Погода: Pingyao, май

Regulars here sort the year by crowds as much as weather, and their advice is precise: April before the first of May, and October after the national holiday week. May itself is the holiday, which means domestic crowds around the lake and peak prices for a few days at the start. The weather reason is in our row - 168mm across 13 days, the rain season that begins in April carrying on, with only 7.7 hours of sun a day. One poster's measure of it is that a small drizzle soaks you within ten minutes. Warmth has arrived, 28.7C reading as 31C at 76 percent humidity over 17.7C nights. Air is the other cost at AQI 122. The record: a 13.8 kph wind inside 13.7 hours of daylight.

China forum threads describe April as one of the generally recommended shoulder-season months nationwide, though for northern cities like Pingyao specifically, autumn tends to get singled out as the most comfortable stretch of the year - April is milder still, with real days in the low 20s C and nights cool but well above freezing, more sweater weather than a hard chill. One thing that doesn't come up much in the forums but is worth knowing: this part of northern China can see noticeably elevated air quality readings in spring from dust and haze, so it's not always the crystal-clear blue-sky days the photos suggest.

Forum posters call autumn the most comfortable season for northern Chinese cities generally, with October and November named among the best months - one visitor's early-October trip reported great weather with only a few drizzly days and good fall color. The one scheduling wrinkle: China's National Day Golden Week (October 1-7) brings heavy domestic travel and crowds right around the same dates, so posters recommend avoiding the day or two immediately before and after that window if crowds are a concern - outside of it, October actually sees fewer visitors than the summer student/worker travel season. For Pingyao itself, posters consistently recommend staying overnight inside the walled ancient city to see its lantern-lit streets after the day-trip crowds clear out.