City guide · Shanxi

Pingyao travel guide: the ancient city, the through-ticket, the Shanxi loop and where to sleep inside the walls

China's best-preserved ancient walled town — a Ming wall, the first Chinese bank, and two temples of painted clay just outside the gates.

Known forMing walls · exchange houses · braised beef
Typical spend¥500–700 for two days
Ideal length1–2 days
PaceSlow — everything inside the walls is a short walk apart

Plan this trip Pingyao tours

Reviewed by our Beijing team Updated 2026-10-10

The short version

Pingyao is China's best-preserved ancient county town, a UNESCO World Heritage site with a 6.4 km Ming-dynasty wall, 2,800 years of history and the first prototype of the Chinese bank, the Rishengchang exchange house of 1823. It sits about 30 minutes by high-speed rail from Taiyuan and about 3 hours from Xi'an. You need one to two days: a full day inside the walls, plus a half-day for the painted-clay temples at Shuanglin and Zhenguo outside them. Stay in a courtyard inn in the old town — that is half the point.

The ¥150 through-ticket (¥160 at Spring Festival) covers 20 sights inside the walls and lasts 3 days.
Shuanglin and Zhenguo temples are outside both the walls and the ticket — and hold the best sculpture in Shanxi.
Stay overnight inside the city; day-trippers miss the empty lanes at dawn and the lantern-lit nights.
High-speed rail: Taiyuan about 30 min, Xi'an about 3h, and Datong up the line about 3h.
'Encore Pingyao' is the show to see if you want the town's story told properly.

City guide

First impressions

Photographs from the coast, and what other travellers wrote afterwards.

The 6.4 km Ming wall — the most complete ancient city wall in China

The Rishengchang exchange house, China's first bank in all but name

The painted clay figures of Shuanglin Temple, 6 km southwest

Lantern-lit lanes of the old town after dark

Sitting in a bar with the latest music thumping and lasers stinging my eyes, I suddenly heard the night watchman's clapper outside, and a guard in old costume walked past. That is Pingyao for you — magical, and a little absurd.
Traveller note — 'Exploring Pingyao, the turtle city and birthplace of Chinese banking'

Near dusk I deliberately took the empty, non-commercial lanes. The town still has plenty of residents; behind the grey walls there were oxen lowing and old men with white beards chatting on the steps. A few hundred metres on, I turned a corner and walked straight back into a sea of people.
Traveller note — 'A day trip to Pingyao and Jiexiu'

Pingyao is a walled town that time and then tourism forgot to demolish. Founded about 2,800 years ago and rebuilt in its present form in 1370, it is the most complete surviving county city in China — a UNESCO World Heritage site, and the only place ever inscribed as an entire town rather than a single building.

The walls come first, and they are proper: 6.4 km around, 12 m high, ringed by 72 watchtowers and 3,000 battlements, in a plan the locals say is shaped like a turtle. Inside, a cross of four main streets carries an old town of grey-brick courtyards, shopfronts that have not changed their trade in centuries, and the smell of vinegar and braised beef drifting from the lanes.

Pingyao's real fame, though, is financial. In 1823 the Rishengchang exchange house opened on West Street and invented something close to the modern bank — a note you could cash a thousand kilometres away — and for a century the town was the quiet headquarters of Chinese finance, with branches from Beijing to Southeast Asia. The old exchange houses, pawnshops and armed escort agencies are now museums you can walk through.

Most people do Pingyao as a day trip from Taiyuan, which is a shame, because the town is at its best at the edges of the day: empty lanes at dawn, lanterns and a bowl of noodles at night. Give it a night inside the walls, add the two temple treasures outside them, and Pingyao stops being a stage set and becomes a place where people live.

Pingyao

Don't leave without

Seven things that are worth rearranging a day for.

Walk the 6.4 km city wall and look down on the grey-tiled rooftops
See the Rishengchang exchange house where China's first bank note was born
Give half a day to the painted-clay figures at Shuanglin Temple
Watch the magistrate hear his case at the County Government Office
Stay a night in a courtyard inn inside the walls
See a performance of 'Encore Pingyao' — the show that walks you through the town's history

Highlights

What not to miss in Pingyao

The city wall

The most complete ancient wall in China: 6.4 km around, 12 m high, with 72 watchtowers and 3,000 battlements, walkable in about 90 minutes. Climb it for the grey-tiled rooftops at dusk.

Rishengchang exchange house

Founded in 1823 on West Street, the first 'piaohao' and the ancestor of the Chinese bank, whose notes were honoured across the empire and beyond. Now a museum of the business that invented the draft.

Shuanglin Temple

A 1,400-year-old temple 6 km southwest whose halls hold more than 2,000 vividly painted clay figures — the finest sculptural set in Shanxi and a reason the site is UNESCO-listed.

Zhenguo Temple

An 15 km drive northeast to the Wanfa Hall of 963 AD, whose timber frame is among the oldest wooden architecture in China after the two Tang halls at Mount Wutai.

The County Government Office

The largest and one of the best-preserved county magistrates' offices in China, with its court, jail and garden laid out front to back. The daily 'magistrate hears the case' is played for laughs.

'Encore Pingyao'

A walk-through performance staged in a purpose-built theatre, in which the audience moves from scene to scene through the town's history. Book ahead — it sells out most nights.

Suggested itineraries

Two days inside and outside the walls

Everything inside the walls is a short walk apart, so day one needs no vehicle. The two out-of-town temples need a bicycle or a car.

Pingyao in two days

2 days

Day one on foot inside the walls, day two for the temples outside and the show at night.

Day 1

Inside the walls

Start early on the wall, then walk the cross of main streets: the Rishengchang exchange house, the Market Tower and the Ming-Qing Street shops, the County Government Office and the Confucian Temple.
In the evening, eat Pingyao beef and sticky yam, then watch 'Encore Pingyao' and walk the lantern-lit lanes home.

Stops: City wallRishengchangCounty Government OfficeConfucian Temple
Day 2

The two temple treasures

Rent a bike or take a car southwest to Shuanglin Temple and its painted clay figures, then loop northeast to Zhenguo Temple and its 963 AD hall.
Return for a slow afternoon in the lanes — the quiet markets, the tea shops, a last bowl of wan tuo — before moving on to Taiyuan or Xi'an.

