The Wall is not one place, and the distance question only means something once you have picked a section. The gap between the nearest and the furthest is a difference of about an hour each way.
The distances#
| Section | Distance from central Beijing | Road time |
|---|---|---|
| Mutianyu | ~70 km | ~1.5 h |
| Badaling | ~70 km | ~1.5 h |
| Huanghuacheng | ~80 km | ~2 h |
| Jiankou | ~90 km | — |
| Simatai | ~120 km | ~2.5 h |
| Jinshanling | ~130 km | ~2.5 h |
Those are road times in normal conditions. Weekend and holiday traffic out of Beijing is genuinely bad, and the return leg in late afternoon is worse than the outbound.
Distance is the wrong thing to optimise#
Mutianyu and Badaling are the same distance from the city, which makes the choice between them entirely about what you want from the day rather than travel time.
Badaling is the most developed, has a direct rail link, and is by a wide margin the most crowded — on a bad day the parapet is shoulder to shoulder. It is the right answer if mobility is a constraint, because the access is the easiest.
Mutianyu is the same drive, fully restored, on a forested ridge, with a cable car up and a toboggan run down. Walk fifteen minutes in either direction from the arrival point and the crowds thin out. For most visitors this is simply the better day.
Jinshanling repays the extra hour if you want to hike. It is partly restored, dramatic, and quiet.
Budget the whole day#
Whichever section you choose, this is not a morning. Reckon on three to four hours of travel, two to four hours on the Wall, and the buffer that Beijing traffic demands. Leaving by 07:00 is the single most effective thing you can do — you arrive before the tour coaches and you drive out of the city before the roads fill.
Coming back, the Wall empties in late afternoon and the light is better, so the temptation to stay is real. Factor it into when you plan dinner.
Getting there#
A hired car for the day is the sane option for two or more people and removes the return-timing problem. DiDi works outbound but is less reliable for the trip back, since drivers are sparse at the car parks. There are tourist buses from Dongzhimen, which are cheapest and slowest.
For which section suits which kind of visitor, the state of restoration on each, and the ones to avoid, see the Great Wall guide; for how a Wall day fits around the rest of the city, the Beijing travel guide.