While the great wall of china is breathtaking as you imagine, it is also is fun for kids of different ages.
The Mutianyu section of the wall is a lot less crowded than other sections particularly the tourist section at Badaling and is located about 70km from the Chinese capital of Beijing.
We used a private tour guide for this trip who provided a minivan and driver and took us to the wall early in the morning. You can also get the subway part of the way and use taxis or public buses.
On the day we visited it had been a cold evening and sleet had fallen during the night however I was surprised by how quiet it was at Mutianyu and it seemed like we had large sections of the wall to ourselves, I am told that it can get very crowded especially in the warmer months and during holiday periods.
To get to the top of the wall there is almost 500 very steep stairs for the more adventurous or older kids or alternatively you can pay for the cable car up to the Great Wall which my kids loved. The views from the top of the wall are incredible and there is plenty of walking to do if you want to explore the wall more.
We found the actual wall too steep in sections to walk around for my younger kids, and they thought the best part was riding the wheeled toboggan down all the way back to the parking lot.
Our guide also stopped at the Olympic Park on the way home so we could see the water cube and birds nest stadium and the tour was well worth the money paid.