TYK is a very charming guesthouse, but the best part about it is that it's clean! The rooms are cozy and warm, and the kang-style beds are comfortable. The bathroom has a western toilet, but like many showers in China, there is no "shower unit" - just a drain on the floor, showerhead sticking out of the wall and no curtain. It's a minor inconvenience, though.
The restaurant is very good; we ate every meal there. We didn't go for the Western breakfast, so I've no idea how it is. However, the Chinese-style breakfast is tasty. The local dishes are excellent, and the owner was nice enough to bring some samples to our table for us to try. If you speak Mandarin, the waitresses are fun to talk to and are willing to teach you some phrases in the Pingyao dialect.
The owners are very nice, kind people and are receptive to ideas for improvements, etc.
Also, Pingyao is fun but definitely go visit the Wang Family Compound, which is about 1.5 hours outside of the town.
We stayed here during off-season, and found that it is a very warm, inviting place to stay due in part to the lovely staff. Moreover the rooms have been up-dated with modern conveniences in each room. It is extremely clean, and a wonderful boutique courtyard hotel. My goal was to stay in at least one example of an old-world courtyard hotel, and this is an excellent choice. The young ladies, as well as the owner, speak enough English that let you immediately feel at ease.
We travelled for a little more than 2 weeks in China, and this was our most pleasant experience. If we return to China I will definitely stay there again.
This was my fifth time to Pingyao. I love the old Chinese architecture & a whole town (albeit small) seemingly frozen in time that you can stay in is an amazing experience. Coming in on the early train (where I was met at 5:21am) and being escorted through the old city while it was still dark with all the red lanterns lit up has truly been one of the highlights of my eight years in China.
I stayed elsewhere on my first visit & used part of the time to check out every other guesthouse in the old city. I found (after much experimenting & disappointments) that TYK was the best place to eat. I then chose TYK as my first choice of stay, and I've never been disappointed. There have been improvements (plumbing, hot water, heating etc) since my first visit in 2004, and not all the rooms are the same (I've been in three or four different-sized rooms with varying features), but the rooms (some with kangs) offer a taste of old China with some perfectly adequate modern facilities (bearing in mind it's not a western hotel). Cupboard space is not a big feature (but then it isn't elsewhere either), and I didn't like the bean-filled pillows much but they seemed to have been replaced with more 'normal' ones now as I've not encountered them in any room for a few years now.
The courtyards are a dream! I love walking through them, and if you can go at a time when the weather permits sitting outside in the evening with the lanterns on, well, another highlight.
The staff I've found consistently willing to help with whatever needs you might have. Mostly young local girls who seem really lovely and naturally friendly, and on several occasions I have seen the proprietor eating lunch together with them, which I took as a very good sign both of what it said about the kitchen, and the friendly relations among the staff.
On the subject of food, I can honestly say I don't care too much for Chinese food anymore (in Beijing it's often swimming in cheap oil and full of MSG) and I thought I was going off it for good - but the food in TYK has restored my faith. EVERY meal I tried, I loved (and NO MSG - I'm told there is none even on site). When I eat out (Chinese food) in Beijing, I usually can never finish my meal, but here I polished the plates!
This was our 4th visit to Pingyao and every time TYK is the best place to stay. We have looked at others but they don't have the same friendly, family-run appeal or the sure sign of a good place to stay i.e. their happy staff. Also, the same control over the non-use of MSG isn't found anywhere else in Pingyao!
The buffet breakfast is good with a choice of bacon, boiled eggs or omelette, pancakes, toast and butter, tea, fresh coffee, orange and the list goes on...
We have stayed in various rooms and they have had a wonderful ambience with the red lantern lit courtyards etc but for those wanting a romantic getaway you can't beat the Ming style suites!
The location of this hostel was great, right on the main street near to the bell tower. The rooms were comfortable and very clean and the courtyards from which the rooms went were very cute and quaint. The bathroom had a bath AND a shower which was a treat.
