how long is the great wall of china in miles

The Great Wall of China is about 13,170 miles long in total.

Quick Scoop

• The official total length, including all known sections from different dynasties, is about 13,170–13,171 miles.

• The best-preserved Ming Dynasty portion is much shorter, at about 5,500 miles.

Why the Number Seems So Big

• The wall is not a straight line; it snakes over mountains, deserts, and valleys, so the path distance is far longer than a simple point‑to‑point map distance.

• That total includes walls, trenches, and natural barriers that were part of the defensive system, not just the iconic stone wall tourists usually see.

A Handy Way To Picture It

• The full Great Wall system is about half the distance around Earth’s equator in length.

• The commonly visited Beijing-area sections (like Badaling and Mutianyu) are only a few miles long each, just tiny pieces of the full structure.

Bottom note: Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.