Stops: Shuanglin TempleZhenguo TempleOld-town lanes

One day, if it must be one

1 days

A compressed single day: the wall, the exchange houses, the office and one temple, with the earliest start and the latest finish.

Day 1

The essential Pingyao

Climb the wall at opening, do the Rishengchang and the main-street sights by late morning, the County Government Office at midday, and Shuanglin Temple in the afternoon.

Stops: City wallRishengchangCounty Government OfficeShuanglin Temple

Sights

The places worth your time

Ticket prices in China change without much notice. Treat these as a guide and confirm on arrival.

Ming wall · UNESCO

The City Wall

Built in 1370 and repaired through the Ming and Qing, this is the most complete ancient wall in China and the reason the town survived intact. It runs 6.4 km around a roughly square plan, stands about 12 m high, and carries 72 watchtowers and 3,000 battlements — traditionally read as the 72 disciples and 3,000 students of Confucius. Six gates pierce it, and below runs a moat 4 m deep and 4 m wide.

Ticket: Included in the ¥150 through-ticket
Hours: 08:00–19:30 (spring/summer) · 08:00–18:00 (autumn/winter)
Where: Encircling the old town; the south gate is the main access
Getting there: Walk from inside the town; the wall is always nearby
Time needed: 60–90 minutes to walk it

Tip Walk the wall early or late — midday is hot and crowded. Enter at a quieter gate and walk a section rather than the full circuit if time is short; the rooftop views are the point.

Museum · First Chinese bank

Rishengchang Exchange House

The birthplace of Chinese banking: a three-courtyard merchant house on West Street where, in 1823, the Rishengchang firm began issuing notes that could be redeemed hundreds of kilometres away, effectively inventing the draft and putting the armed escort agencies out of business. It grew to branches in 35 cities and traded as far as Europe and Southeast Asia. The building itself is the best example of the Shanxi courtyard-bank style.

Ticket: Included in the through-ticket
Hours: 08:00–19:30 (spring/summer) · 08:00–18:00 (autumn/winter)
Where: West Street, at the heart of the old town
Getting there: Walk; a few minutes from the Market Tower
Time needed: 45–60 minutes

Tip Read the accounts and ledgers in the back rooms — the security features of a Qing-era banknote are the most interesting thing in the building. Combine it with the neighbouring Wei Taihou and Rishengchang-related houses.

Painted clay · UNESCO

Shuanglin Temple

A 1,400-year-old temple 6 km southwest of the town, walled like a small fortress, whose ten halls hold more than 2,000 painted clay figures from the Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing — the finest set of its kind in Shanxi and one of the reasons Pingyao is a World Heritage site. The figures are domestic and alive: bodhisattvas, arhats, donors and guardians, modelled with individual faces and quiet expressions. Before Pingyao became famous, this was the region's most visited sight.

Ticket: ¥40 (not in the through-ticket)
Hours: 08:00–18:00
Where: Qiaotou village, about 6 km southwest
Getting there: Bike, or a car about ¥30 return; bike parking ¥2
Time needed: 1.5–2 hours

Tip This is the sculpture day-trip worth making. Photography is restricted, so carry a good pair of eyes rather than a camera; go in the morning when the light in the halls is best.

Timber hall · 963 AD

Zhenguo Temple

Fifteen km northeast at Haodong village, this quiet temple is the reason architectural historians come to Pingyao: its Wanfa Hall, built in 963 AD and repaired in 1816, is one of the oldest timber buildings in China, younger only than the two Tang halls at Mount Wutai. The bracket sets and beams are original, and the hall has stood through a thousand years of earthquakes. The place is unfenced, unhurried and almost always empty.

Ticket: ¥30 (not in the through-ticket)
Hours: 08:00–18:00
Where: Haodong village, about 15 km northeast
Getting there: Car about ¥50 return, or bike
Time needed: 1 hour

Tip Pair it with Shuanglin only if you have a car — they are on opposite sides of the town. The interest here is the timber frame itself, so it rewards a slower, closer look than you might think.

Ming-Qing · Live performance

County Government Office (Yamen)

The largest and one of the four best-preserved county magistrates' offices in China, sitting slightly southwest of the centre on its north-south axis, with the court, the jail, the magistrates' quarters and a garden laid out in the ordered, 'front hall, back dwelling' pattern. The oldest surviving building dates to 1346. Daily, the 'magistrate hears the case' is staged with a different script each day, and the crowd plays along.

Ticket: Included in the through-ticket
Hours: 08:00–19:30 (spring/summer) · 08:00–18:00 (autumn/winter)
Where: Centre of the old town, slightly southwest
Getting there: Walk; a few minutes from the main streets
Time needed: 1 hour, plus the performance

Tip Check the performance times at the gate — the 'hearing' runs several times a day and is the most fun part of the complex. Otherwise, the jail and the magistrates' chambers are the sobering heart of it.

Confucian · Oldest hall

Pingyao Confucian Temple

Founded in the early Tang and rebuilt in 1163, its Great Achievement Hall keeps its original Jin-dynasty form and is the oldest Confucian temple hall in China. A copy of the only surviving imperial-exam script from 1,300 years of the examinations — bearing the Ming Wanli emperor's own note 'first in the first rank' — is kept here, and the little Kuixing Tower rises above the southeast corner of the walls.

Ticket: Included in the through-ticket
Hours: 08:00–19:30 (spring/summer) · 08:00–18:00 (autumn/winter)
Where: Southeast of the old town, on Chenghuang Temple Street
Getting there: Walk from the centre
Time needed: 45–60 minutes

Tip Less crowded than the exchange houses and worth the walk for the exam-script display alone. The nearby Chenghuang Temple, an unusually well-preserved county City God temple, is a good pairing.

Eating

What Pingyao eats

Pingyao food is Shanxi food at its most famous: braised beef, wheat and oat noodles, and sticky mountain yam. It is cheap, filling and everywhere.

