Xi’an, China: 2-Day Itinerary

The Terracotta Warriors were discovered in 1974 by farmers drilling for a well in Lintong County. The first farmer to strike the pit later spent decades signing replica pots in the museum gift shop for a fee. Xi’an’s relationship with its history is like that: simultaneously extraordinary and entirely practical. The city was the starting point of the Silk Road, the capital of eleven Chinese dynasties, and the home of the first unified Chinese empire. Two days is not enough, but it is enough to see the things that matter most and understand why the city rewards return visits.

Before You Arrive: Booking the Terracotta Warriors

This is the most important logistical note in this itinerary. The Emperor Qinshihuang’s Mausoleum Site Museum caps daily admissions at 65,000 visitors with no more than 13,700 inside at any time. During Chinese public holidays and summer peak season (April to October), the site sells out days or weeks in advance. Tickets cost CNY 120 per adult (around $16.50 USD) and are available on the museum’s official website (bmy.com.cn). Foreign visitors can scan a passport at the gates or exchange a booking confirmation for a paper ticket on site. Book before you book your flights if you are visiting during peak season.

Getting from the Airport

Xi’an Xianyang International Airport is about 40 kilometres from the city centre. The Airport Metro Line 14 connects the terminals to Xi’an North Railway Station in around 30 minutes at a fraction of the taxi cost. From Xi’an North, metro lines connect to the rest of the city.

If you take a taxi, use only the official metered taxi queue outside the arrivals level. Men approaching you inside the terminal claiming the official queue is closed or offering fixed-price rides are unlicensed and will charge double or triple the metered fare. Licensed drivers will only pull over when they see you gesture; they do not solicit passengers inside the building. Insist the meter stays on throughout the journey, and if you have mobile data, follow your route on a map app to confirm the driver is using the airport expressway rather than the longer ring road.

Where to Stay

The Bell Tower area at the heart of the old city is the most convenient base. The Sofitel Xi’an on Renmin Square (around $120 to $180 per night) is well-located with good service. For a mid-range option, Citadines Central Xi’an (around $60 to $90) is a serviced apartment property close to the South Gate that is practical for a short stay. For budget travellers, the Han Tang Inn in the Muslim Quarter area has private rooms from around $30 and is within walking distance of the main sights.

Day 1: Terracotta Warriors and Muslim Quarter

Morning: Terracotta Warriors

Leave the hotel by 08:00. Take Metro Line 3 to North Bus Station (Beichezhan), then bus 306 or tourist bus from Lintong Station to the museum site. The journey takes about an hour each way. Alternatively, a full-day private car including driver and guide costs around CNY 400 to CNY 600 and is worth considering for the time saving.

Arrive at the museum as early as possible. The three excavated pits are on a large site with significant walking between them. Pit 1 is the centrepiece, a vast hangar holding thousands of figures in formation. The detail on each is different: faces, hairstyles, armour fittings were individually varied, meaning you are looking at 2,200-year-old individuated portraits at industrial scale. Pit 2 has a section of open excavation where work is ongoing, which gives the site’s archaeology a living quality that the finished displays in Pit 1 do not have. Pit 3 is smaller but holds what appears to be the command structure of the army. Allow at least two to three hours minimum.

The warriors are the burial goods of Emperor Qin Shi Huang. His actual tomb mound is a 47-metre rise visible about 1.5 kilometres southwest of the pits and has not been excavated. The Chinese government has repeatedly stated that it will not open the tomb until preservation technology is adequate. The tomb complex, by ancient texts, contains mercury rivers modelling the geography of China. Soil surveys have confirmed anomalously high mercury concentrations.

Afternoon: Muslim Quarter

Return to the city and head directly to the Muslim Quarter (Huimin Jie) for lunch. This neighbourhood has been a Muslim enclave since the Tang Dynasty, when Arab and Central Asian merchants settled along the Silk Road. The lane running north from the Drum Tower is densely packed with street food stalls and small restaurants.

Food to eat here, specifically:

Roujiamo is the thing most often called a “Chinese hamburger”: slow-braised lamb or beef stuffed into a sesame-topped flatbread baked until the exterior is crisp. CNY 10 to 15. Try the lamb version rather than pork if you want the version the neighbourhood has been making longest.

Yangrou Paomo is the more substantial option: you tear a dense flatbread into small pieces yourself, hand the bowl back to the cook, and they ladle hot lamb broth over it with glass noodles and lamb. It takes 10 minutes to tear the bread correctly and locals will judge you on the size of the pieces. CNY 30 to 50.

