We are trying to decide where to go in Pingyao.Our train arrives at Pingyao Railway Station at 9:30 am from Beijing and we have a departure flight the next day from Taiyaun. I would like to see 3 places( Wang’s Courtyard, Zhangbi Ancient Castle and Qiao’s Courtyard) but not sure it is possible to do.Which two are the best to visit? Is it possible to see three places?

Dear Gisele,

Thank you very much for your question.

At first, if your flight departure from Taiyuan after 15:00 or at night, it is possible to visit the 3 places as well as Pingyao Ancient City. But it should depends on travel with private transfer. If you take public transfer, it is impossible to include that much. Therefore, we suggest you book a tour or rent a car before you arrive in Pingyao to avoid wasting any time on finding car upon arriving.

If you have already bought the train tickets for K609 from Beijing to Pingyao, the tour can start from pick-up from Pingyao Railway station. Wang’s Courtyard and Zhangbi Ancient Castle is just on the Southwest part away from Pingyao. Afte pick up, then drive to Wang’s Courtyard directly. It is around 60 km from Pingyao to Wang’s Courtyard and takes around 1 hours. In this case, it needs around 3 hours for visit and lunch. It is around 25 km from Wang’s Courtyard to Zhangbi Ancient Castle, needs around 50 minutes. When the visit to Zhangbi is finished, it is around 17:00.
Then drive back to Pingyao for accommodation. Due to the road condition, it takes around 1-1.5 hours back to Pingyao.

At night, you could have walk around in the Ancient Town. To be honest, it is often very quiet in the ancient town, which is quite different from those too touristy old town in China.

Qiao’s Courtyard is just located in Qixian county, which is just on the way from Pingyao to Taiyuan. Therefore, you could have chance to visit it enroute, but it depends on your departure flight timing. It needs around 2 hours from Pingyao to Taiyuan.

To be honest, as a local, we do suggest you only go to one courtyard in one area instead of two. Almost all the courtyards are almost the same. Comparing both, Wang’s Courtyard is larger than Qiao’s Courtyard but more well-known by Chinese visitors due to a movie directed by Zhangyimou. If you time is limited, you could cut Qiao’s Courtyard off from your plan, but spend more time in Pingyao Ancient City, which is worth to explore deeply.

For more Pingyao tour, you could check
/pingyao/pingyao-tours.htm

Should you have any questions, just contact with us at any time.

Best regards

Sophie Huang
Top China Travel