Pingyao braised beef

The town's most famous food, made since the Ming dynasty from selected young beef, cooked and then marinated so the meat is tender but firm, the colour deep red and the grain clear. The best-known modern brand is Guanyun, sold in vacuum packs that travel well.

Wan tuo

A springy starch jelly steamed in a small bowl and eaten either cold with garlic and vinegar or stir-fried hot. Invented in the Qing by a local cook, it is slippery, cheap and sold on every street in the old town.

Kao lao lao

Thin rolls of oat dough, steamed upright and eaten dipped in a mutton or mushroom soup. It is not unique to Pingyao but it is the dish most associated with Shanxi eating, and the town does it well.

Fried buns (shuijian bao)

Half-moon buns with an oblong, golden top and bottom, pan-fried so the outside is crisp and the inside juicy, in mutton, pork or vegetable versions. The real Pingyao article is fried one by one and round, so look at the small stalls rather than the big restaurants.

Pingyao yam

A local long yam used as both food and medicine, listed among the town's 'three treasures'. Restaurants turn it into candied yam, honey yam, sea-buckthorn yam and simply steamed yam — sweet, fragrant and gently restorative.

Sticky-rice mooncakes and sea-buckthorn juice

Two easy street snacks: small hand-made mooncakes with a thin, crisp skin and a sweet or savoury filling, and bottles of bright, tart sea-buckthorn juice sold everywhere, labelled 'Pingyao special'.

Where to eat

Restaurants worth the address

Phone numbers are local landlines; add +86 and drop the leading 0 if calling from abroad.

Courtyard kitchen · Central

Yunjincheng

An inn whose ground-floor hall is a restaurant in the very centre of the old town, with a plaque by the writer Yu Qiuyu over the door. Classic Pingyao dishes, a beautiful grey-brick setting and a busy, cheerful room — one of the most popular tables in town, so expect a queue at dinner.

Order: Pingyao beef, kao lao lao, sticky yam
Where: 64 South Street, Pingyao
Phone: 0354-5689188

Inn restaurant · Well known

Tianyuan Kui

Another inn-restaurant on South Street, smartly appointed and with a good name across town. Slightly pricier than its neighbours and the food is sound rather than remarkable, but the setting on the main street is convenient and the menu is broad.

Order: Local set dishes, braised beef, noodles
Where: 73 South Street, Pingyao
Phone: 0354-5680069

Backpacker favourite · Cheap

Yinlu Traveler Restaurant

A well-known traveller hangout whose walls are plastered with messages left by guests, with bamboo tables and a famously helpful owner who answers questions and arranges cars to the great Shanxi courtyard houses. Cheap, friendly and a good place to meet other travellers.

Order: Home-style Shanxi dishes, noodles
Where: 5 Chenghuang Temple Street, near South Street
Good to know: Ask the owner about shared cars to the out-of-town temples

Dinner and a show

Pingyao Theatre Restaurant (Daxitang)

Next to the big theatre on Chenghuang Temple Street, a large inn-restaurant where you can eat while watching a lively performance of Shanxi merchant culture. The food is solid, but the draw is the song-and-dance show — the easiest way to see a stage version of the merchant story in one evening.

Order: Pingyao classics, set menus
Where: 120 Chenghuang Temple Street, Pingyao
Phone: 0354-5685466

Bar · Italian and local

Sakura House Bar

A branch of the Lijiang original, set in an old lane, doing both reliable Italian food and Pingyao local dishes, with a lively bar crowd and occasional evening performances. Good for a change from courtyard noodles, and one of the few places open late.

Order: Pasta, pizza, Pingyao beef, local dishes
Where: 6 East Street, Pingyao
Phone: 0354-5689888

Sleeping

Where to stay

Stay inside the walls, in a courtyard inn — that is where the town's atmosphere lives. Rooms run from ¥60 dorm beds to ¥1,500 courtyard suites; most old-town inns take cash, not cards.

Boutique courtyard · From ¥1,500

Jinzhai Courtyard Inn

The former home of a Qing-dynasty silk merchant on East Street, now the most polished courtyard inn in town: four linked two-storey courtyards, richly restored, in the very centre of the old town. The most expensive and most atmospheric stay in Pingyao, and everything is on your doorstep.

Price: Rooms from ¥1,500
Where: 16 East Street (at the South Street junction)
Phone: 0354-5841000

Mid-range · From ¥500

Qilin Ge Hotel

A comfortable, quiet hotel on Chenghuang Temple Street beside the City God temple, all rebuilt in antique style — inside it feels almost palatial. Good facilities, attentive service and a restful setting, a few minutes from the Confucian Temple and the wall.

Price: Rooms from ¥500
Where: 76 Chenghuang Temple Street
Phone: 0354-5689988

Small courtyard · From ¥270

Suiyuan Guesthouse

A seven-room guesthouse on the Yamen street, so small that it stays quiet and personal even in the middle of the crowds. The owner has installed water purifiers and central air-conditioning, and humdifiers are available — a thoughtful touch in dusty Shanxi.

Price: Rooms from ¥270
Where: 63 Yamen Street, Pingyao
Phone: 0354-5681890

Courtyard · From ¥290

Yide Guesthouse

Off West Street in Shaxiang lane, a cluster of six walled courtyards with stone-paved lanes and rooms full of local character — kang beds, Ming-Qing-style furniture and Shanxi merchant detail throughout. Old, original and quietly atmospheric.

Price: Rooms from ¥290
Where: 16 Shaxiang Street (West Street junction)
Phone: 0354-5685988

Hostel · From ¥40/bed

Zhengjia International Youth Hostel

The only international youth hostel inside the walls, in a 200-year-old building a short walk east of the government office. Rooms are small with low ceilings and traditional kang beds, and the beds are spotless; a good budget base if you want to be in the middle of everything.

Price: Dorms from ¥40 · singles ¥138 · doubles ¥188
Where: 68 Yamen Street, Pingyao
Phone: 0354-5684466

Getting around

Arriving, and moving about

Pingyao is on the high-speed line between Taiyuan and Xi'an, with a second station for slower trains. Inside the walls, you walk.

By air

Pingyao has no airport; you fly into Taiyuan Wusu (TYN), about 1.5 hours away by road, then continue by high-speed rail or bus. From the airport, a bus reaches Taiyuan's stations, from which Pingyao is a short ride on.

