4 Days Shanxi Flour Products Gourmet Tour

Day 1

Arrival / Taiyuan

Transfer via: Flight/train on your own arrangement Arrive in Taiyuan, you will be met by your local guide and then be transferred to your hotel. Free at leisure the rest of the day.

Day 2

Taiyuan / Pingyao (B, L.D)

Transfer via: Private car on our arrangement
Sightseeing: Jinci Temple, Gouda Cheese Farm

This morning, your guide will pick you up from your hotel and then have a visit to Jinci Temple, a combination of historical cultural relics and beautiful landscapes. The welcoming boughs of a multitude of ancient trees provide an eye-catching entrance to the temple. Beyond this, the numerous halls, cabinets, pavilions and bridges are guaranteed to keep any visitor enthralled. Jinci Temple is world-famous because it is an ancient ancestral temple, something which is rare in China.

Then we will have a Gouda Cheese Farm Visit. Learn how to make your own Gouda cheese. Marc de Ruiter, China's only artisanal cheese-maker, will lead us through his cheese farm which produces traditional Gouda cheese. Learn about how Marc is committing to create a sustainable, all-natural and artisanal food and agriculture business in the heartland of Shanxi province.

Lunch at Taiyuan's Favorite Noodle House. China's heartland of noodles, dine in the provincial capital's favorite noodle house for a taste of over 15 varieties of noodles.

After lunch we will drive from Taiyuan to Pingyao by coach (1.5 hours). Hotel check-in and afternoon at leisure.

Gourmet Country Dinner. This afternoon you will have a wonderful country gourmet dinner in the beautifully restored Jing's Residence dining hall.

Day 3

Pingyao (B, L, D)

Sightseeing: Pingyao Ancient Town, Wang Courtyard Residence

This morning, we will first have a Walking Tour of Pingyao. History comes alive as we explore the timeless allure of ancient courtyards and a complex of old private houses that have been converted into museums. You'll drink tea in a tea house, explore Pingyao's older quarter, and, together, discover a fabled ancient city.

Lunch at Yun Jin Cheng. Yun Jin Cheng is an old hotel with a history of nearly 300 years, and is also the first tourist foreign-involved folk custom hotel in Pingyao. Gathering local eating and drinking culture and folk-custom feelings and collecting eating, lodging, sighting, recreation, leisure enjoyment, conference and performing arts as an integral. This hotel is a deep residence and old court, where several courtyards are well arranged, have a unique style, and are very rich in the feature of Ming and Qing.
Feature: be rich in all kinds of flour products

After lunch, we drive to Jingsheng Village in Lingshi County to walk back in time to a land that carries heritage of wealthy bankers from the Ming and Qing dynasties. Wang Courtyard Residence, the former living quarters of a prosperous local family and truly a miniature version of the Forbidden City, still enthralls until today.

Dinner at Chang Sheng Yuan. Chang Sheng Yuan, the time-honored restaurant rooted in Ming and Qing Dynasty is noted for its rice wine. At that time, its customers were from Rishengchang, bureaucracy, caballero, and so on.

With the development of more than 300 years, the taste is more and more fragrant. The Rice Wine is named "liquid cake", because it is helpful to strengthen the stomach, relieve rigidity of muscles and promote blood circulation.

Day 4

Pingyao / Departure (B, L)

Sightseeing: Traditional Vinegar Workshop

After breakfast, we will have a visit to Traditional Vinegar Workshop. Visit the workshop that produces one of China's most loved condiments, aged Shanxi vinegar. The Dong Hu workshop continues the age-old tradition of making artisanal vinegar, dare we say equally as good as Modena Tradizionale Balsamic Vinegar. Tastings include aged 3, 5 and 8-year old vinegars as well as garlic, chili, and honey-flavored vinegars.

Lunch at Pingyao Renjia. Pingyao Renjia is worth of recommending for its genuine flour products. The master chef is the local, so the noodle, cake...are various and particular.

After that, we will be transferred to railway station to take train to next destination.