We arrived in Pingyao on a regular bus from Taiyuan and were dropped off outside the city ( as no cars are allowed inside) and taken to the city in a 'golf cart' which are all over the place and act like taxi's. We had booked our accomodation in advance, but the 'taxi driver' tried to get us to stay in a different place, so he may have been on 'commission' for the different hostels.
A day is more than enough to see all that Pingyao has to offer.
I would recommend that you try pingyao beef while you are there. It tastes wonderful and just melts in your mouth!
This is the kind of atmospheric inn that makes you feel like a traveller, not a tourist. It's almost out of a movie for "old China" atmosphere.
The details provided by the previous reviewers are accurate and I will not repeat them. Food in the restaurant is tasty and inexpensive. The rooms are quaint and interesting. The only negative thing I can say about my room was that the shower in my room was simply a spigot on the bathroom wall, and the slow drainage pretty much flooded the bathroom every time I used it.
The staff at the hotel was very friendly, and Rainbow was invaluable in assisting me with my travel arrangements after I contacted her through the hotel's website. Although Pingyao is on the main railway line, it's hard to get sleeper seats in and out, and you may have to travel to nearby (and missible) Taiyuan. Rainbow can arrange for a driver to pick you up or drop you off in Taiyuan at a reasonable cost.
While Pingyao is very atmospheric, there isn't all that much to do in town (the many museums get repetitive after a few hours) so I would say 1 full day is probably enough time to see the town. I spent 2 days, and by the afternoon of the second day was ready to move on.
We stayed in Tian Yuan Kui guesthouse for 2 nights in April and loved it. Pingyao is a lovely walled city full of small hutongs, shops and restaurants (great for photographers and people-watchers), and this guesthouse was beautiful. Set around a number of small, pretty courtyards (and therefore away from the noise of the streets) the rooms were small but quite exquisite- especially the room with the wall-to-wall triple bed! Filtered water provided, very clean bathrooms, comfortable beds (bearing in mind it's hard-bedded China) also helped raise it above average. Service was friendly and excellent (including finding a cake and sparkling wine for our friend's 30th birthday), and dinner was very good indeed. Breakfast a little less exciting but quite passable, and occasional lack of hot water in the shower, but overall a really special place. Highly recommended!
We booked the other via CITS (official travel agency of China) but you can also walk in or booked directly.
The hotel is located in the World Heritage city of Pingyao.
The hotel is in traditional courtyard rooms, very typical of old China. It gives a charm to the place unlike any other place. Imagine a place where you are brought back in time but with
21 century comfort. The hotel has a vast range of room standard which can also accomodate from budget travellers to foreign ambassadors. Visit their web site to see photos of what I mean.
The staff of the hotel are very friendly and rapidly handle any request made. Also available are:
- fast connection internet
- Booking service for trains and air to Xi'an and Beijing
We stayed 2 nights in this splendid guest house .The staff is an extreme kindness, the quality food, the room was perfect and original. Indeed the best place of pingyao to stay.
We stayed at the Tian Yuan Kuai for two nights, flying in from Beijing to Taiyuan. After an exhausting train trip from Taiyuan (during which my 6-year old son got sick), it was a relief to arrive at the Tian Yuan, settle down in the tranquil courtyard and just relax... the hotel stands out from most of the other residences in town by appealing distinctly to the upmarket traveller; thus we didn't find any of the ill-translated signs advertising pizzas, cappucinos or other chinese takes on western delights. What we did find was spotlessly clean, spacious rooms with huge bathrooms, TV, heating and aircon, a sequence of small, cosy courtyards with chairs and tables neatly placed throughout, really friendly and helpful staff and a warm and welcoming athmosphere.
While dwellers in other Pingyao residences have complained about small and cramped bathrooms, this was not the case here. The bathroom was almost as big as the room itself, and although the shower lacked walls or curtains it was tucked well away in a corner (compared to the Yide bathrooms, which I also inspected, it made a world of difference). Toiletries, toilet paper and towels were readily available, and the restaurant even had a public toilet with washbasin, soap and paper which would have passed most western standards with flying colors. I saw some of the bathroom amenities at lower-fare hotels, which can't compare at all to the Tian Yuan.