Airport: Taiyuan Wusu International (TYN)
To Pingyao: About 1.5 hours by road, then rail or bus
Connections: Bus 201 from the airport to Taiyuan's main stations
Watch out: Allow time to transfer — Pingyao is not on the airport doorstep

By rail

The high-speed line runs through Pingyao Gucheng station, about 30 minutes from Taiyuan and about 3 hours from Xi'an, with services continuing toward Datong up the same corridor. The older Pingyao station, 300 m from the northwest corner of the walls, handles slower trains to Beijing, Xi'an, Chengdu and beyond.

To Taiyuan: About 30 minutes by high-speed rail
To Xi'an: About 3 hours
To Datong: About 3 hours
Main stations: Pingyao Gucheng (high-speed), Pingyao (slower trains)

Long-distance bus

Pingyao's own bus station mostly serves local routes, so the easiest approach by coach is to transfer in Taiyuan. From Taiyuan's Jiannan station, buses leave for Pingyao every 15 minutes and take about 1.5 hours — a useful fallback when trains are full.

From Taiyuan: Buses every 15 min from Jiannan station, about 1.5h
Local routes: Mostly within Shanxi; fewer long-distance coaches
Where: Pingyao long-distance bus station, Zhongdu Road

On foot and by cart

The old town is small enough that everything inside the walls is a short walk — nothing is more than 20 minutes apart, and the central lanes are car-free by day. Electric carts run a loop for ¥20–30 if you are tired or carrying bags; agree the price first.

Best for: Everything inside the walls
Electric carts: ¥20–30 a loop — bargain first
Cars: Not allowed inside by day; park outside and walk in

Bicycles

Rent a bike for the two out-of-town temples — it is the cheapest and most pleasant way to reach them, along flat, quiet roads. Inns and travel agencies rent single and tandem bikes, from about ¥15 a half-day.

Price: About ¥5/hour · ¥15 half-day · ¥30 full day
Best for: Shuanglin Temple, Zhenguo Temple
Watch out: Bike parking at Shuanglin costs ¥2

Shopping

What to take home

Pingyao's 'three treasures' are beef, lacquerware and long yam. Buy along Ming-Qing Street, but walk the whole street first — prices vary more than you would think.

Polished lacquerware (tuiguang qiqi)

Pingyao's best-known craft, named for the hand-polishing that gives it its sheen: a five-stage process of wood body, ash, lacquer, painting and inlay, with the last polish worked in with the palm. Screens, boxes and furniture in black, red and brown — a genuine Shanxi speciality.

Pingyao braised beef

Vacuum-packed braised beef is the edible souvenir, and the Guanyun brand is the one to look for. Buy it from a proper shop with sealed packaging rather than loose from a stall, especially in summer.

Long yam powder and local wine

The town's long yam is dried and ground into a drinkable powder that is gentler to carry than the fresh root, and the local 'Changshengyuan' yellow rice wine is sweet, mild and traditional. Both make light, local gifts.

Liutehai pillows and smoked pork elbow

Two curiosities: the Liutehai pillow, six linked openings that legend says helped the Dowager Empress sleep, and Cao-family smoked pork elbow, once sent to the imperial court. Buy the pillow as a story, the elbow as a meal.

Practical

The numbers to save

Area code 0354, postcode 031100. Staffed English help is not guaranteed — save these before you need them.

Emergency (police / ambulance / fire)	110 · 120 · 119
Pingyao tourism complaints	0354-5672110 · 0354-5674110
Pingyao People's Hospital	61 Shuguang Road · 0354-5624307
Pingyao TCM Hospital	24 South Street · 0354-5628020
Price complaints	12358
Payment	Most old-town inns and restaurants take cash only — carry enough; ATMs are mostly outside the walls
Weather	Shanxi is very dry — lip balm and moisturiser; winters are cold, so pack layers
Tickets	One through-ticket, ID required; students and over-60s half price — bring the documents

Tips

Small things that save a trip

Sleep inside the walls

The whole point is the quiet mornings and the lantern-lit nights. A day trip from Taiyuan skips both, and you will remember the courtyard inn as much as the wall.

Not everything needs the ticket

Wandering, eating and sleeping need no ticket — you only pay to enter the sights and climb the wall. Do not buy the through-ticket if you would rather just soak up the streets.

Give Shuanglin your morning

The painted clay figures at Shuanglin are the finest sculpture in Shanxi and a highlight of the whole UNESCO listing, yet most day-trippers never leave the walls. Cycle out early.

Carry cash

Most inns and restaurants inside the walls do not accept cards, and ATMs are few. Withdraw before you arrive and keep enough for meals and the temple tickets.

Book the show and the inn ahead

'Encore Pingyao' sells out most nights and good courtyard rooms go early in season. Reserve both before you travel, especially around Spring Festival and the photography festival.

Allow a third stop on the loop

Pingyao sits between Taiyuan and Xi'an, with Datong up the line. Two nights here, plus Taiyuan and Datong, makes the classic Shanxi circuit without backtracking.

Background

Why Pingyao looks like this

Geography and climate

Pingyao lies in the middle of Shanxi on the east bank of the Fen River, at the southwestern end of the Taiyuan basin, next to the historic county of Qi. The Tongpu railway and the Dayun expressway run through the county, and the old walled town sits on the flat, fertile ground between them.

The climate is a warm-temperate continental monsoon: dry, windy springs; hot, wet summers; clear, cool autumns; and cold, dry winters. Most of the year's rain falls in June, July and August — often in heavy downpours — while spring and autumn are short but lovely, which is when the town is at its best.

History and the rise of banking

Pingyao is about 2,800 years old and was built as a walled town long before its current form, which was set in 1370 when the west wall was rebuilt after a flood. Through the Ming and Qing it prospered as a trading town on the roads between the north and the central plains, and it grew rich enough to leave the compact, grey-brick town that survives today.

