ABuses to Shāhé (¥25, 1½ hours, hourly, 8am to 5pm) leave from the car park by the chairlift to Dàiluó Peak.
Train
The station known as Wǔtái Shān is actually 50km away in the town of Shāhé (砂河) from where you can get a minibus taxi the rest of the way from around ¥70, or a bus (¥25). Destinations include Píngyáo (hard seat ¥51, five hours, one daily), Tàiyuán (hard seat ¥19, four to five hours, three daily) and Běijīng (hard seat ¥50, six to seven hours, two daily).
Tàiyuán 太原
%0351 / Pop 4.2 million
Most travellers pass through Shānxī’s capital en route to Píngyáo or heading north to Dàtóng or Wǔtái Shān, but Tàiyuán is well worth a day or two of your time. It's a huge, modern and cosmopolitan city, but it's certainly not short on history or culture; there's a first-rate museum, several notable temples – including a beautiful and rare set of twin pagodas – and a stunning Catholic cathedral that wouldn't look out of place in Italy.
Tàiyuán
1Sights
1Chóngshàn TempleC1
2Confucius TempleC1
4Sleeping
3Jǐnjiāng Zhī XīngB2
4Jǐnlín Oriental HotelD2
5Eating
5Tàiyuán Noodle HouseA2
8Information
6Agricultural Bank of ChinaD2
7Bank of ChinaB1
8Industrial & Commercial Bank of ChinaB2
1Sights
oCathedral of the Immaculate ConceptionCHURCH
(圣母无染原罪主教座堂, Tàiyuán Shèngmǔ Wúrǎn Yuánzuì Zhǔjiào Zuòtáng 178 Jiefang Lu, 解放路178号 )
This quite astonishing sight along Jiefang Lu is worth going out of your way to explore. Built in 1870, the neoclassical house of worship was badly damaged during the Boxer Rebellion but today stands magnificently amid the modern buildings of the Shānxī capital. The church is often open, and hopefully will be when you visit, so you can look at the amazing interior – a blaze of white, blue, red and gold. The ceiling in particular is amazing.
oTwin Pagoda Temple/Yǒngzuò TempleBUDDHIST SITE
(双塔寺/永祚寺, Shuāngtǎ Sì/Yǒngzuò Sì ¥30; h8.30am-5.30pm)
These gorgeous twin brick pagodas rise photogenically south of the Nansha River in Tàiyuán’s southeast; they're lovely with the wind in their tinkling bells. Not much of the original Yǒngzuò Temple, which the pagodas belong to, is left, but the area is well tended with shrubs and greenery. Of the two pagodas, 13-storey Xuānwén Pagoda (宣文塔; Xuānwén Tǎ), dating from the reign of Ming emperor Wanli, can be climbed. The adjacent pagoda dates from the same period but sadly cannot be climbed.
Pagodas in pairs are very rare in China, but there are others (there is a set of smaller twin pagodas in Sūzhōu). Take bus 820 or 812 from the train station.
Chóngshàn TempleBUDDHIST SITE
(崇善寺, Chóngshàn Sì MAP GOOGLE MAP ; Dilianggong Jie, 狄梁公街 ¥2; h8am-4.30pm)
The double-eaved wooden hall in this Ming temple contains three magnificent statues: Samantabhadra (the Bodhisattva of Truth), Guanyin (the Goddess of Mercy with 1000 arms) and Manjusri (the Bodhisattva of Wisdom with 1000 alms bowls). The entrance is down an alley off Dilianggong Jie behind the Confucius Temple (文庙; Wén Miào MAP GOOGLE MAP ; 40 Wenmiao Xiang; 文庙巷40号 ¥30; h9am-5pm Tue-Sun), which still has its spirit wall standing guard, as well as a folk-art museum.
Shānxī MuseumMUSEUM
(山西博物馆, Shānxī Bówùguǎn %0351 878 9015; http://shanximuseum.com; 13 Binhe Xilu Beiduan, 滨河西路北段13号 h9am-5pm Tue-Sun, last entry 4pm)F
This top-class museum has three floors that walk you through all aspects of Shānxī culture, from prehistoric fossils to detailed local opera and architecture exhibits. All galleries are imaginatively displayed and some contain good English captions. Take bus 6 (¥1) from the train station, get off at Yifen Qiaoxi (漪汾桥西) bus stop across the river and look for the inverted pyramid.
4Sleeping
Guesthouses offering rooms from ¥50 can be found on Yingze Nanjie, but not all places will take foreigners. Touts will find you near the train station with offers of cheapies. The city is well supplied with a decent selection of upper-midrange hotels and chain-express hotels.