Food was excellent; you could eat anytime from 10am to 10pm, and the local fare is exceptional (try the beef specialties!)
In short, this hotel stands out compared to most if not all of Pingyaos other accomodations, especially if you're there with kids. My son and daughter had constant surveillance and attention from the 6-8 young girls working there; they seemed to be thrilled to have kids visiting and went out of their way to try their skills at communicating in english and getting our kids' attention...
Expect to pay around 5-600 RMB for a family room; however it's worth every penny. Just being able to escape from the hustle on the streets into a secluded courtyard, enjoying a mug of tea while the kids play in total safety is invaluable...
This quaint small inn is in the center of this lovely ancient town. We enjoyed this charming courtyard style inn. The room was spacious; the furniture antique Chinese. The bed was not the most comfortable but was in keeping with the atmosphere.
The staff was very helpful, especially Mr. Zhang who spoke excellent English and helped us securing a car for various excursions. This inn is highly recommended.
We really enjoy our staying in this guest house. It was really beautiful and in classical Chinese style. Room we stayed was a bit tiny but extremely nice. The girls who worked there were eager to practice their English and an absolute delight to converse with during our Hot Pot (Pingyao style) dinner. I had left my sunglasses back at the hotel but was at the train station getting a train to Xi'an in 30 mins. No sooner had I borrowed the phone of the free taxi service to ring the hotel than the manager arrived at the station with my sunglasses...and would not take any money as a thankful gesture! I would like to let everyone know what a fantastic time we had at the hotel relaxing in the wonderful atmosphere at this well-run hotel. Highly recommended!
Tian Yuan Kui Hotel was not the original place we'd planned on staying at in Pingyao (arrived early), but are we glad we did! This hotel was clean, fairly-priced, had beautiful courtyards, had delicious food and, most importantly, had fantastic service!! The girls who worked there were eager to practice their English and an absolute delight to converse with during our Hot Pot (Pingyao style) dinner. The cherry on top was that I had left my sunglasses back at the hotel but was at the train station getting a train to Xi'an in 30 mins. No sooner had I borrowed the phone of the free taxi service to ring the hotel than the manager arrived at the station with my sunglasses...and would not take any money as a thankful gesture! I would like to let everyone know what a fantastic time we had at the hotel relaxing in the wonderful atmosphere at this well-run hotel. Did I mention the food was great?!?!
Our family of 11, ages 5-72, all give this traditional Chinese courtyard home which has been converted to a low-key inn an A+. Jonathan, the manager, is a perfect host: welcoming, gracious, helpful, knowledgeable. Rooms and baths are clean, comfortable, spacious; buffet breakfast (which is available when travellers arrive from the VERY early night trains) is enormous and includes all kinds of Chinese and Western food; beverages, meals and snacks are available at all hours. The 300-year-old building has been restored just enough to make it very attractive and comfortable without destroying the sense of history. It is located in the center of town, but is totally peaceful and quiet inside the courtyards. Other hotels and hostels we looked at while we were there were either much more simple and less interesting, or too sanitized and "restored" to give the same feeling of old China.
Pingyao has to be one of the highlights of anyone's trip to North China, and if you visit Pingyao, this is the place to stay. The fantastically helpful staff try extremely hard to make you feel at home. Rooms are pleasant if not plush. Make sure that you try eating in the hotel's atmospheric lobby restaurant: the Shanxi noodles (served honeycomb-style in a steamer) and Pingyao corned beef are well worth trying for anyone who thinks Chinese food is only Cantonese food.
This was highly recommended to us by someone who had stayed there a few days before, and it lived up to our expectations. A wonderful, charming place to stay. The staff were EXTREMELY helpful. We booked a train ticket from Pingyao to Xian, but had to buy it in Datong (since the train started there), and then pick up a faxed copy. We were told only hard sleeper berths were available. The manager came up to us unsolicited shortly before we were to leave and asked us if we wanted to switch to soft sleeper. The room was very clean, and the huge traditional brick bed was a lot of fun (though the mattress is thinner than we are used to). The restaurant was excellent - the braised fish was perhaps the best dish I had in 2 weeks in China. We were charged less than the list price for laundry.