Its place in history, though, is financial. In 1823 the Rishengchang firm opened on West Street and invented the exchange-house note, a form of paper credit honoured across the empire — the ancestor of the Chinese bank — and Pingyao became a quiet capital of merchant finance, with branches from the capital to Southeast Asia. The great courtyard houses, the pawnshops and the escort agencies are all products of that merchant age; when it ended in the early twentieth century, Pingyao simply stopped building, and so preserved itself.

Travel with them

Pingyao on screen and in print

Not guides — films, books and music that show the town the way the people in it see it.

Film

Platform (站台)

Dir. Jia Zhangke, 2000

A slow, tender portrait of a group of young people in a small Shanxi town through the 1980s, born from the director's own memories. Much of it was shot in Pingyao, and its grey walls and empty lanes are the town as an ordinary place rather than a monument.

Film

Empire of Silver (白银帝国)

Dir. Yao Shuhua, 2009

A drama about the rise and fall of a great Shanxi banking family and its 23 branches from Beijing to Russia and Japan. Built around the world Pingyao's exchange houses belonged to, it shows how the merchant empire was actually run.

Book

Pingyao in Pictures (画说平遥古城)

Cao Changzhi

A richly illustrated study of the old town by one of the people behind its World Heritage listing: not just a catalogue of sights but an attempt to explain what a complete ancient county city means, and why preserving it matters.

Music

Pingyao Ancient Charm (平遥古韵)

Li Zhihui

An instrumental piece built on Chinese scales, released in 2005, that became one of the best-known folk-classical tracks of its era. It has come to stand for the town in the popular imagination, and it is easy to see why once you have heard it over the rooftops at dusk.

The questions visitors ask us most about Pingyao, answered plainly.

Frequently asked questions

Prices and practical details are reviewed every month by our Beijing team and updated the day a rule changes.

Is one day enough for Pingyao?

You can see the highlights in a day, but it is thin. Better is one full day inside the walls plus a half-day for the Shuanglin and Zhenguo temples outside them — those two hold the best sculpture in Shanxi, and most day-trippers skip them entirely.

How does the Pingyao through-ticket work?

One ticket, ¥150 (¥160 at Spring Festival), covers 20 sights inside the walls and lasts three days, though you can enter each sight only once. Shuanglin (¥40), Zhenguo (¥30) and the Market Tower (¥5) are separate. Simply wandering the streets, eating and sleeping need no ticket at all.

Should I stay inside the old city or outside the walls?

Inside, always. The old town is at its best at dawn, before the coaches arrive, and after dark, when the lanterns come on — both of which you miss from a hotel outside the walls. Courtyard inns range from ¥60 dorm beds to ¥1,500 suites.

How do I get to Pingyao from Taiyuan, Datong or Xi'an?

High-speed rail. From Taiyuan it is about 30 minutes to Pingyao Gucheng station; from Datong about 3 hours; from Xi'an about 3 hours. From the station it is a 10–15 minute walk or a short cart ride to the old-town gates.

Should I see 'Encore Pingyao'?

If you want the town's story told properly, yes. It is a walk-through performance staged in a purpose-built theatre, in which the audience moves between scenes rather than sitting down. Book ahead in peak season — it sells out most nights.

What food should I try in Pingyao?

Pingyao braised beef, above all — and the local wan tuo (steamed starch jelly), kao lao lao oat rolls, fried buns and the sticky yam dishes. Wash it down with a bottle of the local sea-buckthorn juice, sold everywhere with the words 'Pingyao special' on the label.

Do I need cash in Pingyao?

Yes, carry some. Most inns and restaurants inside the old town do not take cards, and ATMs inside the walls are few — the machines and bank branches are mostly outside. Cards, WeChat and Alipay work in the larger hotels and shops, but cash is the safe default.

Plan this trip

Prefer it arranged for you?

The same places, with a driver, an English-speaking guide and the tickets already bought.

Pingyao Shanxi · 0 tours Pingyao is China's best-preserved ancient county town, a UNESCO World Heritage site with a 6 km Ming-dynasty wall, 2,800 years of history and the firs

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Dalian City guide · 15 tours The Northern Pearl — China's most romantic coastal city.

Shenyang City guide · 12 tours Where the Qing dynasty began — an imperial palace, a warlord's mansion and the cheapest good food in the northeast.

Changbai Mountain City guide · 12 tours A volcano on the North Korean border, a jade-green crater lake at 2,189 m, and hot springs on the way down.

Kunming City guide · 12 tours China's Spring City — a mild plateau capital of flowers, markets and the Stone Forest, with gulls on the lake in winter.

Dali City guide · 12 tours A walled Bai town between a 4,000 m mountain and a great lake — wind, flowers, snow and moon, and life at a slower speed.

Shuhe City guide · 12 tours The quiet version of Lijiang — a Tea Horse Road village of canals, stone bridges and slow afternoons, 4 km from the crowds.

Lijiang City guide · 12 tours A UNESCO Naxi old town of canals and cobbles beneath a 5,596 m snow mountain — the cultural heart of north-west Yunnan.

Xiamen City guide · 12 tours A subtropical island city of temples, fishing-village lanes and the best street food in Fujian — with the car-free islet of Gulangyu a 20-minute ferry away.

Gulangyu City guide · 12 tours A car-free island of colonial villas, pianos and cats, twenty minutes off Xiamen — and the one place where the trick is simply to stay the night.

Fuzhou City guide · 12 tours A 2,200-year-old capital of banyan trees and mountains-within-the-city, where the Ming lanes of Sanfang Qixiang meet the dockyard that built China's modern navy.

Lugu Lake City guide · 12 tours A 2,680 m lake on the Yunnan–Sichuan border, home to China's last matrilineal people, pig-trough canoes and a great deal of doing nothing.

Xishuangbanna City guide · 12 tours China's tropical south — rainforest, wild elephants, Dai villages and the Mekong, wrapped around the gateway city of Jinghong.

Shangri-La City guide · 12 tours A Tibetan town at 3,300 m in Yunnan's Diqing prefecture — monasteries, grassland, prayer wheels and cold thin air.

Nanchang City guide · 12 tours Jiangxi's 'hero city' on the Gan River — one great Tang pavilion, a 160-metre Ferris wheel, and the best claypot soup you will eat in China.

