Shuidonggou Ruins/Great Wall
Shuidonggou Ruins/Great Wall
4.5
8:00 AM - 6:30 PM
Monday
8:00 AM - 6:30 PM
Tuesday
8:00 AM - 6:30 PM
Wednesday
8:00 AM - 6:30 PM
Thursday
8:00 AM - 6:30 PM
Friday
8:00 AM - 6:30 PM
Saturday
8:00 AM - 6:30 PM
Sunday
8:00 AM - 6:30 PM
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Most Recent: Reviews ordered by most recent publish date in descending order.
Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as waiting time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.
4.5
23 reviews
Excellent
13
Very good
8
Average
1
Poor
1
Terrible
0
MacMFamily
Lawrenceville, GA12 contributions
Jul 2014 • Friends
Well worth the effort to get here. It is a bit like a theme park with boat rides, camel rides, zip lines, donkey carts etc. but that doesn't detract from the amazing historical value of this site. The restaurant on-site near the visitor center is pretty good too! Be prepared with personal hygiene items though, bathrooms are intermittent and not always stocked with necessary supplies!
Written 2 September 2014
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Josephin G
Romania286 contributions
Sept 2017 • Business
As we were there i decided to take the team out to do some sigh seeing.The sight is about an hour away from the convention center. Tickets are about 140 RMB. Please know - English is not very common - so it's probably best to have either a translator or a some sort of idea where you are. The trip will cost you about 3-4 hours (all the side fun aside). besides the clay wall - you can do a lot of other things. Camel riding, desert vehicle riding, boat tour, shooting the bow , paragliding. All in all - the natural surrounding were pretty impressive. The side attractions were fun (not taken too seriously)
It was a good way to spend the morning. Just go there early when no one else is there - else you will have to share the place with millions of other people.
It was a good way to spend the morning. Just go there early when no one else is there - else you will have to share the place with millions of other people.
Written 23 September 2017
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
FeltonS
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia220 contributions
May 2014 • Couples
Hard to explain this place. Cross world historic paleolithic artifacts, a Ming Dynasty fort, donkey rides, camel rides, and a zip line, and you've started to get the recipe. We - and the park - started out looking at artifacts from China's first paleolithic discovery. Stone tools, arrowheads, etc, displayed in the park's museum. The artifacts are wonderful; the museum, not so much, at least when it comes to explanation. From there you head outside to the village where the first expeditions to dig were staged, and the actual sites of the digs. You also, it so happens, find yourself at the base of a section of the Great Wall, which you can climb up.
Then cue the camels, the donkeys, the zip line ... until you get to a Ming Dynasty fort, and its underground catacombs. Not for the claustrophobic, but if you can handle it, the visit is very cool. When you finally emerge, you're in the middle of the fort that used to utilize the catacombs for storage.
This is a weird, wild, and ultimately informative visit, done in a way that's not exactly reverent, but certainly a lot of fun. English is thin at the park and among its guides, but you can still have an interesting, enjoyable day without it. Maybe just make sure to read up on the artifacts in advance. Also, dress for a hot, sunny outdoors - most of your time will be spent in it.
Then cue the camels, the donkeys, the zip line ... until you get to a Ming Dynasty fort, and its underground catacombs. Not for the claustrophobic, but if you can handle it, the visit is very cool. When you finally emerge, you're in the middle of the fort that used to utilize the catacombs for storage.
This is a weird, wild, and ultimately informative visit, done in a way that's not exactly reverent, but certainly a lot of fun. English is thin at the park and among its guides, but you can still have an interesting, enjoyable day without it. Maybe just make sure to read up on the artifacts in advance. Also, dress for a hot, sunny outdoors - most of your time will be spent in it.
Written 26 May 2014
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
TravelThings
Vancouver, Canada49 contributions
Jul 2023 • Family
The site is massive and can be broken down into quite a few different areas, interconnected with different modes of transportation. They are one giant one way loop meaning you can only visit the sites in the specific order below. You need to buy the all inclusive tickets for 240RMB (as of Jul 2023) to get access to all the sites and transportation. The site is pretty big so would be hard to walk. You can access the museum and the Great Wall site for the cheaper ticket but would miss out on the other sites.