(I was very suprised by the previous review. I honestly wonder if perhaps the writer stayed at a different place.)
This was the worst place that we stayed in during our trip to China.
In fact, I think this was probably one of the worst places I have ever stayed in - anywhere in the world, and I have stayed in some very basic places in the Middle East and Eastern Europe.
We arrived very tired after a long bus journey and the staff didn't welcome us at all, but demanded our money up front without even time to take our large backpacks off.
We paid for a "suite" but got a cold, cavernous room with no hot water. The room was extremely dirty - a filthy floor, dirty towels, no toilet paper, no actual shower or even a drain in the bathroom for the water to drain into. This meant that every time you tried to have a shower (in the cold water) the whole bathroom flooded and the bedroom area became muddy.
Understandably, due to the ancient plumbing in Pingyao you cannot flush toilet paper down the toilet, so you just place it in a bin. The bin was not emptied once in 3 days, nor was our room cleaned once. We finally got fed up after 2 days and emptied the bin ourselves!
The staff at this hotel were generally unhelpful. Every time you sat down in the front area to rest or to check your map, a menu was pushed under your nose. You felt like you couldn't just relax as a guest in the 'common area' without buying something.
The door to our room was broken so every time we tried to get in and out of the room we either had to struggle with the lock in the freezing cold for 15 minutes, or call a surly attendant to come and reluctantly assist us.
The only reason we did not leave this hotel earlier was because we had pre-booked our overnight train tickets out of Pingyao, and had paid our money up-front. (Never again!!)
I'm not sure if we happended to catch this hotel in a bad patch, but if you are considering staying here I would definately say to only take a basic room. There is no point paying 380 yuan for a dirty "suite" with no hot water when most other hotels in Pingyao were offering rooms for around 100 yuan.
We spends 3 nights in this Guest House, having breakfast, lunch and dinner..
All food is good and I'M ITALIAN..!
Looking for something bad...
well, maybe too much Lonely Planet addicted, and I'd to barging for room price, lady told me 90 RMB per night, but on check out she told me PER PERSON...
Anyway, I great place in Pingyao, centrally located on main road and very nice staff, helpfully about transports tickets (they can book train seats and flights too) and 4 Internet Pc for your planning at 5 RMB per 1/2 hour..
I've stayed here twice and consider it the top choice in Pingyao. I consider it essential to stay in an inn in the old town rather than a hotel outside the old city walls. There are a few other comparable places in the area that are nearly as good if this inn happens to be full.
The hotel is in an old courtyard house, some rooms have kangs. The staff are nice and eager to please, but this is rustic, budget accomodation. It is clean, and you get a bed, hot water, heat in winter, loads of character and not much else. The plumbing is okay but not great, the rooms are simple and not soundproof, you don't get many amenities but if you are okay with roughing it a little, you will be charmed and you will feel like you really are in China.
It is a very special place if you do not require luxury.
Friendly owners in a central, but quiet location. The rooms were a good size and comfortable. Good value meals, with a decent selection.
The hotel however only takes Chinese currency in payment. We were there for four days and had to make a 240 km round trip to the nearest bank which would change money for us. We weren't the only people who were caught out.
Owners had arranged for a taxi to meet us from the train, which was a god send after a hot, uncomfortable overnight journey from Sian. They also arranged for train tickets for our onward journey to Datong.
地址： 73 Ming Qing Street
点评
TYK is a very charming guesthouse, but the best part about it is that it's clean! The rooms are cozy and warm, and the kang-style beds are comfortable. The bathroom has a western toilet, but like many showers in China, there is no "shower unit" - just a drain on the floor, showerhead sticking out of the wall and no curtain. It's a minor inconvenience, though.