Biangbiang noodles are wide, hand-pulled, topped with chilli oil, garlic vinegar, and your choice of protein. The character for “biangbiang” is one of the most complex in Chinese writing, not included in standard Unicode sets, and signs use handwritten characters.

Persimmon cakes (shi zi bing) from street stalls: sticky, slightly sweet, fried until the exterior crisps. CNY 5.

Evening: Bell Tower and Drum Tower

The Bell Tower and Drum Tower both illuminate beautifully at night and are walkable from the Muslim Quarter. Combined entry costs around CNY 50. Performances at the Drum Tower (drumming demonstrations) run several times daily at set hours; check times on arrival. The surrounding area is commercial but the view of the Bell Tower from ground level after dark, surrounded by the old city grid, is one of the more impressive urban tableaux in China.

Day 2: City Wall and Shaanxi History Museum

Morning: City Wall

The Xi’an City Wall is 13.74 kilometres long, 12 metres high, and built in the 14th century on Tang Dynasty foundations. It is one of the best-preserved city walls in China. Entry costs CNY 54. Bicycle rental on the wall costs CNY 45 for three hours for a single bike (deposit CNY 100 returnable), and a full circuit takes around two hours at a relaxed pace. The rental stations are open from 08:00 to 22:00 at the South Gate (Yongning Gate) and 08:15 to 18:00 at other gates.

The South Gate is the recommended starting point if you plan to ride the whole circuit. The best views are from the wall’s corners, where you can see the full length of two sections simultaneously. Go in the early morning for the least traffic (other cyclists and the occasional electric cart).

Late Morning: Shaanxi History Museum

Free entry, but timed tickets must be booked in advance (the museum website or through Alipay/WeChat). Opens at 09:00, closed Mondays. The museum holds one of the most significant collections of Tang Dynasty art in China: gold and silver vessels, polychrome ceramic figures of musicians and polo players, and a set of murals removed from Tang-period tombs that show courtly life in extraordinary detail. Allow at least two hours.

Afternoon: Giant Wild Goose Pagoda

A ten-minute walk or short taxi from the Shaanxi History Museum. The Giant Wild Goose Pagoda (Dayan Ta) was built in 652 to house sutras brought from India by the monk Xuanzang, whose westward journey is the basis for the novel Journey to the West. Entry to the grounds is free; the pagoda itself costs CNY 30 to climb. The view from the upper floors across the southern city is worth the extra fee.

The Small Wild Goose Pagoda (Xiaoyan Ta), a few kilometres away in the Jianfu Temple grounds, is less visited and more atmospheric: a slender Tang structure with no crowds and a good museum of Tang artifacts integrated into the temple grounds. Entry CNY 30.

Evening

Tang Dynasty dinner show restaurants near the South Gate offer dinner paired with performances of Tang-era music and dance. The format is commercial but the performances are competent and the food is reasonable. Budget CNY 200 to 400 per person. Book a day ahead.

Alternatively, the area around the South Gate has several restaurants serving Shaanxi cuisine beyond the Muslim Quarter staples: cold rice noodles (liangpi) in a sesame-chilli sauce, potato cakes (tudou bing), and vinegar-heavy dishes reflecting the regional preference for sour flavours.

Practical Notes

Metro: Xi’an’s metro is modern, inexpensive (CNY 2 to 5 per trip), and the key lines (1, 2, 3, 4) cover all main sights except the Terracotta Warriors. Tap with a bank card or buy a rechargeable transit card.

Cash vs mobile payment: Xi’an operates heavily on WeChat Pay and Alipay. Street food stalls and smaller restaurants often do not accept cards. Have CNY 200 to 500 in cash for the Muslim Quarter and small vendors. ATMs at major bank branches (Bank of China, ICBC) dispense CNY with foreign cards.

Scam to know: In the Muslim Quarter and around major sights, people sometimes approach foreign visitors offering to show them a “local calligraphy studio” or art exhibition. The destination is a high-pressure sales room. Walk away from anyone who initiates an unsolicited offer of guidance.

Language: Mandarin is universal; English is understood at major tourist sites and hotels, minimal elsewhere. Download the offline Pleco dictionary and use the camera translation function for menus. The Baidu Translate app handles Chinese better than Google Translate for spoken input.

Seasonal note: April to October is peak season and noticeably crowded. Xi’an in November and December is cold (near freezing) but the sites are quieter and the low winter light on the City Wall is excellent for photography.