Jǐnjiāng Zhī XīngHOTEL$$
(锦江之星 MAP GOOGLE MAP ; 7 Bingzhou Beilu, 并州北路7号 d ¥219-309)
This central branch of this efficient chain hotel has lovely rooms: clean, bright and spacious enough, with telephone, flat-screen TV, ample work desk, lamp, kettle and very clean shower, the latter fully stocked with all you might need. Service is professional and there's a very good restaurant attached for breakfast (¥18 for guests) and dinner.
Try the restaurant's tasty spicy pork-rib noodles (麻辣排骨面; málà páigǔmiàn; ¥18).
Jǐnlín Oriental HotelHOTEL$$
(锦麟东方酒店, Jǐnlín Dōngfāng Jiǔdiàn MAP GOOGLE MAP ; %0351 839 0666; Yingze Nanjie, 迎泽南街 d/ste incl breakfast ¥418/588; aiW)
Conveniently located across the road from the main entrance of the train station (on the left as you exit), the Jinlin has clean, quiet and comfortable rooms with discounts of up to 40%. Staff are helpful.
5Eating
Shānxī is famed for its noodles – including dāoxiāo miàn (刀削面; knife-pared noodles) and lāmiàn (拉面; hand-pulled noodles) – and vinegar, both in abundance in Tàiyuán. Yángròu tāng (羊肉汤; mutton soup) is lapped up by locals for breakfast.
Tàiyuán Noodle HouseNOODLES$
(太原面食店, Tàiyuán Miànshí Diàn MAP GOOGLE MAP ; 5 Jiefang Lu, 解放路5号 noodles ¥6-16; h11am-9.30pm)
With a cake shop on the ground floor, head up to the bustling 2nd floor of this restaurant for Shānxī’s famous vinegar/noodle combo. If you're bewildered by the choices, go for the six-type taster (六中面套餐; liùzhōng miàntào cān; ¥35), otherwise choose pork noodles (排骨炝锅面； páigǔ qiàngguōmiàn; ¥16). It also does shāomài (烧麦; ¥12). No English menu, but there are pictures.
Aim for a window seat.
oShānxī HuìguǎnCHINESE$$$
(山西会馆 %0351 718 9999; 7 Tiyu Lu, 体育路7号 dishes ¥20-370; h11am-9.30pm)
Behind the imposing grey exterior is a refined restaurant serving quality northern-Chinese cuisine. There's everything from hotpot to homemade tofu and, of course, noodles, served by eager staff. If you're lucky, you might catch a noodle-making demonstration at dinner time. The picture menu has fairly accurate English translations. A taxi from the train station costs around ¥12.
There are several other branches in town.
8Information
Agricultural Bank of ChinaATM
(ABC, 中国农业银行, Zhōngguó Nóngyè Yínháng MAP GOOGLE MAP ; Yingze Nanjie, 迎泽南街 )
ATM next to the Jǐnlín Oriental Hotel.
Bank of ChinaBANK
(中国银行, Zhōngguó Yínháng MAP GOOGLE MAP ; 47 Wuyi Lu, 五一路47号 h9am-5pm)
For foreign exchange and ATM.
China PostPOST
(中国邮政, Zhōngguó Yóuzhèng GOOGLE MAP ; Yingze Dajie, 迎泽大街 h8am-7pm)
Opposite the train station.
Industrial & Commercial Bank of ChinaBANK
(ICBC, 工商银行, Gōngshāng Yínháng MAP GOOGLE MAP ; Yingze Dajie, 迎泽大街 )
ATM.
Public Security BureauPOLICE
(PSB, 公安局, Gōng’ānjú GOOGLE MAP ; %0351 895 5355; Wuyi Dongjie, 五一东街 h8.30am-5.30pm Mon-Fri)
Can extend visas, but be warned they need seven working days to do so.
8Getting There & Away
Air
Destinations from Tàiyuán Wǔsù International Airport include Běijīng (¥550), Hángzhōu (¥650), Hong Kong (¥1150), Kūnmíng (¥1440), Nánjīng (¥650), Shànghǎi (¥850) and Shēnzhèn (¥1100).
