How to Get to Pingyao Ancient Town from Datong

Where is Pingyao?

Pingyao (平遥) is a county in central Shanxi province in China. It is located approximately 715 kilometers southwest of Beijing, 80 kilometers from the provincial capital, Taiyuan, and 381 kilometers from Datong. There is no direct bus from Datong to Taiyuan. If one prefer to take bus, you can get to Taiyuan first and then change to bus to Pingyao. There are a two ways for visitors to get to Pingyao from Datong as follow.
 

By Train

There are four trains leaving for Pingyao from Dation Train Station every day. It costs 61 yuan and take about 5 to 7 hours in accordance with different trains. It is recommended to take a overnight train to save time for your tour. One can see the train schedule at Train from Datong to Pingyao as below.

Upon your arrival at the Pingyao train station, you can either take a good walk (1-2km) to old town or take a tuk tuk (costs ¥5-10; they will probably try to get a commission by driving you to a hotel).
 

By Car Rental

If you travel from Datong to Pingyao, it is highly recommended to rent a car, which is more comfortable and time saving. What's more, one can have a short visit to Qiao's Courtyard on the way, which is 20km north of Pingyao. It takes about 4 hours to take you to Pingyao from Datong, excluding the time for having sightseeing in Qiao's Courtyard.

Top China Travel can offer this kind of private transfer service along with a driver and tour guide. If you need, just send the details to sales@topchinatrave.com.