Xian
Xian was China's capital across thirteen dynasties and the end of the Silk Road, a flat grey city inside the most complete Ming walls in the country, with the Terracotta Army forty kilometres east. Two nights, the pits worked up to rather than started with, and dinner in the Muslim Quarter.
Xian in a nutshell
Xian: what to expect
The numbers below come from 113,000+ planned stops in China on Stippl, and the rest from the guides we cross-check.
Xian takes two nights, and it is the middle of the trip rather than either end. The Terracotta Army lies forty kilometres east at Lintong on a booked ticket, the Ming walls enclose 13.7 kilometres that can be cycled in a circuit, the Muslim Quarter's lanes of skewer smoke and flatbread ovens run behind the Drum Tower, the Shaanxi History Museum is free on a compulsory reservation, the Big Wild Goose Pagoda anchors the south and Mount Huashan is a long day east. Most travellers give Xian 2 nights on Stippl.
Xian is the stop between Beijing and the south-west, and the one Chinese city planned as part of a China-only trip. The city opens only 2.1% of the trips it appears on and closes 3.0%, of everyone who plans it on Stippl, while 43.0% of Xian trips stay inside China, far above the national share, because it sits on the high-speed spine from Beijing to Chengdu.
Sleep inside the walls near the Bell Tower, take the high-speed train from Beijing rather than the flight, and reach the warriors by the public bus from the railway station's east square. Work up to Pit 1 rather than starting with it. Skip the flight for the Beijing leg, since the train is five hours and lands in the centre, and skip Huashan without a full day, because the plank walk is a harnessed via ferrata and the bus back runs out of daylight.
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History travellers
Thirteen dynasties of capital and a site that ranks with the pyramids for most visitors, with the walls, the pagoda and the museum around it.
Eaters who came for China
The Muslim Quarter is a distinct regional cuisine rather than a version of what is served elsewhere: roujiamo, biangbiang noodles and cumin lamb.
Beijing-to-Chengdu travellers
Xian falls naturally on the high-speed spine between the two, and 43.0% of Xian trips on Stippl stay inside China.
Cyclists
The full 13.7-kilometre circuit of the Ming walls on a hired bike is the only complete ride of its kind in the country.
Mountain walkers
Mount Huashan, one of China's five sacred peaks at 2,154 metres, is a full day east with the plank walk that gave it its reputation.
Middle-of-the-trip stoppers
Xian opens only 2.1% of the trips it appears on, of everyone who plans it on Stippl, which is a city passed through rather than flown into.
Maybe not for you: anyone who came for scenery, since the mountains are day trips and the city is flat, grey and large; and anyone who expects the warriors in the city, because they are forty kilometres east and a morning's outing.
The best time to visit Xian
Spring
March to May
The best window with autumn: mild, dry and clear enough for the wall ride and the mountain, with Labour Day week in early May the crowd to dodge at the pits.
Summer
June to August
Hot, hazy and full of domestic visitors at the warriors, with the Muslim Quarter after dark and the museum's air conditioning the day's shape.
Autumn
September and October
The clearest air of the year and the best Huashan weather, with Golden Week in the first week of October filling the pits and every train.
Winter
November to February
Cold, grey and cheap, with the Muslim Quarter's soups at their best and the mountain's cable cars running to icy paths.
- Most travellers give Xian 2 nights on Stippl. Two covers the warriors, the wall and the Quarter; the third is Huashan, and only with a full day.
- Only 8.2% of Xian plans on Stippl are made inside a fortnight, and 30.6% half a year out. The high-speed tickets release thirty days ahead and the Terracotta Army slots go on sale at ten each morning for the days ahead.
- Golden Week in the first week of October fills the pits and the trains. The rest of October is the best month, so the trip shifts a week.
- Chinese New Year brings the lantern festival to the walls. The South Gate is lit for a fortnight in late January or February, and the Quarter is at its busiest with families home for the holiday.
- The Shaanxi History Museum is free and cannot be walked into. A reservation with the passport is compulsory, and the daily quota goes days ahead in season.
- Huashan is a full day and a long one. The shuttle bus, the cable car and the plank walk each take time, and the bus back can run out of daylight, so it starts on the first train.
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Things to do in Xian
The Terracotta Army
Three pits and an exhibition hall forty kilometres east at Lintong, worked up to Pit 1 rather than started with it, on a ticket booked ahead and the public bus from the station's east square.
Cycling the Ming walls
The full 13.7-kilometre circuit on a hired bike from the South Gate, the only complete ride of its kind in China, in about two hours with the city on both sides.
The Muslim Quarter after dark
Eating down Huimin Street and its side lanes, roujiamo, cumin lamb skewers and persimmon cakes from the stalls, rated by many above the warriors.
Mount Huashan
One of China's five sacred peaks at 2,154 metres, a full day east by train, with the harnessed plank walk on an exposed cliff that gave the mountain its reputation.
The Shaanxi History Museum
Free and among the best provincial collections in the country, on a compulsory reservation, with the Tang tricolour figures the reason to book.
The Big Wild Goose Pagoda
A 64-metre brick tower raised in 652 to hold the sutras carried back from India, in the purpose-built cultural district with the fountain show after dark.