The first stop is the museum. They display different artifacts from the stone age found in the area. It can be quite interesting for anyone who likes archaeology and history. Within the museum there is the "Earthquake Experience". That was the biggest waste of time. It was nothing but some loud noises and bad quality graphics. The ground doesn't even shake like a real earthquake.
Then you take the electric bus to the Prehistoric Village. The performance there was very cool and worth a look. There was fire breathing, climbing a ladder made out of swords and some tribal dances.
Hiking up the stairs next to the village is the Ming Dynasty Great Wall. It's quite the sight. It is also the boundary between Ningxia Province and Inner Mongolia province. It's amazing to think how people built this hundreds of years ago out of nothing but the dirt and sand in the area.
Next is the Mongolian village. Walk through that and you arrive at the camel riding. You can ride the camel caravans to the rest area. Then you take the trucks to another small village. Walk through that village and you arrive at the docks.
Take the ferry to the next stop, where you can then choose between a bamboo raft and horse drawn carriage. We choose the carriage and that seemed to be the better choice (the bamboo raft was motor powered so doesn't have that authenticity to it anymore). Then it's a camel carriage and we arrive at the area for the main show.
The show was quite impressive, watching the rider perform on horseback some impressive stunts. The storyline was pretty fragmented and hard to follow, but just watching the actors and horses perform was amazing already. Definitely would recommend waiting for the show. It happens every day at 12:00 pm, 3:00 pm and 6:00 pm.
After the show, head towards the caves. Soldiers from the Ming Dynasty actually used these caves to defend from the invaders. Discover the different traps and strategies they used to defeat enemies back then. Free tour guides are available every five minutes (but only in Chinese).
The final mode of transportation is a tractor drawn carriage. It will take you directly to the exit.
Would recommend spending at least half a day or more in there to get the full experience and catch the shows. Plan your trip around the three performance times. Note that the performances only happen three times a day and it is located at the end of the loop so plan accordingly.
Overall, there wasn't much "history" besides the Great Wall and archaeological sites as marketed, but still worth a go to see the views, shows, and experience 6 different modes of transportation.
The first stop is the museum. They display different artifacts from the stone age found in the area. It can be quite interesting for anyone who likes archaeology and history. Within the museum there is the "Earthquake Experience". That was the biggest waste of time. It was nothing but some loud noises and bad quality graphics. The ground doesn't even shake like a real earthquake.
Then you take the electric bus to the Prehistoric Village. The performance there was very cool and worth a look. There was fire breathing, climbing a ladder made out of swords and some tribal dances.
Hiking up the stairs next to the village is the Ming Dynasty Great Wall. It's quite the sight. It is also the boundary between Ningxia Province and Inner Mongolia province. It's amazing to think how people built this hundreds of years ago out of nothing but the dirt and sand in the area.
Next is the Mongolian village. Walk through that and you arrive at the camel riding. You can ride the camel caravans to the rest area. Then you take the trucks to another small village. Walk through that village and you arrive at the docks.
Take the ferry to the next stop, where you can then choose between a bamboo raft and horse drawn carriage. We choose the carriage and that seemed to be the better choice (the bamboo raft was motor powered so doesn't have that authenticity to it anymore). Then it's a camel carriage and we arrive at the area for the main show.
The show was quite impressive, watching the rider perform on horseback some impressive stunts. The storyline was pretty fragmented and hard to follow, but just watching the actors and horses perform was amazing already. Definitely would recommend waiting for the show. It happens every day at 12:00 pm, 3:00 pm and 6:00 pm.
After the show, head towards the caves. Soldiers from the Ming Dynasty actually used these caves to defend from the invaders. Discover the different traps and strategies they used to defeat enemies back then. Free tour guides are available every five minutes (but only in Chinese).
The final mode of transportation is a tractor drawn carriage. It will take you directly to the exit.
Would recommend spending at least half a day or more in there to get the full experience and catch the shows. Plan your trip around the three performance times. Note that the performances only happen three times a day and it is located at the end of the loop so plan accordingly.
Overall, there wasn't much "history" besides the Great Wall and archaeological sites as marketed, but still worth a go to see the views, shows, and experience 6 different modes of transportation.
Written 16 July 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
WorldGlutton
London, UK24,529 contributions
Sept 2019
Shuidonggou as we were being briefed is an important military defense base build along the Great Wall of China during the Ming Dynasty to defend against the north normadic tribes.