Hefei City guide · 12 tours Anhui's 2,000-year-old capital: the hometown of China's model judge, a moat-turned-garden ring, and the fast rail gateway to Huangshan.

Hongcun City guide · 12 tours A 900-year-old Hui village laid out as an ox, with water running to every door and a mirror-still crescent pond at its heart.

Wuhan City guide · 12 tours Three towns, two rivers and the best breakfast in China — a huge, blunt river city of bridges, lakes and cheap, brilliant street food.

Changsha City guide · 12 tours Hunan's loud, young capital: a 3,000-year-old city that eats chilli-hot food, stays up all night and treats foot massage as a civic duty.

Fenghuang Ancient Town City guide · 12 tours The stilt-house river town of Shen Congwen's 'Border Town' — glowing lanterns, stepping stones and the best two nights in western Hunan.

Lushan City guide · 12 tours A cloud-wrapped granite mountain with a Victorian hill station on top, waterfalls in three tiers, and the mist that Su Shi said you could never see through.

Wuyuan City guide · 12 tours China's 'most beautiful countryside' — dozens of white-walled Huizhou villages strung along streams and terraced into the hills, and two weeks a year of gold.

Mount Heng (Hengshan, Hunan) City guide · 12 tours The South Great Peak: a pilgrimage mountain of 72 summits where the temples run all the way to the top, and the sunrise over the cloud sea is the whole point.

Huangshan City guide · 12 tours Yellow Mountain: 82 granite peaks of twisted pines and grotesque rock, a sea of cloud that changes by the hour, and hot springs at the foot.

Wudang Mountain City guide · 12 tours The Taoist first mountain of China — a gilded bronze hall on a 1,612 m summit, temples hung off cliff faces, and the birthplace of tai chi.

Luoyang City guide · 12 tours Thirteen dynasties, 100,000 Buddhas carved into a river cliff, China's first Buddhist temple — and a whole city that turns peony-pink every April.

Yuntai Mountain City guide · 12 tours A UNESCO geopark in Henan where red-stone gorges squeeze a river to a slot, a 314 m waterfall drops in one plunge, and every path leads to another pool.

Rizhao City guide · 12 tours A low-key Shandong beach town where the sun rises straight out of the Yellow Sea, the sand runs 60 km and a seafood dinner costs less than a coffee in Shanghai.

Yantai City guide · 12 tours A northern Shandong port of fairy-tale cliffs, wine cellars and long golden beaches — where emperors once hunted the elixir of life and China's wine industry still begins.

Lianyungang City guide · 12 tours A working Jiangsu port with a myth in the middle of it — the Flower-Fruit Mountain of Journey to the West, a sea causeway to a big island beach, and some of the cheapest seafood on the coast.

Sanqing Mountain City guide · 12 tours A vertical forest of granite pillars in Jiangxi — the Python Out of the Mountain, the Goddess of the East Sea, two cable cars and a cliff-hugging walkway at 1,660 metres.

Tianjin City guide · 12 tours Beijing's port city next door — a river of 24 bridges, 2,000 colonial villas, and the best street breakfast in northern China.

Datong City guide · 12 tours A frontier capital of carved Buddhas — the Yungang Grottoes, a temple pinned to a cliff, and the oldest wooden tower in China.

Taiyuan City guide · 12 tours Shanxi's provincial capital and noodle heartland — the spring of Jinci, two Ming pagodas, and a museum that explains the whole province.

Wutai Mountain City guide · 12 tours China's foremost Buddhist mountain — fifty-plus temples in one valley, crowned by five flat-topped peaks up to 3,058 m.

Hulunbuir City guide · 12 tours China's finest grassland — a 263,000 km² sweep of steppe, birch forest and border river, best driven with the windows down.

The Forbidden City City guide · 12 tours Beijing's 600-year imperial palace — 8,700 rooms behind a 72-hectare wall, and the largest surviving wooden palace complex on earth.

Sanya City guide · 12 tours China's only true winter-sun coast — four very different bays, a coral island and a 108 m sea Buddha, all at 18° north.

Haikou City guide · 12 tours Hainan's capital is the island's living city — 600-year-old arcade streets, a volcanic village, and a morning-tea-to-midnight food culture.

Beihai City guide · 12 tours 24 km of fine white sand on one side, a volcanic island of coral and lava on the other — plus a 19th-century arcade old street in between.

Nanning City guide · 12 tours Guangxi's green capital is a gateway to Detian Falls, Beihai and Vietnam — and a genuinely excellent food city if you let it slow you down.

Guangxi City guide · 12 tours One autonomous region, a dozen landscapes — limestone peaks and rice terraces in the north, a Vietnam border and a warm gulf coast in the south.

Huizhou City guide · 12 tours A free West Lake, a Taoist mountain and 200 km of white-sand coast — the Pearl River Delta's most underrated weekend.

Beidaihe City guide · 12 tours Northern China's classic beach escape — one sunrise headland, 10 km of calm swimming water, and a bird flyway overhead twice a year.

Shanhaiguan City guide · 12 tours The town where the Great Wall stops being a rumour of mountains and walks into the Bohai Sea.

Baiyangdian City guide · 12 tours The biggest freshwater lake on the North China Plain — and almost none of it can be reached except by boat.

Qinhuangdao City guide · 12 tours 126 km of Bohai coast in one municipality — a working port, two famous resorts, and the only desert dunes that meet this sea.

Yesanpo City guide · 12 tours Gorge country where the Taihang and Yan ranges collide — 52.5 km of canyon walls, a cave that spits fish, and a river to fall off.

Zhuhai City guide · 12 tours The delta's slow city: a 28 km promenade, 146 islands, oysters fattened where the river meets the sea.

Wuyi Mountain City guide · 12 tours Nine bends of clear water, red sandstone cliffs, and the tea that made a mountain's name.

Jiuzhaigou City guide · 12 tours 108 mineral-blue lakes in one 55 km valley — the place that ruins water everywhere else for you.

Mount Siguniang City guide · 12 tours Four snow peaks, three valleys, and the friendliest 5,000 m mountain in China to stand on top of.

Hailuogou City guide · 12 tours A glacier that comes down to 2,850 m, hot springs in the forest, and Gongga Shan filling the sky above both.

