WHAT TO SEE IN PINGYAO IN ONE DAY

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Day 8: Pingyao: Confucius Temple, City Tower, Rishengchang House of Finance Museum, Qingxu Guan, Nine Dragon Wall, Pingyao Walls

The alarm clock rings at 5:30 a.m. and in a few minutes they knock on the door notifying us that our stop is close. In a few minutes we will arrive in the city, so we take this time to collect our bags and review the list of places we have to see in Pingyao in one day, which is the time we will be in this city that we have read, it seems anchored in last.
At 6.09 o'clock we are arriving at Pingyao station where Nancy, the manager of Datong Trip, receives us by surprise, the company we were with yesterday at the Hanging Monastery and Yungang Caves in Datong.
He has brought us a car to take us to what will be our hotel, which is about 2 kilometers from the station and that from the station and at this time costs about 40RMB approximately.

We arrived at the hotel, the Pingyao Cheng Jia Hotel, a beautiful traditional house, with spectacular rooms, yes, we still do not get used to the bathroom without shower as we know it, since there is only the artichoke on the ceiling in the middle of the bathroom, so it is quite difficult to shower without putting everything lost.

Patio of the Pingyao Cheng Jia Hotel

Nancy's intention in coming to look for us is so much to talk about yesterday's tour and confirm that everything went well, such as chatting with us for a while about the recommendations we can make about a future trip to Europe that she wants to make. We are with her until 7:30 in the morning in one of the rooms of the hotel talking about the differences between the "travel routines"From one country to another after saying goodbye to her, we go straight to give us that shower that we needed more than eating and that is that after two nights by train, we needed to fall into a shower room.
After 8 in the morning and with many things what to see in Pingyao in one day, we went out to its streets ready to eat the city.
Upon leaving we find a traditional chinese city that we fall in love and that is what we had looking for or had in mind when we started preparing this trip to China for free.
Yes it is true that it looks very focused on tourism, but it does not stop having that roll that we find in some cities or towns and that we love.

Start life in Pingyao first thing in the morning

Before starting the tour we have noted with the places what to see in Pingyao in one day, we go through one of the points where they sell the entrance tickets to Pingyao. The city can be visited for free, but without this ticket you cannot access the most tourist and interesting monuments or climb the wall.
We pay 75RMB per person, here they admit us the student card, although they look at it and remit it several times, if it had not been 150RMB and we travel a section of East Street where we take the opportunity to take a couple of coffees to carry for 22RMB each .

Pingyao streets

We sat in the sun for a while and while charging energy with these coffees, we reviewed and traced the planning of all places what to see in Pingyao in one day, which are not few.
It's 9:30 in the morning when we start the tour of Qinhan Gate visiting Qingxu Guan, a Taoist temple, for which time seems to have not passed.

Qingxu Guan. Taoist temple in Pingyao. What to see in Pingyao in one day

As we go through the less central streets of Pingyao we realize that people are watching us, but above all the local people do it, but we have to say that it is not at all uncomfortable, vice versa. And if you smile at those looks, everything is much easier.

More practical information to prepare your trip to China
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Pingyao is not a very large city, at least its most historical part, which will be where we will focus, but as always we do not stop taking our great traveler discovery, the CityMaps2Go application that we use as GPS and guides us precisely through all our travel.
This application works offline, as we have mentioned on several occasions, but if you want to make inquiries about articles of places of interest, updates or download more maps, you will need a connection, better if it is a 4G network, such as T Mobile, with coverage here in China.

After the visit to Qingxu Guan we follow the street and enter the Weapons Museum. The truth is that in this case we did not know where we were going, but as it is included in the ticket we have bought, there we go and we have to say that the enclave is charming enough to be worth the visit.
The next stop is at the China Chamber of Commerce Museum, another place included in the Pingyao ticket, which is worth knowing.
And it’s not long since we arrived and we still have many things what to see in Pingyao in one day, but we have already seen that the city and the most tourist attractions are concentrated in a couple of streets and that the most attractive and advisable thing is to get lost in the adjacent streets, to be able to see the most traditional Pingyao.

