Pingyao is located in the province of Shanxi, which is bordered by Hebei to the east, Henan to the south, Shaanxi to the west, and Inner Mongolia to the north.



Pingyao is about 10 hours by train from Xian and 10 hours by train from Beijing. We visited in December, which is obviously a cold time of the year but it is a dry cold. Luckily Shanxi sits atop one of the most abundunct seams of coal anywhere in China, consequently the hotels, restaurants are very well heated.

A travellers first impression of Pingyao is most likely to be the train station which is small and nondescript. Outside is a town that is heavily polluted and looks like any other town in the north of China.


It is at the most a 10 minute walk from train station to the south gate of the walled city.


Accomodation is generally in the form of a room in one of the many renovated courtyard hotels, these hotels were at one time the family homes of the wealthy, but the many rooms now cater for tourists.

Summer is probably the busiest time for tourism, but that also coincides with baking temperatures and the occasional bufferting sandstorms.


Pingyao has the blights of tourism but not the worse excesses of it, the visitor still has time to savour one of the gems of China.


To see the photos please click on the pictures below, to see as a slideshow click here.