As one of the best-preserved parts of the Great Wall of China, Mutianyu Great Wall served as the northern barrier defending the capital and the imperial tombs of the Ming Dynasty. Built mainly with granite, this 2250-meter long section of the Great Wall is popular for its distinctive watchtowers and breathtaking natural scenery. Watchtowers are distributed at short intervals along the Wall, in total the wall has 23 watchtowers. These watchtowers is numbered from 1 to 23 from the east to west, the highest one on the western end is Tower 23 (23rd watchtower), which is the destination for visitors who hike up the wall. Generally it takes more than half an hour to hike up to the Great Wall starting from the entrance, after that you may not have enough energy to hike the Great Wall itself. Therefore, the best way is to take cable car or chairlift to reach the Great Wall, additionally you can enjoy the aerial views of the mountain from the cable car or chairlift.

The Ming tombs are located in topographical settings carefully chosen according to principles of geomancy (Fengshui) and comprise numerous buildings of traditional architectural design and decoration. Dingling is the burial place of the Wanli emperor, his wife, and his favorite concubine. Emperor Wanli was the thirteenth emperor of the Ming dynasty and ruled from 1572 to 1620. His tomb was built between 1584 and 1590. Excavation of Dingling Tomb began in May 1959 and was completed within a year. More than 3,000 artifacts were found in the 1,195 square meter underground palace which is located 27 meter below ground surface. The underground palace is a vast marble vault and divided into five large chambers. The original marble thrones are still there.