Travel to Jinshanling by myself

I wanted to go to Jinshanling Great Wall also, but I didn't want to take a tour and I wanted to see if I could get there myself. I'll tell you what I did: From Dongzhimen (东直门) bus station I took express (快)bus 980 to 密云县. At the last stop, the bus station, I got out. Immediately there was a man trying to sell me a ride to Jinshanling, and I tried hard to ignore him. After a while he finally went away. There is no real bus line to Jinshanling from Miyun bus station. I checked all the boards but couldn't find any at least. I asked around (I speak some Chinese) and was directed to go wait at the intersection, on the opposite side of the bus station. There are a lot of small vans that take people to nearby towns. Just tell the drivers 'Jinshanling', they should understand. It will take about an hour in the van. Traveling this way is more complicated, but I did find it more rewarding. I paid 50 to be taken to Jinshanling in this van, which is probably too much. Agree on the price in advance. When I finished at Jinshanling at about 15:00 I arrived back at the main gate, and there was a tour bus waiting to go back to Beijing. There were some foreigners already waiting in it and I asked if there was room for one more. There was. I just sat on the bus back to Beijing and the driver didn't ask me any questions at all. Free ride back to Beijing! In total I spent: 15RMB for bus 980 to Miyun. 50RMB for minivan to Jinshanling. 50RMB for entry ticket. Free ride back. Just 115RMB, and I'm sure you could get it cheaper if you haggled on the minivan price, but I was stupid enough to forget. Good luck! If you don't speak Chinese, just ask your hotel to write down Jinshanling in Chinese for you. That you get you there also.