Daocheng Yading City guide · 12 tours Three 6,000 m sacred peaks, glacial lakes at 4,600 m and twenty hours of road — the hardest, highest payoff in Sichuan.

Shunan Bamboo Sea City guide · 12 tours Seventy thousand mu of bamboo over twenty-eight hills, a red sandstone corridor under a closed green roof, and a banquet made entirely of bamboo.

Dujiangyan City guide · 12 tours Not a monument but a machine: three pieces of engineering with no dam, still doing their job after 2,270 years.

Qingcheng Mountain City guide · 12 tours The mountain where Daoism was organised, and the one Chengdu escapes to when the basin turns into an oven.

Qingdao City guide · 12 tours Red-tiled roofs, cold beer and a granite mountain that walks straight into the sea — the easiest good time on the Yellow Sea.

Mount Tai City guide · 12 tours 1,545 metres, 6,290 stone steps and three thousand years of emperors — the one mountain in China that is also a document.

Jinan City guide · 12 tours A provincial capital with 700 springs under the pavement — people still queue at the spouts to fill their kettles.

Weihai City guide · 12 tours 1,000 km of clean coast, a free bathing beach, the island where the Beiyang Fleet died — and thousands of wild swans every winter.

Qufu City guide · 12 tours One family, two thousand years of steles, and a ¥150 pass that covers the lot — the easiest serious day trip in Shandong.

Penglai City guide · 12 tours China's immortals' coast — a Song-dynasty naval harbour you can walk for free, a mythology nobody ever found, and the ferry to 32 islands.

Changdao City guide · 12 tours 32 islands, one causeway, a ¥150 land pass, tens of thousands of gulls and nowhere you can drive — the place where everything happens by boat.

Nanjing City guide · 12 tours Capital of six dynasties, capital of the Republic, and the city that eats more duck than anywhere else on earth.

Suzhou City guide · 12 tours Two thousand five hundred years of canals, sixty surviving gardens, and a city that shuts its gates at half past five.

Zhouzhuang City guide · 12 tours Nine hundred years, fourteen bridges, one ticket — and a town that only makes sense before eight in the morning.

Tongli City guide · 12 tours Fifteen canals, seven islets, forty-nine bridges — and a town that still gets up at dawn because it lives here.

Wuxi City guide · 12 tours Taihu on one side, a Grand Buddha on the next hill, and ribs sweet enough to argue about — the most underrated city on the Yangtze delta.

Yangzhou City guide · 12 tours A city built by salt merchants who had more money than restraint — gardens, a narrow lake, and the best breakfast in China.

Zhenjiang City guide · 12 tours Three hills, one ferry landing, and an unreasonable share of Chinese literature — the Yangtze city people drive past.

Changzhou City guide · 12 tours A 2,500-year-old canal city that built a dinosaur park and refuses to apologise for it.

Wuzhen City guide · 12 tours A town that is two towns: the older, quieter East Zone and the lit-up West Zone you sleep inside.

Xitang City guide · 12 tours Nine canals, 122 lanes, one long roofed corridor — and a town that still works for a living.

Hangzhou City guide · 12 tours A lake in the middle of a city, a tea village in the hills, and two thousand years of getting the mood right.

Xixi Wetland City guide · 12 tours Ten square kilometres of marsh inside Hangzhou, and the only way into half of it is a boat.

Ningbo City guide · 12 tours A 7,000-year-old port with Asia's oldest private library, a free waterfront 20 years older than Shanghai's, and the best seafood before the islands.

Mount Putuo City guide · 12 tours A Buddhist island with no cars, three great temples and a ¥10 lunch that is the point of the place.

Qiandao Lake City guide · 12 tours A thousand islands that did not exist sixty years ago, and the cleanest big-lake water in China.

Shaoxing City guide · 12 tours Two and a half thousand years of water-town China, and Lu Xun's house is free.

Zhoushan City guide · 12 tours 1,390 islands, one road bridge in, and a harbour that lands more fish than almost anywhere on earth.

Hengdian City guide · 12 tours A backlot the size of a town, where the palaces are copies and the film crews are real.

Yandang Mountain City guide · 12 tours A volcano that weathering turned into scenery — 500-odd sights of peak, cave and waterfall across eight scenic areas.

Zhejiang City guide · 12 tours One small, mountainous, absurdly rich province that holds a lake, two canal towns, a Buddhist island and a dead volcano.

Hong Kong Outlying Islands City guide · 12 tours Two hundred-odd islands, half an hour of ferry from the financial district, and not a car on three of them.

Hong Kong Shopping City guide · 12 tours A duty-free port where the tag starts lower, two citywide sale seasons knock a third off, and every mall sits on an MTR exit.

Macao City guide · 12 tours Four hundred years of Portuguese streets, a fake Venice under a painted sky, and the best egg tart in Asia.

Urumqi City guide · 12 tours The city furthest from the sea, with a snow range on its doorstep and dinner starting at nine.

Hong Kong SAR, China City guide · 11 tours A harbour skyline you already know by heart, dim sum trolleys at dawn, and 260 islands an hour from the neon.

Taiwan, China City guide · 11 tours Night-market alleys, high-mountain railways, and a coastline that changes character every hundred kilometres.

Qinghai Lake City guide · 12 tours A 4,400 sq km inland sea at 3,200 m, ringed by rapeseed gold, prayer flags and the best cycling road in China.

Mount Emei City guide · 11 tours A 3,099-metre Buddhist summit you can reach by cable car before lunch — and a mountain full of monkeys that will absolutely rob you.

Beijing City guide · 11 tours Six centuries of imperial red walls, a Great Wall you can climb before lunch, and the best roast duck on earth.

Taipei City guide · 11 tours A 24-hour bookstore, a night market that never stops sizzling, and a city that apologises when you bump into it.

North Xinjiang City guide · 11 tours Alpine lakes the colour of poured enamel, a village of log cabins under birch trees, and the last tear the Atlantic ever sheds.

Lanzhou City guide · 11 tours A city split in half by the Yellow River, where beef noodles are a breakfast ritual and the Silk Road still runs through the streets.

