I am not sure if your driver is chinese and local to Beijing ?? But Gubei is a collection of old villages and brought together in Gubei it’s authenticity is very good must have cost a fortune but simatai the oldest bit of the wall is very close and is the best of the Chinese’s Great Wall it’s under UNESCO and was built in 550 -557 built in the Qi dynasty also really old and on the Yanshan mountain .and the peking mountains are very rugged and dramatic it’s beautiful your going into the countryside . I would visit it it’s like going to London and not visiting the Crown Jewels or visiting England and not going to Stonehenge . The water town was well worth the visit i enjoyed it the nearest water town to Beijing the next other is in Shanghai which is Nanxun but I went to see the old part of the historic wall .. I really found it like a small shangrila you won’t be dissapointed . Take care and enjoy the experience

Most metro trains have their last journey start at 23:00 (next train @ 05:00). You should be able to get a taxi (around $7). Have a look at the Rome2rio travel app. It says the walk would be around 1.5 hours. Not smart especially if in winter.

Postscript to my earlier post: If you decide on the shuttle bus option be sure to PRE-BOOK your return, a lot of people use this service that stay to see the light show and you cannot just turn up and get a seat. Cheers Drew22

You may try booking taxi through app eg DiDi. It is quite a long distance from Beijing to Gubei Water Town.

Non è grosso , ma a piedi da un estremo all'altro comunque ci vogliono 20 -30 minuti. Secondo me è meglio soggiornare nella parte centrale o verso nord, dove ci sono più locali/ristoranti e case tipiche da visitare

The easiest way to Gubei is to catch a bus from Dongzhimen Bus Station. The Bus Station is located a short walk to the east of Dongzhimen Metro Station, which is the terminus for the direct metro from Beijing Airport. The public bus service runs a limited time schedule, however, private bus operators are located on the road outside the bus depot and charge the same rate as the public service, their buses are also more comfortable. Going to Gubei for a one day visit is not viable, if you plan on coming direct from the airport it is 45 minutes from the airport to Dongzhimen, the you have to walk to the bus depot and provided you do not get lost this will take 15 - 20 minutes and then you have to catch a bus, the bus journey is one and a half hours. It will take the same time by taxi but will be a lot more expensive. Everything at Gubei is controlled from a central administration area, that is hotels, entrance fees etc. Except for the two big resort hotels most hotels in Gubei are boutique style hotels with 9 - 12 rooms, these need to be booked on line (effectively through the administration office). I used a com website to book my "trip"

We were part of a tour group, the hotels were all arranged and booked by Asia Travel. We travelled there by coach which was also part of the tour.The hotel we stayed at ( The Gubei WaterTown Hotel, I think!) may have been the only hotel there. It was an excellent hotel! Good luck, do the wall when youre there!