Bus
Tàiyuán’s seriously old-school long-distance bus station (长途汽车站
; Chángtú Qìchēzhàn GOOGLE MAP ; Yingze Dajie; 迎泽大街 ) is 500m west of the train station on Yingze Dajie. Buses travel to the following destinations:
ABěijīng ¥190, seven hours, three daily (8.30am, 10.30am and 2.30pm)
ADàtóng ¥117, 3½ hours, every hour (7am to 7pm)
AShànghǎi ¥409, 17 hours, one daily (1pm)
AShíjiāzhuāng ¥65, 3½ hours, one daily (12.40pm)
AXī’ān ¥180, eight hours, five daily (noon)
AZhèngzhōu ¥152, seven hours, five daily (7am to 5pm)
Buses from the Jiànnán bus station (建南站; Jiànnán zhàn), 3km south of the train station:
AJièxiū ¥63, two hours, half-hourly (7.40am to 6.40pm)
AJìnchéng ¥115, five hours, every 40 minutes (7am to 7pm)
APíngyáo ¥26, two hours, half-hourly (7.30am to 7.30pm)
AQíxiàn ¥23, two hours, half-hourly (7.30am to 7.30pm)
The east bus station (东客站; dōng kèzhàn) has buses to Wǔtái Shān (¥7５, four to five hours, hourly, 6.40am to 6pm).
The west bus station (客运西站; kèyùn xīzhàn) has the following services:
ALíshí ¥70, two hours, frequent (7am to 7.30pm)
AQìkǒu ¥80, four hours, one daily (10.30am)
Train
Sample routes from Tàiyuán train station (火车站; huǒchē zhàn):
ABěijīng normal train seat/sleeper ¥72/136, eight to 12 hours, six daily
ABěijīng West G-class train 1st/2nd class ¥197/288, three hours, regular
ADàtóng hard seat/sleeper ¥44/98, five to seven hours, eight daily
AJìnchéng hard seat/sleeper ¥54/108, seven hours, four daily
APíngyáo ¥17, 1½ hours, frequent
AWǔtái Shān ¥38, 3½ hours to five hours, three daily
High-speed trains depart from the new Tàiyuán South train station (火车南站; Huǒchē Nánzhàn), 8km south of the old train station in the Běiyíng (北营) district. The best way to get here is via taxi (¥20, 25 minutes) or bus 861 from the old station.
ABěijīng West D/G-class train ¥197/288, 3½/three hours, regular
AXī’ān 1st/2nd class ¥222/179, four hours, regular
AZhèngzhōu East G-class train 1st/2nd class ¥384/257, four hours, 10.35am
8Getting Around
Shuttle buses (机场大巴; Jīchǎng Dàbā GOOGLE MAP ; Yingze Dajie; 迎泽大街 ) to the airport (¥16, 40 minutes, hourly from 6am to 8pm) run from the side of the Sanjin International Hotel on Wuyi Guangchang. The airport is 15km southeast of downtown Tàiyuán; a taxi costs around ¥50.
The Tàiyuán metro is currently undergoing construction, with the north–south Line 2 due to open in 2018. Bus 1 (¥1) runs the length of Yingze Dajie. For the Jiànnán bus station and the west bus station, take bus 23 or 611 (¥1.50) from Yingze Dajie. For the east bus station take any bus (¥1.50) heading east from Wulongkou Jie. A taxi to Jiànnán bus station costs ¥13. Taxi flagfall is ¥8.
Around Tàiyuán
Jìncí TempleBUDDHIST SITE
(晋祠 ¥70; h8am-6pm)
The highlight of this sprawling Buddhist temple complex is the Hall of the Sacred Mother (圣母殿; Shèngmǔ Diàn), a magnificent wooden structure first built (without using a single nail) in AD 984, then renovated in 1102. Eight dragons twine their way up the first row of pillars. Inside are 42 Song dynasty clay maidservants of the sacred lady, the mother of Prince Shuyu, who founded the state of Jin (772–403 BC).
Adjacent is the Zhou Cypress, an unusual tree that has been growing at an angle of about 30 degrees for the last 900 years. Take bus 804 or 308 from the train station (¥3, 45 minutes).
Yúcì Ancient CityHISTORIC SITE
(榆次老城, Yúcì Lǎochéng ¥60)
A favourite location for Chinese film producers, there are more than 400 rooms and halls to explore in the preserved section of this Ming town. You can walk the streets and some of the gardens for free, but you'll need a ticket to enter the temples or the numerous former government offices. The oldest building is the impressive God Temple (隍庙; Huáng Miào), built in 1362. Take bus 901 (¥3, 80 minutes, first/last bus 6am/8pm) from near Tàiyuán train station.
WORTH A TRIP
QIAO FAMILY COURTYARD
oQiao Family CourtyardCOURTYARD
(乔家大院, Qiáojiā Dàyuàn ¥72; h8am-7pm)
This 18th-century complex of courtyards is one of the finest remaining examples of a traditional private residence in all of China. Once home to a celebrated merchant, it’s an austere (yet compelling) maze of doorways and courtyards that lead onto a seemingly infinite number of rooms (more than 300). The complex is famous in China as the set of Zhang Yimou’s beautiful, required-viewing Fifth Generation tragedy Raise the Red Lantern (大红灯笼高高挂; Dàhóng Dēnglóng Gāogāo Guā).