Mount Hua City guide · 11 tours Five granite peaks, one plank road bolted to a cliff face, and a sunrise that justifies the 2am start.

Dunhuang City guide · 11 tours A desert oasis where Buddhist cave art survived a thousand years and a crescent lake refused to dry up.

Gannan City guide · 11 tours 433 kilometres of the Yellow River's first bend, a 3.5 km prayer-wheel circuit, and Tibetan grasslands almost nobody has commercialised yet.

Sichuan–Tibet Highway City guide · 11 tours 2,142 kilometres of cliff-edge switchbacks, four of China's most beautiful mountains, and a road the Tibetans walk on their knees.

Kangding City guide · 11 tours The town that gave Asia its most famous love song, a 7,556m sacred peak on its doorstep, and the last real Tibetan town before the road climbs to Lhasa.

Lhasa City guide · 12 tours A city of prayer wheels and butter lamps at 3,700 metres, where the sun shines 3,000 hours a year and the world's highest palace watches over it all.

Nyingchi City guide · 11 tours Tibet's greenest corner — peach blossom valleys, a 7,782 m peak that hides from almost everyone, and the world's deepest canyon.

Namtso City guide · 11 tours A 1,920-square-kilometre sheet of impossible blue at 4,718 metres, ringed by snow peaks and prayer flags.

Chongqing City guide · 12 tours A vertical city of fog, cable cars and cliff-side stilt houses, where the火锅 never stops boiling and the night skyline outshines Hong Kong.

Qiandongnan City guide · 11 tours A thousand Miao households stacked up a mountainside, drum towers and wind-rain bridges in Dong villages, and a 600-year-old Ming garrison town on the road to Guiyang.

Libo City guide · 11 tours Emerald rivers threading through karst peaks, a 600-metre forest growing out of a riverbed, and China's largest wild plum grove.

Guiyang City guide · 11 tours China's summer capital at 1,100 metres, where the nights run on sour fish soup, street-side barbecue and mahjong that never quite stops.

Zhenyuan City guide · 11 tours A 2,000-year-old river town where the Wuyang River carves an S through the mountains and every lane hides a story.

Huangguoshu City guide · 11 tours Asia's biggest waterfall, and the only one on earth you can walk behind, above and around — plus 600-year-old Ming dynasty villages a short drive away.

Harbin City guide · 11 tours Minus 30 degrees, a frozen river you can walk across, and a cathedral built by Russians who never went home.

Yunnan City guide · 11 tours Snow mountains, tropical rainforest, twenty-five minorities and a plate of rice noodles — all in one province.

Shanghai City guide · 11 tours A 1920s waterfront of colonial banks facing a science-fiction skyline, soup dumplings you eat with a straw, and 20 million people moving like clockwork.

Zhangjiajie City guide · 11 tours Three thousand sandstone pillars straight out of Avatar, a glass skywalk bolted to a cliff, and a cable car that leaves from downtown.

Guangzhou City guide · 11 tours A 2,200-year-old trading port where dim sum is a religion, colonial islands sit beside 600-metre towers, and the food never stops.

Guilin City guide · 11 tours Karst peaks rising straight out of a green river, rice terraces carved into mountainsides, and the best bowl of noodles you'll eat in China.

Shenzhen City guide · 11 tours A fishing village that became a megacity in forty years — and it still has 500-year-old banyans, empty beaches and dim sum worth the border crossing.

Chengdu City guide · 11 tours A 3,000-year-old city where the schedule is tea, mahjong and hotpot — and the pandas are just the opening act.

Xinjiang City guide · 11 tours Snow peaks, grassland, desert and oasis — one-sixth of China, and the longest road you will ever ride.

Xi'an City guide · 14 tours Thirteen dynasties of emperors, a terracotta army buried for 2,200 years, and a walled city you can cycle in 100 minutes.

Qinghai City guide · 11 tours China's high-altitude blue heart: a salt lake you can walk on, a 3,200-metre sea, and yak butter tea at the roof of the world.

Tibet City guide · 11 tours A plateau the size of Western Europe where the sky starts at your feet, prayer flags carry the wind, and the roads run past 8,000-metre peaks.

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Free itinerary design, a revised plan within one working day, and nothing charged until you approve the final version.

The ¥150 through-ticket (¥160 at Spring Festival) covers 20 sights inside the walls and lasts 3 days.
Shuanglin and Zhenguo temples are outside both the walls and the ticket — and hold the best sculpture in Shanxi.
Stay overnight inside the city; day-trippers miss the empty lanes at dawn and the lantern-lit nights.

Pingyao travel guide: the ancient city, the through-ticket, the Shanxi loop and where to sleep inside the walls

The city wall

Rishengchang exchange house

Shuanglin Temple

Zhenguo Temple

The County Government Office

'Encore Pingyao'

Inside the walls

The two temple treasures

The essential Pingyao

The City Wall

Rishengchang Exchange House

Shuanglin Temple

Zhenguo Temple

County Government Office (Yamen)

Pingyao Confucian Temple

Pingyao braised beef

Wan tuo

Kao lao lao

Fried buns (shuijian bao)

Pingyao yam

Sticky-rice mooncakes and sea-buckthorn juice

Yunjincheng

Tianyuan Kui

Yinlu Traveler Restaurant

Pingyao Theatre Restaurant (Daxitang)

Sakura House Bar

Jinzhai Courtyard Inn

Qilin Ge Hotel

Suiyuan Guesthouse

Yide Guesthouse

Zhengjia International Youth Hostel

Polished lacquerware (tuiguang qiqi)

Pingyao braised beef

Long yam powder and local wine

Liutehai pillows and smoked pork elbow

Sleep inside the walls

Not everything needs the ticket

Give Shuanglin your morning

Carry cash

Book the show and the inn ahead

Allow a third stop on the loop

Geography and climate

History and the rise of banking

Platform (站台)

Empire of Silver (白银帝国)

Pingyao in Pictures (画说平遥古城)

Pingyao Ancient Charm (平遥古韵)

Frequently asked questions

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Pingyao trips and tickets

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Sort out before you fly

Understand the place

Tell us your dates.We'll do the rest.

Tell us your dates.
We'll do the rest.