Pingyao Transportation

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Pingyao Railway Station is located northwest outside of the Ancient City Wall. When you arrive the train station, it takes you around 15 minutes walk to the Fengyi Gate (West Gate), which is the nearest gate. It is a "T" junction road in front of the Railway Station. You should walk on the front road, Shuncheng Road, then turn left on Xifu Da Jie you will see the gate.

The Railway Station is small enough to serve the locals and tourists. The station is a transit point for trains from major cities, like Beijing, Taiyuan, Xian, Guangzhou and Chongqing. The most frequent trains are from Taiyuan, every one or half an hour each trains arrive in this station.

Train to Beijing:

2604/2601 13:10 14h50m --> 4:00
K604 18:47 11h41m --> 6:28
1164 21:48 12h30m --> 10:18

Train to Xian:

2671 00:34 8h32m --> 8:32am
1095 20:47 10h18m --> 7:35am
2669 21:38 8h40m --> 6:18am

Tip: You can also take a train to Yuci from this station.

I took a early train 7:10 to Taiyuan. It was a nice experience to see people take the train to work in Taiyuan.

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For the sleeper trains between Pingyao/Taiyuan to Xian, I recommend you to take the train from Taiyuan to Xian.

Reason: There are more trains between Taiyuan to Xian. You can have a better train with Air-condition from Taiyuan. All the trains from Pingyao to Xian have no air-condition, and very difficult to get ticket.

Trains from Pingyao to Xian:

2671 00:34 8h32m --> 8:32am (fr Taiyuan)
1095 20:47 10h18m --> 7:35am (fr Taiyuan)
2669 21:38 8h40m --> 6:18am (fr Taiyuan)

Trains from Taiyuan to Xian:

K548/K545 20:29 9h1m --> 5:30
T41 21:35 8h2m --> 5:37
T7 23:49 7h55m --> 7:44

You could spend half or full day in Taiyuan before taking the night sleeper train to Xian.

It was very difficult to get train ticket from Taiyuan to Xian as well. I was trying to buy the train ticket from Beijing Railway Station several times. They were all sold out. Finally, on my departure from Beijing West Station to Taiyuan, I went to the ticket counter again to ask. Luckily, they have one sleeper train ticket available for me, T41. It was perfect, and I paid Y184 for the ticket.

Tip: China Railway allows passengers to change or refund ticket if they change their plan. It means you can still hope to get the ticket although it is sold out at the time you inquired. Someone might cancel the ticket you want before departure date.

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If you are planing to travel from Beijing to Pingyao, this is the easiest and fastest way:

First, you take the speed rail from Beijing West to Taiyuan:

Time: 7:21, 8:10, 8:45, 12:03, 12;52, 15:31, 16:20, 17:58.

Fare: Y149 per person.

Distance: 715 km/ 3 hours and 40 minutes.

Note: Great views on the journey.

Second, take the normal train from Taiyuan to Pingyao.

Time: Every Hour ( From 3:52 till 23:41)

Fare: Y8-Y28

Distance: 80km/ 1 hour 30 minutes.

Note: If you cannot get a seat ticket, you might want to consider taking the bus. If it is the public holiday, I don't recommend train on this route. Please read my experience on my Pingyao page.

Chinese Train ticket system is a national network, you can buy the ticket Pingyao-->Xian from Beijing/Taiyuan/Datong Station, but you must pay attention to Pre-sale Time(Max 10days in advance).
Wish you have a nice trip.

The train station in Pingyao is located about a 5-10 minute walk away from the West Gate of the Old Town. Trains to and from cities like Beijing, Chengdu, Xian, Chongqing and Taiyuan are available from this station. I took an overnight train from here to Xian at 21:50 (train No.2669) which cost RMB117. Check out the website below for info on train destinations and timetables:

Probamos las camas blandas y salimos a las doce de la noche de Pingyao y llegamos a las 13h del día siguiente a Luoyang
Las camas blandas en compartimentos de cuatro personas están muy bien , limpias y cómodas
Precio : 267 Yuan (cama alta) + 278 Yuan (cama baja) + 80 Yuan (Comisión del hotel)

We tried the soft beds and we left at twelve o'clock in the night from Pingyao and we arrived to Luoyang at 13h of the next day
The soft beds , in of four people compartments are very good, clean and comfortable
Price: 267 Yuan (upper bed ) + 278 Yuan (lower bed) + 80 Yuan (hotel Commission )

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Para los que no somos expertos en la bicicleta , Pingyao es el sitio ideal para dar un paseo , pues no hay tráfico , aunque si muchos "paisanos" , es completamente llana y no te puedes perder
Alquilamos la bici en el hotel y la puedes dejar aparcada fuera de los sitios que quieras visitar , con candado sin grandes riesgos de que te la roben

For those who are not experts in the bike , like us , Pingyao is the ideal place for a ride, since there is no traffic, although many "people", it is completely flat and you can not loose
We rent the bike in the hotel and you can leave it parked outside the sites you want to visit, with lock , without major risk that they steal it

We hired a taxi through our hotel to take us to the Qiao family home (scene of the film,"raise the red lantern")and then onto Taiyuan where we caught the train onto Beijing. The taxi driver turned out to be the owner of the hotel who could not speak much English but everything turned out fine. We got to the Qiao family residence, got to Taiyuan and our train tickets and we were dropped off at the train station in good time.

Cost 300 Yuan for trip to Qiao family home (about an hour journey and a hour there) and on to Taiyuan(another hour).