If you have seen the film and enjoyed it, a visit is a must. Sure enough, the place is festooned with red lanterns; but many fascinating exhibits of Qing-era furniture and clothes are also displayed, as well as Shānxī opera costumes and props. English signage helps convey northern Chinese traditions and rites to foreign visitors.
The site is massively popular with domestic tour groups so get here as early as you can to steal a lead on the colour-coordinated baseball-hatted tour groups from across China. While the entrance is glossed up, and souvenir and food stalls besiege the courtyard, the residence is still big enough to flee the crowds: step through one of the many doorways and they magically vanish.
To get here, catch any bus going to Qíxiàn (祁县; ¥23, 1½ hours) from Tàiyuán’s Jiànnán bus station. Tell the driver where you’re headed and they’ll drop you at the main gate. You can also visit from Píngyáo (¥13, 45 minutes, every 30 minutes to 6.40pm).
Píngyáo 平遥
%0354 / Pop 502,000
Píngyáo is China’s best-preserved ancient walled town. If you have any China mileage under your belt you'll appreciate the town’s age-old charms; charms squandered away – or forever lost – elsewhere across the Middle Kingdom. While other ‘ancient’ cities in China will rustle together an unconvincing display of old city walls, sporadic temples or the occasional ragged alley thrust beneath an unsightly melange of white-tile architecture and greying apartment blocks, Píngyáo has managed to keep its beguiling narrative largely intact: red-lantern-hung lanes set against night-time silhouettes of imposing town walls, elegant courtyard architecture, ancient towers poking into the north China sky, and an entire brood of creaking temples and old buildings.
Píngyáo is also a living and breathing community where the 30,000-odd locals who reside in the old town hang laundry in courtyards, career down alleyways on bicycles, sun themselves in doorways or chew the fat with neighbours.
History
Already a thriving merchant town during the Ming dynasty, Píngyáo’s ascendancy arrived in the Qing era when merchants created the country’s first banks along with cheques to facilitate the transfer of silver from one place to another. The city escaped the shocking reshaping much loved by communist town planners, and almost 4000 Ming- and Qing-dynasty residences remain within the city walls.
Even as late as the early 1990s, foreign visitors would come to Píngyáo, but they'd stay in a hotel outside the walls and only visit the more famous Shuānglín Temple, 7km away. Then they would return to Běijīng or proceed to Xī'ān. Gradually the occasional lǎowài (foreigner) crept through the gates and discovered the amazingly well-preserved town hiding behind it. The rest is history.
Píngyáo
1Sights
1City God TempleC3
2City WallsA2
3Confucius TempleD3
4Nine Dragon ScreenD3
5Píngyáo City TowerC2
6Rìshēngchāng Financial House MuseumB2
4Sleeping
7Déjūyuán GuesthouseB2
8Harmony GuesthouseC3
9Jing's ResidenceC2
10Zhèngjiā KèzhànC3
5Eating
/> 11DéjūyuánC3
12Sakura CafeC2
13Tianyuankui GuesthouseC3
6Drinking & Nightlife
14Coffee by ShrewC3
8Information
15Industrial & Commercial Bank of ChinaA3
1Sights
If you have even the remotest interest in Chinese history, culture or architecture, you could easily spend a couple of days wandering the pinched lanes of Píngyáo, stumbling across hidden gems while ticking off all the well-known sights. You will always find something new, whether it's an ancient temple or alleyway, or an old courtyard house. It’s free to walk the streets, but you must pay ¥150 to climb the city walls or enter any of the 18 buildings deemed historically significant. Tickets are valid for three days and can be purchased from near the gate openings and at other ticket offices near the big sights. Opening hours for sights are 8am to 7pm in summer and 8am to 6pm in winter.
City WallsHISTORIC SITE
(城墙, Chéng Qiáng MAP GOOGLE MAP )
A good place to start your Píngyáo experience is the magnificent city walls; they date from 1370 and are among the most complete in the nation. At 10m high and more than 6km in circumference, they are punctuated by 72 watchtowers, each containing a paragraph from Sunzi’s The Art of War. You can wander around the walls gazing down into the old town.
Píngyáo City TowerTOWER
(市楼, Shì Lóu MAP GOOGLE MAP ; Nan Dajie, 南大街 )
This is the signature structure standing proud above Píngyáo, the tallest building in the old town – snap a photo before passing under it en route to other sites. Sadly, you can no longer climb it for city views and a gate bars its stone steps. An antiques vendor works in the shop next to the tower.
Lonely Planet China Page 73