In the morning we head outside of Beijing to explore the Ming Tombs 50 km north-west of Beijing. 13 of the 16 Ming emperors are buried at this impressive site. The second-largest tomb Ding Ling - the tomb of Emperor Wan Li (1573 - 1620) - was the first to be excavated. Two others - the largest tomb Chang Ling and Zhao Ling - are now open to the public. It took the emperor six years, hundreds of thousands of workers and a big amount of money to build his necropolis. Nowadays, travelers can visit the underground passageways and caverns.

After the visit of the tombs, we head to a lovely countryside restaurant where an excellent trout meal awaits you. Then we head to a wild section of the Great Wall to get in the right mood for the trekking days ahead. We hike for about 1.5 hours on the unspoilt and overgrown Great Wall at Huanghua. We return to Beijing in the late afternoon. Individual dinner.