The restaurant is very good; we ate every meal there. We didn't go for the Western breakfast, so I've no idea how it is. However, the Chinese-style breakfast is tasty. The local dishes are excellent, and the owner was nice enough to bring some samples to our table for us to try. If you speak Mandarin, the waitresses are fun to talk to and are willing to teach you some phrases in the Pingyao dialect.
The owners are very nice, kind people and are receptive to ideas for improvements, etc.
Also, Pingyao is fun but definitely go visit the Wang Family Compound, which is about 1.5 hours outside of the town.
We stayed here during off-season, and found that it is a very warm, inviting place to stay due in part to the lovely staff. Moreover the rooms have been up-dated with modern conveniences in each room. It is extremely clean, and a wonderful boutique courtyard hotel. My goal was to stay in at least one example of an old-world courtyard hotel, and this is an excellent choice. The young ladies, as well as the owner, speak enough English that let you immediately feel at ease.
We travelled for a little more than 2 weeks in China, and this was our most pleasant experience. If we return to China I will definitely stay there again.
Excellent staff who spoke good english, good facilities and location. Room was quiet and a good size. Couldn't ask for more, i'd highly recommend it!
This was my fifth time to Pingyao. I love the old Chinese architecture & a whole town (albeit small) seemingly frozen in time that you can stay in is an amazing experience. Coming in on the early train (where I was met at 5:21am) and being escorted through the old city while it was still dark with all the red lanterns lit up has truly been one of the highlights of my eight years in China.
I stayed elsewhere on my first visit & used part of the time to check out every other guesthouse in the old city. I found (after much experimenting & disappointments) that TYK was the best place to eat. I then chose TYK as my first choice of stay, and I've never been disappointed. There have been improvements (plumbing, hot water, heating etc) since my first visit in 2004, and not all the rooms are the same (I've been in three or four different-sized rooms with varying features), but the rooms (some with kangs) offer a taste of old China with some perfectly adequate modern facilities (bearing in mind it's not a western hotel). Cupboard space is not a big feature (but then it isn't elsewhere either), and I didn't like the bean-filled pillows much but they seemed to have been replaced with more 'normal' ones now as I've not encountered them in any room for a few years now.
The courtyards are a dream! I love walking through them, and if you can go at a time when the weather permits sitting outside in the evening with the lanterns on, well, another highlight.
The staff I've found consistently willing to help with whatever needs you might have. Mostly young local girls who seem really lovely and naturally friendly, and on several occasions I have seen the proprietor eating lunch together with them, which I took as a very good sign both of what it said about the kitchen, and the friendly relations among the staff.
On the subject of food, I can honestly say I don't care too much for Chinese food anymore (in Beijing it's often swimming in cheap oil and full of MSG) and I thought I was going off it for good - but the food in TYK has restored my faith. EVERY meal I tried, I loved (and NO MSG - I'm told there is none even on site). When I eat out (Chinese food) in Beijing, I usually can never finish my meal, but here I polished the plates!
I have already made plans to return ...
This was our 4th visit to Pingyao and every time TYK is the best place to stay. We have looked at others but they don't have the same friendly, family-run appeal or the sure sign of a good place to stay i.e. their happy staff. Also, the same control over the non-use of MSG isn't found anywhere else in Pingyao!
The buffet breakfast is good with a choice of bacon, boiled eggs or omelette, pancakes, toast and butter, tea, fresh coffee, orange and the list goes on...
We have stayed in various rooms and they have had a wonderful ambience with the red lantern lit courtyards etc but for those wanting a romantic getaway you can't beat the Ming style suites!
The location of this hostel was great, right on the main street near to the bell tower. The rooms were comfortable and very clean and the courtyards from which the rooms went were very cute and quaint. The bathroom had a bath AND a shower which was a treat.
We arrived in Pingyao on a regular bus from Taiyuan and were dropped off outside the city ( as no cars are allowed inside) and taken to the city in a 'golf cart' which are all over the place and act like taxi's. We had booked our accomodation in advance, but the 'taxi driver' tried to get us to stay in a different place, so he may have been on 'commission' for the different hostels.
A day is more than enough to see all that Pingyao has to offer.
