Wall is difficult, and many places are dilapidated. It is really difficult for people with bad legs to climb the Great Wall.
It was very cold to climb the Great Wall at this time without wearing enough wind, and the clothes inside were soaked by sweat while climbing the Great Wall with too many clothes.
The dilapidated Great Wall gives people a sense of the vicissitudes of history.
Unfortunately, when we went down the mountain, we found that the cable car had a power outage (thankfully not while we were sitting on it). It is said that the high-voltage electricity around here has stopped, and the conductor went to the Great Wall to refund us the ticket money. It is said that the four of us who bought the cable car tickets have not yet gone down. . It seems that no one really comes to climb the Great Wall at this time.
Although I am tired enough to climb the Great Wall for more than two hours, I think it is a blessing in disguise? To go down the mountain, you need to turn over four more towers. .
Another panorama of the Great Wall.
Mainly we were also traveling with an "elderly person". . It is indeed difficult to go down the mountain, but the road is not that difficult, but the distance to go is a bit long.
When I was going down the mountain, I saw a stone tablet that said, "If you don't reach the Great Wall, you are not a hero". If you take the cable car, you will miss it! After that, we ended the trip and returned to Tianjin after 3 and a half hours. Let's take this photo as the end of this foursome.
Sixth, the next story
The itinerary this time is very fulfilling and not very tiring. Gubei Water Town is suitable for gatherings and leisure, and Jinshanling is indeed worthy of the title of the most beautiful Great Wall. It's just right to visit two places for two days. The total cost of this trip was over 4,000, with an average of about 1,000 per person (including fuel costs, highway fees, snacks, etc., and a dinner back in Tianjin).
For me, writing travel notes is just a hobby, a kind of good memory for myself! When time goes by slowly, it is enough to look back and feel a little excited!
Thank you for watching, I hope this helps you a little bit!
2019.2.8
