You’ll receive a welcome call from your guide via hotel at the night before your tour day, he/she will double confirm the pick-up time for the next day’s trip with you. If you are not available at that moment, the tour guide will leave a message for you.

Just in case that if you don’t receive our emails or phone calls, please call our 24-hour hotline at +86-18807734970 or add WeChat ID: trippest666 and we will put things right.

Your guide will be waiting for you in your hotel lobby within the Pingyao Ancient Town at 9:00AM holding a sign with your name on it. Then she/he will lead you to our first stop–the Ancient City Wall at the north gate. As you travel, listen as your guide tells tales of Pingyao.

Map of Pingyao Ancient Town

Good to Know:

• The hotel pick-up location should be in the Pingyao Ancient Town. The guide will walk to pick you up at your hotel lobby.
• It’s a walking tour without vehicle, so comfortable shoes are recommended.

We will visit all the main attractions in the old town, and the guide will explain all details and stories behind them which history enthusiasts can’t miss it. Your exploration of the Pingyao Ancient Town begins at the Ancient City Wall. The walls surrounding Pingyao were first built in 827 BC for preventing the enemies in Eastern Mongolia, the Tatars, from invading.

Full-view of the City Wall

Watchtower of the City Wall

An exquisite structure with an intensive style of design and construction shows the wisdom of ancient laborers. The city walls are an indispensable part of Pingyao Ancient City’s heritage.

On the Wall

Defensive cannons

Then, get down from the wall and have a stroll on the traditional Ming-Qing Street. We come to Rishengchang Former Bank. It’s the earliest bank in China which was established in 1823. Rishengchang literally means ‘Sunrise Prosperity’and it was the forerunner for organizing China’s early financial system and handling financial business, including remittances, money exchange, deposits, and loans.

Market Tower and Ming-Qing Street

In the bank

The vault of Bank

Next, we go to the Ancient Government office. It’s the largest (Covers approximately 26,000 square meters) and best-preserved existing ancient county government office in China. You can learn the bureaucratic culture of Ming and Qing dynasties (1368-1912) from its architecture, plaques, and couplets.

The Ancient Government office

The court

Good to Know:

• If you are interested in other spots, you can also tell your private guide to coordinate arrangements for you.
• It may be crowded during the high season, so please take care of your belongings.

Duly refreshed, continue our walking tour to the Confucian Temple, the earliest extant Confucian temple in China with biggest statue of Confucius and Confucian sages. It’s also the China’s largest existing fixed-history exhibition hall, and owns the only top-ranked volume in China’s history of more than 1,300 years of imperial examinations.

Lingxing Gate of Confucian temple

In the temple

Built facing the south, the Temple of the City God looks very magnificent. The wonderful stone sculptures, mural paintings, woodcarvings and painted sculptures in it reflect wonderful craftsmanship.

The gate of City God Temple

In the yard

After visiting the attractions in the old town, the tour comes to an end, you can go back to your hotel in town or continue to walk along the Ming-Qing Street to shop some souvenir. The guide would love to recommend you what worth trying and buying.

Please make sure to reserve at least 2 hours if you want to catch an onward train and tell the guide your departure time in advance. There is no designated airport in Pingyao. The closest airport is Taiyuan Wusu International Airport. If you want to book airport transfer service with us, please ask your travel advisor.

Traditional-style house