I would recommend that you try pingyao beef while you are there. It tastes wonderful and just melts in your mouth!
This is the kind of atmospheric inn that makes you feel like a traveller, not a tourist. It's almost out of a movie for "old China" atmosphere.
The details provided by the previous reviewers are accurate and I will not repeat them. Food in the restaurant is tasty and inexpensive. The rooms are quaint and interesting. The only negative thing I can say about my room was that the shower in my room was simply a spigot on the bathroom wall, and the slow drainage pretty much flooded the bathroom every time I used it.
The staff at the hotel was very friendly, and Rainbow was invaluable in assisting me with my travel arrangements after I contacted her through the hotel's website. Although Pingyao is on the main railway line, it's hard to get sleeper seats in and out, and you may have to travel to nearby (and missible) Taiyuan. Rainbow can arrange for a driver to pick you up or drop you off in Taiyuan at a reasonable cost.
While Pingyao is very atmospheric, there isn't all that much to do in town (the many museums get repetitive after a few hours) so I would say 1 full day is probably enough time to see the town. I spent 2 days, and by the afternoon of the second day was ready to move on.
We stayed in Tian Yuan Kui guesthouse for 2 nights in April and loved it. Pingyao is a lovely walled city full of small hutongs, shops and restaurants (great for photographers and people-watchers), and this guesthouse was beautiful. Set around a number of small, pretty courtyards (and therefore away from the noise of the streets) the rooms were small but quite exquisite- especially the room with the wall-to-wall triple bed! Filtered water provided, very clean bathrooms, comfortable beds (bearing in mind it's hard-bedded China) also helped raise it above average. Service was friendly and excellent (including finding a cake and sparkling wine for our friend's 30th birthday), and dinner was very good indeed. Breakfast a little less exciting but quite passable, and occasional lack of hot water in the shower, but overall a really special place. Highly recommended!
A very cute traditional courtyard hotel.
There were a few problems - power blackout and some very
annoying and noisy film crews but overall I found the accommodation reasonably priced and good value.
We tried some other eating places in Pingyao but the food in the hotel was very good.
This seems to be quite a popular place and a large group arrived on our last day.
Staff are pleasant and helpful.
We booked the other via CITS (official travel agency of China) but you can also walk in or booked directly.
The hotel is located in the World Heritage city of Pingyao.
The hotel is in traditional courtyard rooms, very typical of old China. It gives a charm to the place unlike any other place. Imagine a place where you are brought back in time but with
21 century comfort. The hotel has a vast range of room standard which can also accomodate from budget travellers to foreign ambassadors. Visit their web site to see photos of what I mean.
The staff of the hotel are very friendly and rapidly handle any request made. Also available are:
- fast connection internet
- Booking service for trains and air to Xi'an and Beijing
- Train station pickup for free
- Western style breakfast
- Accept dollars and Euro
This hotel was memoreable
We stayed 2 nights in this splendid guest house .The staff is an extreme kindness, the quality food, the room was perfect and original. Indeed the best place of pingyao to stay.
Great quality / price .
We stayed at the Tian Yuan Kuai for two nights, flying in from Beijing to Taiyuan. After an exhausting train trip from Taiyuan (during which my 6-year old son got sick), it was a relief to arrive at the Tian Yuan, settle down in the tranquil courtyard and just relax... the hotel stands out from most of the other residences in town by appealing distinctly to the upmarket traveller; thus we didn't find any of the ill-translated signs advertising pizzas, cappucinos or other chinese takes on western delights. What we did find was spotlessly clean, spacious rooms with huge bathrooms, TV, heating and aircon, a sequence of small, cosy courtyards with chairs and tables neatly placed throughout, really friendly and helpful staff and a warm and welcoming athmosphere.
While dwellers in other Pingyao residences have complained about small and cramped bathrooms, this was not the case here. The bathroom was almost as big as the room itself, and although the shower lacked walls or curtains it was tucked well away in a corner (compared to the Yide bathrooms, which I also inspected, it made a world of difference). Toiletries, toilet paper and towels were readily available, and the restaurant even had a public toilet with washbasin, soap and paper which would have passed most western standards with flying colors. I saw some of the bathroom amenities at lower-fare hotels, which can't compare at all to the Tian Yuan.
