we went on a Monday, in order to avoid crowds. We had heard that some other Wall locations are over-run, and others are for intrepid hiker/climbers, so being good walkers who don't like mobs, we went to Mutianyu in mid-October and were pleased: very few people, fall colours just coming on. With the aid of a friend in Beijing, we hired a private driver to bring us back/forth from the city and were able to avoid an early start from Beijing. It was also a great means of learning about Beijing, as we picked his brain for all sorts of info. Total cost was $100 for two. We also thereby avoided having to go to a silk factory or other stop on a government-run tour, which is standard if you book through your hotel, it seemed from others' stories. The extra time was spent by me dealing with a bit of vertigo: I found one part of the wall to be much steeper than I expected and wasted about 45 minutes refusing to come back down! Suggest you consider bringing a walking stick to help reduce the pounding of the stone steps on your knees (I brought one as I was hiking several times on my trip). No need to climb up or down the wall: take the lift up and save your energy for walking along the wall. We road the sled down at the end: it was a gas, and much-appreciated laughs after my vertigo.

This is the less visited section a little farther away from Beijing. Having see Badaling before, this was a very much nicer place to see.

We had a driver and English speaking guide to take us to the Great Wall for the day.

It is an excellent section of the wall to walk on, part of the journey up to the actual wall is via a cable car. It certainly was a great experience to finally see the Great Wall and also walk on it. Highly recommended experience.

The journey through the countryside from Beijing was also very interesting.

We'd been told that this was the 'fun' part of the Great Wall, so didn't expect something completely authentic but when we arrived it was full of people selling 'I climbed the great wall' T-shirts and other souvenirs. We then got the chairlift up, which was actually good fun, eventually taking the toboggan down. We initially turned right which was VERY steep and some sections didn't have handrails which was quite unnerving, but we made it to the end of the walkable section. There is a sign saying not to go past but a lot of people were and I really recommend that you do. The views are great, there are less people and the mountains around are stunning!
Afterwards we headed back and headed to the left section. It was almost completely flat as this was the restored part. It was nice, but not as exciting as the other side of the wall.
It is nice that you can experience the slightly more authentic side and have the option of the 'restored' side, particularly if you have mobility problems or a fear of heights.