Being the earliest Paleolithic cultural site excavated in China, most exhibits of artifacts , stone tools , arrowheads , animal fossils etc were displayed in the Museum. After the tour, the Museum feature a 3D film in their theatre. The film gave us an insight on people from hundred of thousand years ago, from life of primitive people, through disaster including scenes of hunting and forging stone tools. Out on site, an informative board clearly shows stages of Shuidonggou archaelogical excavation in progress.
Next we climbed up many step to reach the Hongshan Lake dock to board the sightseeing boat cruise across this wonder.
The uncle sang two songs to entertain us on the donkey ride to the Troops Hidden Cave. This Cave is winding, connected from top to bottom, left to right and it is heavily organised with all kinds of military facilities including galleries, gears , concealed bobby traps, observatories, weapon storeroom etc. This cave was used for hiding soldiers , it is also a base for sneak attacks on invaders. I can see lounges, meeting rooms and kitchens for generals and soldiers. Walking out of the cave, we took a stroll under the beautiful sunset back to the battery car back to our bus.
It is a very interesting site visit, wish that we could spend more time to check out more into those archaeologists at work on Shuidonggou Site !!!!
Being the earliest Paleolithic cultural site excavated in China, most exhibits of artifacts , stone tools , arrowheads , animal fossils etc were displayed in the Museum. After the tour, the Museum feature a 3D film in their theatre. The film gave us an insight on people from hundred of thousand years ago, from life of primitive people, through disaster including scenes of hunting and forging stone tools. Out on site, an informative board clearly shows stages of Shuidonggou archaelogical excavation in progress.
Next we climbed up many step to reach the Hongshan Lake dock to board the sightseeing boat cruise across this wonder.
The uncle sang two songs to entertain us on the donkey ride to the Troops Hidden Cave. This Cave is winding, connected from top to bottom, left to right and it is heavily organised with all kinds of military facilities including galleries, gears , concealed bobby traps, observatories, weapon storeroom etc. This cave was used for hiding soldiers , it is also a base for sneak attacks on invaders. I can see lounges, meeting rooms and kitchens for generals and soldiers. Walking out of the cave, we took a stroll under the beautiful sunset back to the battery car back to our bus.
It is a very interesting site visit, wish that we could spend more time to check out more into those archaeologists at work on Shuidonggou Site !!!!
Written 16 October 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
TravelistaBelle
Dubai, United Arab Emirates736 contributions
May 2016 • Friends
Plus points here are the impressive natural surroundings (rock face and water ways).
The attraction was a 6 year old's homework project replica of the natural history museum in London, set outside.
No English tour guides and Chinese workers at the park did not speak even basic English -not normally an expectation of mine when travelling to a foreign country but I would expect basic at a tourist attraction promoted to foreigners.
The park is set in a beautiful natural environment with rock mountains and a lake. The attractions themselves: cave men replicas, cave men villages are mediocre and look as though it was a 6 year olds homework project. Costumes sown by a working mother with left over charity shop polyester material.
The distance between sites was long with each site attempting to sell water, iced green tea, processed snacks or reconstituted hour old meat.
The highlight was a zip line, which cost an additional 40RMB.
Fun day out if you want to pass the time or with small children. But do not expect much from the individual attraction sites.
Toilet facilities were clean (and rated) with toilet paper in the hand wash area.
The attraction was a 6 year old's homework project replica of the natural history museum in London, set outside.
No English tour guides and Chinese workers at the park did not speak even basic English -not normally an expectation of mine when travelling to a foreign country but I would expect basic at a tourist attraction promoted to foreigners.
The park is set in a beautiful natural environment with rock mountains and a lake. The attractions themselves: cave men replicas, cave men villages are mediocre and look as though it was a 6 year olds homework project. Costumes sown by a working mother with left over charity shop polyester material.
The distance between sites was long with each site attempting to sell water, iced green tea, processed snacks or reconstituted hour old meat.
The highlight was a zip line, which cost an additional 40RMB.
Fun day out if you want to pass the time or with small children. But do not expect much from the individual attraction sites.
Toilet facilities were clean (and rated) with toilet paper in the hand wash area.
Written 13 May 2016
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
What bus can I take or private car for 4 people to attend this park. We are at Yinchuan No High school.
Written 14 September 2015
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