Pingyao streets

After a few meters, we turn through Nan Dajie, the main street, at this time already very lively and full of color and smells of the local cuisine that we are looking forward to trying. We are loving Pingyao and that we just arrived!

Nan Dajie What to see in Pingyao in one day

We enter Tianjixiang Museum, another place what to see in Pingyao in one day, which also enters the ticket. What most attracts us of this visit are without a doubt the incredible views that are had from the high part, from where we have an especially beautiful perspective of the rooftops of the city of Pingyao.

Pingyao views from Tianjixiang Museum

After 11 in the morning and already with the stomach demanding attention, we stopped a few minutes in one of the few places that we found where to drink something sweet and that is that we have not had breakfast at all, only a couple of coffees a few hours ago.
At 11:30 we follow the route and arrive at Cheng Huang Temple Street, where we turn to reach Cheng Huang Temple an essential visit in Pingyao.

Pingyao

From here we continue walking until we reach the Confucius Temple, a beautiful temple and is that Pingyao is undoubtedly an impressive and essential visit to any China route.
We leave through the north and right in front of the Pingyao Theater we find the Wall of the Nine Dragons, a wall very similar to the one we saw in the Forbidden City of Beijing.
From here we continue to the Pingyao Walls, but first we stop at a local restaurant, which looks good, for lunch.
We ordered a plate of dumplins and one of meat with vegetables plus a bottle of coke and another of water for 118RMB. Everything great!
We anticipate that here in China it will be very difficult to recommend restaurants since being able to give the locations or the name is practically impossible, so we recommend that you do as we do: site that catches your attention, without thinking twice, towards indoors!

Eating in Pingyao

With the stomach already in tune, we return to the streets of Pingyao, now to stop right next to where we have eaten, in the Ancient Government Buildings, from where going up to the tower you have fantastic views of the street.

Pingyao views

We continue the visit of the places what to see in Pingyao in one day and we go in search of an entrance to tour the Pingyao Wall, with such bad luck that all we found are closed and we have to go to Bei Dajie, which is where you access the northern part of Pingyao, right next to our hotel, something that despite the almost 45 minutes that we we have taken a walk has helped us to visit the less tourist area of Pingyao, where we have encountered much less common scenes in the busiest areas.

Surroundings of downtown Pingyao

Pingyao faces

Being so close to the hotel, we took the opportunity to approach a moment and thus leave a bag of some purchases that we have made and apart rest a few minutes and make a couple of calls home, which we have not been talking to them for a few days.
Half an hour later we are already at Pingyao Walls and it is that this city seems to not want to give us truce and calls us to get lost in its streets.
The Tour of the Walls of Pingyao, also included in the ticket that we buy, is the less interesting since it gives you a totally different perspective of the city and lets you see the streets farthest from the center, which show you the less touristy Pingyao.
We descend again at Fengyi Gate and return to the most tourist streets of the city, returning to fill with color and animation.

Pingyao City Tower

Pingyao streets

Arriving this afternoon, it is time to start walking aimlessly through the streets of Pingyao, with fewer people as the afternoon falls, since many local tourists who come in organized groups do so on visits of a day, arriving here in the middle of the morning and leaving in the middle of the afternoon.

Pingyao

Pingyao streets

In the guide we see good opinions of Sakura Café, a restaurant where they serve western food. Knowing that this will not be usual to find, we take the opportunity to taste a western cuisine dose and we ordered a tuna pizza (by the way fairly fair), a lasagna, beer and coke for 140RMB.

Having dinner at Sakura Café in Pingyao

We wanted to change a little gastronomy, but the truth is that after this, we stay with the Chinese cuisine. At least for now.
It's more than in the afternoon when we go out again to take some photos at night, since Pingyao is one of those cities that change completely as daylight changes.

Nightfall in Pingyao

Night falls in Pingyao

After walking around the most central streets of Pingyao and really tired after these last two nights sleeping on the train, we return to Pingyao Cheng Jia Hotel to rest.
Tomorrow morning we go to Xi'an, another of the strengths of this Trip to china, but before you finally enjoy a bed!