Food was excellent; you could eat anytime from 10am to 10pm, and the local fare is exceptional (try the beef specialties!)
In short, this hotel stands out compared to most if not all of Pingyaos other accomodations, especially if you're there with kids. My son and daughter had constant surveillance and attention from the 6-8 young girls working there; they seemed to be thrilled to have kids visiting and went out of their way to try their skills at communicating in english and getting our kids' attention...
Expect to pay around 5-600 RMB for a family room; however it's worth every penny. Just being able to escape from the hustle on the streets into a secluded courtyard, enjoying a mug of tea while the kids play in total safety is invaluable...
This quaint small inn is in the center of this lovely ancient town. We enjoyed this charming courtyard style inn. The room was spacious; the furniture antique Chinese. The bed was not the most comfortable but was in keeping with the atmosphere.
The staff was very helpful, especially Mr. Zhang who spoke excellent English and helped us securing a car for various excursions. This inn is highly recommended.
We really enjoy our staying in this guest house. It was really beautiful and in classical Chinese style. Room we stayed was a bit tiny but extremely nice. The girls who worked there were eager to practice their English and an absolute delight to converse with during our Hot Pot (Pingyao style) dinner. I had left my sunglasses back at the hotel but was at the train station getting a train to Xi'an in 30 mins. No sooner had I borrowed the phone of the free taxi service to ring the hotel than the manager arrived at the station with my sunglasses...and would not take any money as a thankful gesture! I would like to let everyone know what a fantastic time we had at the hotel relaxing in the wonderful atmosphere at this well-run hotel. Highly recommended!
Really enjoy my stay in this guest house...
Really beautiful, in classical Chinese style.
The room was a bit tiny but really nice.
Nice restaurant area with free Internet access.
Best food in Pingyao, I had.
The service was really friendly, really good level in English.
They played a lot with my 5 years old daughter.
I spend 3 days there.
Tian Yuan Kui Hotel was not the original place we'd planned on staying at in Pingyao (arrived early), but are we glad we did! This hotel was clean, fairly-priced, had beautiful courtyards, had delicious food and, most importantly, had fantastic service!! The girls who worked there were eager to practice their English and an absolute delight to converse with during our Hot Pot (Pingyao style) dinner. The cherry on top was that I had left my sunglasses back at the hotel but was at the train station getting a train to Xi'an in 30 mins. No sooner had I borrowed the phone of the free taxi service to ring the hotel than the manager arrived at the station with my sunglasses...and would not take any money as a thankful gesture! I would like to let everyone know what a fantastic time we had at the hotel relaxing in the wonderful atmosphere at this well-run hotel. Did I mention the food was great?!?!
Rob
Our family of 11, ages 5-72, all give this traditional Chinese courtyard home which has been converted to a low-key inn an A+. Jonathan, the manager, is a perfect host: welcoming, gracious, helpful, knowledgeable. Rooms and baths are clean, comfortable, spacious; buffet breakfast (which is available when travellers arrive from the VERY early night trains) is enormous and includes all kinds of Chinese and Western food; beverages, meals and snacks are available at all hours. The 300-year-old building has been restored just enough to make it very attractive and comfortable without destroying the sense of history. It is located in the center of town, but is totally peaceful and quiet inside the courtyards. Other hotels and hostels we looked at while we were there were either much more simple and less interesting, or too sanitized and "restored" to give the same feeling of old China.
Pingyao has to be one of the highlights of anyone's trip to North China, and if you visit Pingyao, this is the place to stay. The fantastically helpful staff try extremely hard to make you feel at home. Rooms are pleasant if not plush. Make sure that you try eating in the hotel's atmospheric lobby restaurant: the Shanxi noodles (served honeycomb-style in a steamer) and Pingyao corned beef are well worth trying for anyone who thinks Chinese food is only Cantonese food.
