Xi’an, China: 6-Day Itinerary

Before You Go: The Essentials

Xi’an sits at the eastern end of the ancient Silk Road and served as the capital of thirteen Chinese dynasties, including the Qin and Han. The Terracotta Warriors alone justify the journey, but six days gives you time to understand what makes the city genuinely interesting: the continuous layering of history from the Bronze Age through the Tang dynasty, the Muslim Quarter’s Hui community with its distinct food culture, and city walls that actually define the urban centre in a way that city walls in most ancient capitals no longer do.

Two practical matters before the itinerary. First: book Terracotta Warriors tickets before leaving home. The museum enforces a daily capacity limit of 65,000 visitors with 13,700 inside at any one time. Tickets are sold up to 7 days in advance on the official site (which requires a Chinese phone number) or through Trip.com with an international credit card. In peak season (April to October) and during Chinese public holidays, day tickets sell out early. There is no same-day queue option that guarantees entry.

Second: set up WeChat Pay or Alipay before or immediately upon arrival. Many local restaurants, markets, and taxi drivers do not accept international credit cards. Both apps now allow foreigners to link an international Visa or Mastercard.

Getting from the Airport

Xi’an Xianyang International Airport (XIY) is 25 kilometres northwest of the city centre. The metro Line 14 connects the airport to Bell Tower station in the centre for around RMB 7 (under USD 1), taking approximately 60-75 minutes. Taxis cost RMB 70-100 and take around 50 minutes in normal traffic. For late arrivals with luggage, a taxi or pre-booked private transfer is simpler; the metro is fine for daytime arrivals.

Where to Stay

The most practical base is inside or immediately adjacent to the Ancient City Wall. This puts you within walking distance of the Bell Tower, the Muslim Quarter, and the south and east wall gates, with taxi and metro access to everything else.

Grand Hyatt Xian (luxury, from around RMB 900/night): on the south side of the city wall, reliable international-standard rooms and service. The south wall views from higher floors are good.

Sofitel Xi’an on Renmin Square (luxury, from around RMB 800/night): central position on Renmin Square, walking distance to both Bell Tower and the History Museum.

Xian Shuyuan International Youth Hostel (budget, from around RMB 80-150/night): near the South Gate of the city wall, well-regarded for location and staff helpfulness to independent travellers. A reasonable base if you are managing budget carefully.

Day 1: Arrival and the Muslim Quarter

Arrive, check in, and let the jet lag decide how ambitious you are. At minimum, walk to the Bell Tower and Drum Tower area in the early evening when both are lit up and the pedestrian space between them is lively. The view from the top of the Bell Tower costs RMB 30 and gives a good first orientation of the city.

Then walk north into the Muslim Quarter (Huimin Jie). This is where the city’s Hui Muslim community has lived for over a thousand years and where the food is unlike anything else in China. The main street is touristy and crowded but the food is largely genuine.

What to eat here: Roujiaomo, a flatbread stuffed with heavily spiced braised lamb or pork (not the lamb version at Muslim stalls, which will be halal), is the definitive Xi’an street food and costs RMB 10-15. Biang Biang noodles, named for a character with 56 strokes that cannot be typed on any keyboard, are hand-pulled wide wheat noodles served with chilli oil, vinegar, and vegetables; you will find them at dedicated noodle shops along and off the main street. A bowl runs RMB 15-25. Yangrou Paomo, a lamb soup with bread broken into it by hand, is the dish locals consider a proper meal and the tourist version at most Muslim Quarter restaurants is adequate though not exceptional.

For a better Biang Biang experience than the main tourist strip: Xiao’s Noodle Restaurant (Xiào jiā miànguǎn), roughly 50 metres east of the Tianshuijing street and Bingjiao Alley intersection, is the kind of place that locals go.

Day 2: Ancient City Wall and Terracotta Warriors

Morning (08:00 start): Rent a bicycle on top of the Ancient City Wall. The wall is 14 kilometres in circuit, in excellent condition, and biking it takes 90 minutes to two hours. Bike rental is available at several gates; a standard rental runs RMB 45 for 90 minutes. The East Gate area offers the best morning light. This is one of the few city walls in the world where you can genuinely travel the full perimeter and it remains, for most visitors, one of the standout experiences of the trip.

Afternoon: The Terracotta Warriors Museum (Emperor Qinshihuang’s Mausoleum Site Museum) requires about 1.5 hours by metro and bus from the city centre (take Metro Line 1 east to Fangzhicheng, then Bus 307 or 306 to the museum). Allow 3-4 hours at the site itself. Three pits are open: Pit 1 is the largest and most impressive, containing over 6,000 figures in formation; Pit 2 has more cavalry and archers and is less restored; Pit 3 is the smallest and believed to have been the command post. Bring binoculars for Pit 1 if you want to see the detail of individual faces. Admission: RMB 120 per adult, which includes the shuttle bus to the nearby mausoleum park.

A point most guides miss: every one of the estimated 8,000 figures has a distinct face, and this was deliberate. Current scholarship suggests the army was not modelled on real soldiers but on a standardised set of components (heads, torsos, arms, legs) mixed and matched, then individualised. The painted surfaces, now almost entirely gone, would have made the figures even more startling when the pits were first sealed in 210 BCE.

