4 Days Best Datong and Pingyao Tour Shanxi Tour Packages

Tour Overview

The 4 days Datong and Pingyao tour provides a brilliant itinerary covering all the highlights of the 2 cities to disclose the secret of Northern China’s history and culture. From the remarkable Yungang Grottoes to the marvelous Hanging Temple, from holy Shanhua Monastery to the splendid Qiao Family Courtyard…What you will get from this trip is not only “travel” itslef but also a journey of “learning” and “horizon broadening”, in this tour, you are catching a quick glimpse of the developing history of northern China from the essential sites in Datong and Pingyao!

Highlights of this tour:

*Visit one of the biggest Buddhism Grottoes in China, the Yungang Grottoes
*Step onto the Hanging Temple, and enjoy the thrilling but safe experience
*Visit Qiao Family Courtyard to explore the history of the Qiaojia family and the development of Shanxi merchants culture in the Ming and Qing Dynasties
*Ramble in Pingyao Ancient Town. Measure the history with your eyes, and see the daylight fade until the lanterns light up

Day-by-day Itinerary

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Day 1: Datong Arrival

Our driver and guide will wait for you at the Datong airport or train station by holding a welcome sign with your name on it and transfer to hotel. The rest day is free at your disposal.

Accommodation: Datong
Day 2: Datong
Yungang Grottoes, Shanhua Monastery, Nine Gragons Screen (Breakfast+Lunch)

AM:In the morning pick up from hotel and drive to visit one of the top four Buddhist grottoes in China: Yungang Grottoes (the other three are Mogao Grottoes, Longmen Grottoes, Maiji Grottoes). Yungang grotto group has 5100 Buddhist figures in 45 major caves which lasts about 1km long.

Noon: Lunch at local restaurant.

PM: In the afternoon, continue to visit Shanhua Monastery which is a best preserved Buddhist buildings complex from the Liao and the Jin Dynasty. In the monastery visitors will see various clay human sculptures with lively and distinctive characters. Afterwards we will drive to visit Nine Gragons Screen. The screen was originally built in the early Ming Dynasty as the screen wall of the residence of the 13th son of the Emperor Zhuyuanzhang, the founder of the Ming Dynasty. The vivid dragons on the wall were so marvelous and well preserved that you cannot believe they were made 600 years ago. Afterwards back to hotel.

Accommodation: Datong

Budda statues in Yungang Grottoes
Day 3: Datong - Pingyao by Car (B, L)
Hanging Temple, Qiao Family Courtyard

AM: After hotel breakfast, pick up from hotel and transfer to visit Hanging Temple (Xuankong Temple) which lies at foot of Hengshan Mountain. The temple was built against the cliff and faces abyss, hence is called Hanging Temple. And the temple is sacred temple for three major religions in China: the Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism.

Noon: Lunch in local restaurant.

Hanging Temple

PM: Later on continue to visit the Qiao’s Family Courtyard, a typical folk house complex of northern China. That well preserved residential compound was originally built in the Qing Dynasty with a architectural area of 4175 m2. Arriving in Pingyao we will check in hotel and prepare for the next day’s tour.

Accommodation: Pingyao

Pingyao Qiao Family Courtyard
Day 4: Pingyao-Taiyuan Departure (B, L)
Pingyao City Wall, Rishengchang Former Bank, Ming Qing Street, City God Temple

AM: Today we will do a full day tour in 2700 years old Pingyao ancient City. The first stop will be Pingyao City Wall. On the wall top you will have a bird’s eye view of the whole Pingyao City. Next we will move to the Rishengchang Former Bank where you will witness the rudiment of Chinese styled bank in ancient China.

Noon: Lunch in local restaurant.

PM: In the afternoon we will take a walk in the Street remains the looking of the Ming and the Qing Dynasty which is called Ming Qing Street to feel the trading method of the Ming and the Qing Dynasty. Afterwards we will visit the Pingyao City God Temple. In the temple we will appreciate wonderful wood carvings, paintings and sculptures. Back to hotel. After the tour, transfer to Taiyuan airport/train station for departing.

Pingyao Ming Qing Street