山西省

Why this place

Shanxi is the single most important province for early Chinese architecture: because it was never heavily rebuilt, it kept timber halls from the Tang and Song that exist nowhere else, along with grottoes, painted sculpture and the walled merchant towns of the Ming and Qing. If you care about buildings, this is the province to plan a trip around.

What to see

• Pingyao's complete Ming–Qing walled city, and the surrounding merchant mansions
• The Yungang Grottoes at Datong and the Hanging Monastery at Hengshan
• Wutai Mountain's Tang timber halls, and the temple mountain itself
• The Yingxian wooden pagoda, and Guoyu and Huangcheng castles near Jincheng
• The Yongle Palace murals and the Guandi temple at Xiezhou

What to eat

• The province's noodles — knife-cut, shaved and hand-pulled, all in one menu
• Shanxi aged vinegar, everywhere; Shanxi oat dishes in the north
• Lamb and the local yellow wine

How to plan

A week is not too much: Taiyuan and Pingyao, Datong and Wutai, then Jincheng and the southern temples.

Best time

May–October; Pingyao and the mountains are best in spring and autumn

Practical tips

• Most of the great temples are in villages — plan on a car and driver for each full day

Cities 11

太原市 Taiyuan大同市 Datong阳泉市 Yangquan长治市 Changzhi晋城市 Jincheng朔州市 Shuozhou晋中市 Jinzhong运城市 Yuncheng忻州市 Xinzhou临汾市 Linfen吕梁市 Lüliang