Dinner: Return to the city and eat in the Muslim Quarter. By evening it is busier but the atmosphere is at its best.

Day 3: Shaanxi History Museum and Small Wild Goose Pagoda

The Shaanxi History Museum is one of the best in China and is free, though advance booking is required as capacity is managed. Allow 3 hours. The collection covers the full sweep of Shaanxi’s history from the Stone Age through the Tang dynasty, with exceptional bronze vessels, Han dynasty funerary objects, and Tang tri-colour ceramics. The museum is regularly updated and is considerably better curated than most provincial Chinese museums.

The Small Wild Goose Pagoda is a 10-minute walk from the museum. Built in 707 CE to house Buddhist sutras brought back from India, the pagoda sustained earthquake damage in the 15th and 16th centuries that left a visible crack, later sealed naturally by tremors in the opposite direction. The surrounding park is pleasant for a walk and less crowded than the Giant Wild Goose Pagoda further south.

Dinner: Try the Tang Palace restaurant for a Tang Dynasty show (RMB 280-500 depending on seating) with dinner. The show is theatrical and worth seeing once; the food at the banquet is good but not the reason to go. Book in advance.

Day 4: Great Mosque and Side Streets of the Muslim Quarter

The Great Mosque of Xi’an, built in 742 CE and expanded through the Ming and Qing dynasties, is one of the oldest mosques in China and architecturally unlike any mosque outside China: the prayer halls and minarets follow Chinese architecture so closely that it reads as a temple complex until you see the Arabic calligraphy. Admission is around RMB 25 for non-Muslim visitors; the prayer hall itself is only accessible to Muslims. Non-Muslim visitors can explore the courtyard gardens, the ceremonial gates, and the adjacent buildings. The best time to visit is mid-morning on a weekday.

After the mosque, spend the afternoon in the smaller alleys running parallel to the main Muslim Street. The main street has become heavily commercial and the parallel streets (Beiyuanmen, the lanes off Xiyanshi Alley) are where the daily life of the Hui community continues relatively undisturbed by tourism. Better food, lower prices, and the visible working neighbourhood behind the tourist facade.

Dinner: Yangrou Paomo at a restaurant off the main strip. This is the dish to eat slowly: you tear the bread into pieces yourself, hand it back, and the kitchen finishes the soup with your torn bread incorporated. Different restaurants have different proportions of broth to bread; order what the table next to you is having.

Day 5: Hanyangling Museum and Xincheng District

The Hanyangling Museum is the Terracotta Warriors’ less-visited counterpart, 20 kilometres north of the city (reachable by a dedicated shuttle from the museum bus stop near the Bell Tower, or by taxi). It contains the burial complex of Han Emperor Jingdi, who died in 141 BCE. The burial pits here hold much smaller figures than the Qin warriors (around 60 centimetres tall and originally with articulated wooden arms, now decayed) and include women, eunuchs, animals, and domestic servants. The underground glass floor exhibition allows visitors to look directly down into open pits with figures still in situ. Admission: RMB 65. It is significantly less crowded than the Terracotta Warriors and genuinely worth the trip.

Return to the city in the afternoon and walk the Xincheng district north of the Bell Tower, which has older commercial streetscapes less comprehensively renovated than the main tourist zones.

Dinner: Liangpi cold noodles (rice noodles dressed with chilli oil, black vinegar, sesame paste, and cucumber) at a casual local restaurant. This is sold everywhere in Xi’an and the best versions are in undistinguished-looking shops with no English menu. Point at what other people have or use a translation app.

Day 6: Departure or Day Trip

If your flight is afternoon or evening, the Forest of Stone Steles (Beilin Museum) near the South Gate holds over 3,000 inscribed stone tablets spanning 2,000 years of Chinese history and calligraphy. Admission around RMB 75. It is the kind of museum that rewards visitors who care about Chinese writing and history and bores those who do not; be honest with yourself about which applies.

For morning departures: the city wall at dawn, before the tourist cyclists arrive, is a different experience from the midday version and worth the early start.

Airport: Allow 2 hours for the metro journey to the airport (Line 14 from Bell Tower) in normal conditions. During peak hours and holiday periods, add 30-60 minutes buffer.

Practical Notes

Payment: WeChat Pay and Alipay are essential. Have some cash (RMB) as backup; ATMs in the city centre accept international cards.

Language: English is available at major hotels and tourist sites. On the street, in local restaurants, and in taxis, Mandarin is needed. Keep your hotel address written in Chinese on your phone.

Scam awareness: The “tea ceremony” invitation from a friendly local who approaches tourists near the Bell Tower is one of the oldest scams in China and is still running. Politely decline invitations from strangers to visit art exhibitions, tea shops, or restaurants they are enthusiastically recommending.

Weather: April to October is warm to hot (peak summer reaches 35-38C). Winters are cold (-5 to 5C in January). Spring and autumn are the best windows for comfortable outdoor sightseeing.