The best part of the Great Wall

If you want to see a less crowded, beautiful section of the wall head about 3 hours NE to Simatai. you will be able to take a gondola partway up, hike the rest of the wall, and you can even ride a zip line over the river at the end back to the starting point. (You buy tickets for the gondola and zipline, which is safe)
With a bit more remote location, the skies are blue (hopefully!) and the wall is not over-run with tourists. It is well worth the travel time to get there!