This was highly recommended to us by someone who had stayed there a few days before, and it lived up to our expectations. A wonderful, charming place to stay. The staff were EXTREMELY helpful. We booked a train ticket from Pingyao to Xian, but had to buy it in Datong (since the train started there), and then pick up a faxed copy. We were told only hard sleeper berths were available. The manager came up to us unsolicited shortly before we were to leave and asked us if we wanted to switch to soft sleeper. The room was very clean, and the huge traditional brick bed was a lot of fun (though the mattress is thinner than we are used to). The restaurant was excellent - the braised fish was perhaps the best dish I had in 2 weeks in China. We were charged less than the list price for laundry.
(I was very suprised by the previous review. I honestly wonder if perhaps the writer stayed at a different place.)
This was the worst place that we stayed in during our trip to China.
In fact, I think this was probably one of the worst places I have ever stayed in - anywhere in the world, and I have stayed in some very basic places in the Middle East and Eastern Europe.
We arrived very tired after a long bus journey and the staff didn't welcome us at all, but demanded our money up front without even time to take our large backpacks off.
We paid for a "suite" but got a cold, cavernous room with no hot water. The room was extremely dirty - a filthy floor, dirty towels, no toilet paper, no actual shower or even a drain in the bathroom for the water to drain into. This meant that every time you tried to have a shower (in the cold water) the whole bathroom flooded and the bedroom area became muddy.
Understandably, due to the ancient plumbing in Pingyao you cannot flush toilet paper down the toilet, so you just place it in a bin. The bin was not emptied once in 3 days, nor was our room cleaned once. We finally got fed up after 2 days and emptied the bin ourselves!
The staff at this hotel were generally unhelpful. Every time you sat down in the front area to rest or to check your map, a menu was pushed under your nose. You felt like you couldn't just relax as a guest in the 'common area' without buying something.
The door to our room was broken so every time we tried to get in and out of the room we either had to struggle with the lock in the freezing cold for 15 minutes, or call a surly attendant to come and reluctantly assist us.
The only reason we did not leave this hotel earlier was because we had pre-booked our overnight train tickets out of Pingyao, and had paid our money up-front. (Never again!!)
I'm not sure if we happended to catch this hotel in a bad patch, but if you are considering staying here I would definately say to only take a basic room. There is no point paying 380 yuan for a dirty "suite" with no hot water when most other hotels in Pingyao were offering rooms for around 100 yuan.
We spends 3 nights in this Guest House, having breakfast, lunch and dinner..
All food is good and I'M ITALIAN..!
Looking for something bad...
well, maybe too much Lonely Planet addicted, and I'd to barging for room price, lady told me 90 RMB per night, but on check out she told me PER PERSON...
Anyway, I great place in Pingyao, centrally located on main road and very nice staff, helpfully about transports tickets (they can book train seats and flights too) and 4 Internet Pc for your planning at 5 RMB per 1/2 hour..
I've stayed here twice and consider it the top choice in Pingyao. I consider it essential to stay in an inn in the old town rather than a hotel outside the old city walls. There are a few other comparable places in the area that are nearly as good if this inn happens to be full.
The hotel is in an old courtyard house, some rooms have kangs. The staff are nice and eager to please, but this is rustic, budget accomodation. It is clean, and you get a bed, hot water, heat in winter, loads of character and not much else. The plumbing is okay but not great, the rooms are simple and not soundproof, you don't get many amenities but if you are okay with roughing it a little, you will be charmed and you will feel like you really are in China.
It is a very special place if you do not require luxury.
Friendly owners in a central, but quiet location. The rooms were a good size and comfortable. Good value meals, with a decent selection.
The hotel however only takes Chinese currency in payment. We were there for four days and had to make a 240 km round trip to the nearest bank which would change money for us. We weren't the only people who were caught out.
Owners had arranged for a taxi to meet us from the train, which was a god send after a hot, uncomfortable overnight journey from Sian. They also arranged for train tickets for our onward journey to Datong.