Xi'an 6 Day Itinerary (No Tourist Traps)
Six days is our 5-day plan plus the Terracotta Army’s genuinely underrated counterpart: the Hanyangling Museum, the tomb of Han Emperor Jingdi, where you’ll get most of the “army of buried figures” awe of Day 1 at a fraction of the crowd and the entry fee. It’s the day worth adding before you reach for a second Muslim Quarter dinner as filler.
Book these before you go:
- A Bell Tower-area hotel : inside the walls, base for everything but the day trips
- Terracotta Army tickets or a guided visit : no walk-up window, book before you fly
- A Mount Huashan day tour : handles the HSR and cable-car logistics
- A Huaqing Palace and Terracotta Army combo tour : both sit near Lintong
| Day | Focus | Travel time |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Terracotta Army (Lintong), then City Wall bike loop | ~1h each way by Bus 306 |
| 2 | Muslim Quarter, Great Mosque, Bell and Drum Tower | in-city, walkable |
| 3 | Shaanxi History Museum, Big Wild Goose Pagoda | in-city, walkable |
| 4 | Mount Huashan day trip | ~30min each way by high-speed rail |
| 5 | Huaqing Palace, Small Wild Goose Pagoda | ~30min each way by taxi |
| 6 | Hanyangling Museum | ~30-40min each way by taxi or shuttle |
Day 1: Terracotta Army and the City Wall
Book through bmy.com.cn (7 days out) or Trip.com (30 days out), there’s no walk-up ticket window. Entry is CNY 120 off-peak, CNY 150 peak, reached by Bus 306 from Xi’an Railway Station’s East Square (CNY 7 cash only, ~1h). Three pits, 2-3 hours, the army found by farmers digging a well in 1974, the emperor’s tomb mound UNESCO-listed since 1987 and still unexcavated. Afternoon: ride the City Wall (CNY 54 entry, ~CNY 45 for a 3-hour bike), the 13.7km loop in 90 minutes to 2 hours.
Day 2: Muslim Quarter and the Great Mosque
Roujiamo (CNY 8-15), biangbiang noodles (CNY 15-25), yangrou paomo (CNY 25-40), liangpi (CNY 8-15) on Huimin Jie, with the Dapiyuan alley as the quieter alternative. The Great Mosque (founded 742 CE, entry ~CNY 25) is Chinese courtyard architecture with Arabic calligraphy the only tell. Close at Bell Tower and Drum Tower after dark (combo ~CNY 50), skipping the nearby dinner-show restaurants.
Day 3: Shaanxi History Museum and the Big Wild Goose Pagoda
Book the museum’s timed ticket via ticket.sxhm.com the moment your dates are set, free entry but roughly 6,000 slots a day and no English portal. Tang-dynasty gold, silver and Han funerary pieces earn the 2-3 hours. Afternoon: the Big Wild Goose Pagoda (built 652 CE, climb ~CNY 25-30) and the free evening fountain show.
Day 4: Mount Huashan
High-speed rail to Huashan North runs about 30 minutes, but the mountain and its queues take the rest of the day, 10-12 hours door to door. West Peak cable car up, North Peak down (~CNY 140 and ~CNY 80 one-way) covers the main peaks in 5-6 hours. The harnessed Plank Walk in the Sky (ages 15-55, ~CNY 30 harness rental) sees real queues by midday.
Day 5: Huaqing Palace and the Small Wild Goose Pagoda
Huaqing Palace, about 30km east near Lintong, entry ~CNY 120, covers the reconstructed Tang hot-spring palace and the actual site of the 1936 Xi’an Incident, where Chiang Kai-shek was detained, a genuinely significant 20th-century event, not just a garden with a name. Back in the city, the Small Wild Goose Pagoda (built 707 CE, climb ~CNY 30) is the quiet counterpart to the Big Wild Goose Pagoda (built 652 CE).
Day 6: Hanyangling Museum
What most six-day itineraries skip that’s actually worth it: the Hanyangling Museum, roughly 20km north of the city, the burial complex of Han Emperor Jingdi (died 141 BCE). The figures here are smaller than the Qin warriors, around 60cm, originally fitted with articulated wooden arms now decayed, but there are tens of thousands of them across the site’s pits, including servants, animals, and officials, not just soldiers. Entry runs roughly CNY 65, and a glass floor lets you look straight down into open pits with figures still in situ, no barrier, no crowd competing for the view.
Is the Hanyangling Museum worth it if you’ve already seen the Terracotta Army? Yes, more than most Day 1 add-ons. It’s the same “buried imperial army” concept from a different dynasty, at a fraction of the Terracotta Army’s crowd density and none of the advance-booking hassle, walk-up entry is fine here.
Spend the rest of the afternoon in the Xincheng district north of the Bell Tower, older commercial streets that haven’t been renovated into a tourist set piece, then close with dinner back in the Muslim Quarter or off the main strip if you’ve had your fill of roujiamo by now.
Before you go
Alipay or WeChat Pay linked to a foreign card covers nearly everything; keep cash for Huaqing and Hanyangling’s smaller vendors. Americans note the 30-day visa-free entry excludes the US, work with the 240-hour transit exemption (onward ticket to a third country) or a standard visa. For a seventh day, our 7-day itinerary covers Famen Temple honestly, including when it’s not worth the trip.