Commune by the Great Wall in the Unbound Collection by Hyatt

The great wall is accessible, given you have skills and guts! I read so many reviews saying the great wall is inaccessible, it’s simply not true. If you have the willpower and delicate yourself to climb, you will reach it. The route is VERY VERY STEEP AND DANGEROUS!!!!! Not well maintained and filled with gravel, it’s a difficult hike. But if you are fit, you can do it. You need to either climb around the steel fence (which i did) or circle around until there’s a entry point ( which is harder ) but i guarantee it’s reachable despite the signs urging you to turn back. It’s very relaxing and the views are breathtaking. Able to stand, alone in a nearly infinite stretch of ancient chinese history is incredibly moving.

With an almost rural feel the clean commune accommodation felt like a little world of its own away from the hustle and bustle of Beijing. The accommodation houses were nicely appointed, with shared spaces within the buildings being spacious and offering nice outlooks. Rooms themselves were small and basic but clean. The restaurant was lovely with a range of Eastern and Western foods available. A short hike takes you to a private section of the great wall of China which of worth a sunset and sunrise visit. Wear sturdy shoes as the path can be rocky in places.

This is a really difficult property to rate. Yes, it is very unique. But we had expectations that ended up being very underwhelming and I don’t think this is our fault- this property works really hard to create these (rather misleading) expectations: The photos on the website, the description which makes it sound as if you get your own private part of the wall to walk to and also just the simple fact that this is part of Hyatt’s Unbound Collection, which usually houses only high quality 5 Star properties. We arrived from central Beijing in the outrageously overpriced hotel limousine, which is unfortunately almost essential if you don’t have a a car of your own, as the location is indeed very isolated. On arrival in our suite (we had used Hyatt points to book a suite), we noticed straight away that the aircon does not work properly. It was about 24 degrees and we were hoping to cool down the room a bit, but the vents were rather blowing out hot air. This seems to be a very Chinese problem as we’ve encountered overheated places everywhere, but this is of course unacceptable for a supposedly 5 Star Hyatt hotel. We spoke to our English-speaking friend at the hotel but she just told us to “switch it off altogether as the system goes with the prevailing wind”. This is totally not how an aircon is supposed to work! But this is not all: The entire property is pretty rundown, way too much so to justify being part of the Unbound Collection by Hyatt. Our room had scuff marks, all the buildings on property look faded and worn even from the outside (maybe except for the bamboo buildings) and entirely different from the pictures on their website which must be ten or more years old. Likewise, inside- we even found dirty tea cups that clearly had not been cleaned between guests but rather just flushed quickly under water (drink stains still in it, bah) and our carpets at the bed and in the living room were also dirty, the fittings in the toilet old and rusty, all not very pleasant, and likewise the windows and balcony door all haven’t been cleaned seemingly in weeks or longer: Even the balcony itself had dirt and rust stains all over. To be fair, there were also some positives: The bed itself is very comfortable and firm, just the way we like it. If you’re after a more plush kind of bedding, then this is not your place. We personally like a more firm mattress with a simple Duvet and we therefore slept like babies. We received nice amenities including a fruit bowl, a handwritten welcome card, a bottle of South African bubbles and, most importantly, a super cute little plush squirrel with Commune branding which we adore. Service overall was mostly good and as non-Chinese guests we were taken special care of by the front desk manager and even the hotel manager herself- they were super nice people all around. The worst disappointment of all was the much advertised hiking trail to a private part of the Great Wall. We had even asked about it in advance and they confirmed while you cannot climb onto the wall itself, you definitely can hike up to the fence at least. However, on arrival, we were told that the “path is risky” and we better go into town to tour the touristy renovated bit of the wall instead. It’s all fine if it’s locked up behind a fence for safety, but advertising this feature all over their marketing material and then just being told that getting there is “risky” is false advertising, straight up. The hotel website even had its own section called “Hike to the Great Wall” and promises that “the hotel is located within walking distance of the Great Wall. Explore an untouched and crowd-free piece of Chinese history, entrenched in the wild beauty of the landscape” but then in reality staff is rather embarrassed to even talk about it. On our second day, we finally realised why that is: The path to the wall itself (which we only ventured a few metres down) is overgrown and had safety warnings all along, it is pretty clear that no one hikes this at all anymore. So take this lie off your website, we felt totally duped!