Gulang Zijincheng Hotel

An immaculate hotel with a delicious breakfast buffet located within walking distance of the city. Across the road (through the underpass) is a lovely dirt-path park for birding, and at the end you can access the bridge to town. Behind the hotel is access to hiking trails to take you up to the ridge and pagoda. The hotel itself had a kettle, the standard toothbrush-comb-slippers-towel amenities, and a friendly supportive staff (though with minimal English). There’s parking out front. For those on foot, the hotel will pick up/drop off at the train station. There is a restaurant and a convenience store a couple of doors down from the hotel. Gulang is a fabulous destination for seeing the Great Wall; we hired a driver for the day and did a couple hours of hiking along the wall (next to corn fields!) and then visited the grottoes. Not touristy at all — one of my favorite spots on the trip!