How long is the Great Wall of China?
Posted on Feb 24, 2026 / Travel
The total measured length of all the Great Wall sections and related structures is about 21,196 km (or around 13,171 miles). That number includes walls, trenches and natural barriers that were used together as defensive systems. Because the wall was built in many places and different eras, some parts are destroyed, some are restored, and others are just ruins in the countryside. The part you see near Beijing like Badaling or Mutianyu is just a small slice of the whole network. Because many sections are eroded or missing, old estimates often varied depending on what people included. Still, the overall length recorded today gives a sense of how massive the whole project was. Walking the entire thing would take months because it’s so spread out across northern China.
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