The neighbourhoods of Xian
Bell Tower and Drum Tower
The centre of the walled city
The geographic heart of the old city where metro lines 2 and 6 cross, with the towers lit at night and everything inside the walls walkable from here. For a first stay.
Everything inside the walls on foot, on the busiest and loudest square in the city.
Muslim Quarter
An evening, every evening
A dense lane grid of skewer smoke and flatbread ovens behind the Drum Tower, Hui Muslim since the Tang, with the Great Mosque hidden behind it. For the food.
The best street-food walk in the city and the mosque, with few rooms and a crowd until late.
City Walls and Shuyuanmen
The rampart and the scroll shops
The wall itself, cycled from the South Gate, and a calligraphy street of scroll and brush shops under the gate. For a half day.
The bike circuit and the browsing, and a room that hears the traffic on the ring road.
Qujiang
The cultural district
The purpose-built district in the south with the Shaanxi History Museum, the Big Wild Goose Pagoda and the fountain shows after dark. For museums and evenings.
The museum and the pagoda at the door, in a new district a metro ride from the walls.
Lintong
The Terracotta gateway
The township forty kilometres east that grew around the museum, with the Huaqing hot springs on the way back. For an early start at the pits.
Being at the pits at opening, and nothing else to do after them.
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Where to stay in Xian
Sleep inside the walls near the Bell Tower, the recommendation for atmosphere and for the metro, with Qujiang in the south as the modern alternative near the museum. Most travellers give Xian 2 nights on Stippl, the hotels register the passport at check-in, and the Muslim Quarter's noise runs past midnight for the rooms nearest it.
Bell Tower and Drum Tower
€35–130
Hotels and hostels inside the walls, €25 to €120 a night.
Muslim Quarter
A few guesthouses in the lanes, €25 to €80 a night, with the stalls under the window.
City Walls and Shuyuanmen
€30–110
Hotels along the inside of the wall near the South Gate, €35 to €130 a night.
Qujiang
Modern hotels near the pagoda and the museum, €40 to €150 a night.
Lintong
Plain hotels near the pits for the dawn start, €30 to €80 a night.
What to eat in Xian
Shredded braised meat in a flat baked bun, and older than the sandwich
Hand-pulled belt-wide noodles under chilli oil
Mutton soup poured over bread you tear up yourself at the table
Cold wheat-starch noodles in vinegar and chilli
Cumin lamb skewers over charcoal
Fried sweet cakes at corner stalls
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Xian customs and what not to do
No pork in the Quarter
It is a Hui Muslim neighbourhood and has been for over 1,300 years, so beef and mutton are the defaults and the alcohol is not on the stalls.
The mosque is a temple in form
The Great Mosque is laid out with courtyards and a pagoda-form minaret rather than domes, it is a working mosque, and dress and quiet apply inside.
Morning parks are public life
Tai chi, group dance and sword practice fill the parks by the walls from dawn, and it is the free thing worth setting an alarm for.
Passport for everything
The trains, the hotel and the warriors' ticket are all bound to it, and the museum will not let you in without the reservation on it.
Payment is the apps
Alipay or WeChat Pay with a foreign card linked before the flight, at the stalls as much as at the ticket gates.
Tipping is not done
Neither expected nor encouraged, and the Quarter's stall-holders will hand it back.
Do
- Work up to Pit 1 rather than starting with it
- Reserve the Shaanxi History Museum days ahead with the passport
- Cycle the full wall circuit from the South Gate in the morning
- Take the public bus to the warriors from the railway station's east square
- Come in by high-speed train from Beijing rather than the flight
Don't
- Follow the unlicensed guide touts at the pits or the station
- Order pork in the Muslim Quarter
- Attempt the Huashan plank walk unless heights are no problem
- Plan Huashan as a half day; the bus back runs out of daylight
- Expect the warriors in the city; they are forty kilometres east
What a Xian trip costs
Budget
€20–35
A hostel bed inside the walls, Muslim Quarter street food, the metro, the wall and one museum.
Mid-range
€40–85
A private room near the Bell Tower, the Terracotta Army with a guide, a sit-down Shaanxi dinner.
High-end
€150+
A wall-view hotel, a private driver to Lintong and Huashan, the Tang show at Qujiang.
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Fun facts about Xian
The Terracotta Army was found in 1974 by farmers digging a well. Roughly 8,000 life-sized figures, each individually modelled, buried with Qin Shi Huang in 210 BCE and still being excavated.
The walls of Xian were built in 1370 and enclose 13.7 kilometres. The most complete ancient city circuit in China, wide enough on top for bicycles and a marathon.
The Muslim Quarter of Xian dates to Tang-dynasty Silk Road traders. It has been continuously inhabited by Hui Muslims for over 1,300 years, behind the Drum Tower.
Xian was Chang'an, the eastern end of the Silk Road. It held the capital across thirteen dynasties, and at its Tang peak was the largest city in the world.
The biangbiang noodle character of Xian has over fifty strokes. It is among the most complex in written Chinese and does not appear in most fonts, so the shops paint it by hand.
Mount Huashan near Xian is 2,154 metres and called the most precipitous mountain under heaven. Its plank walk is a harnessed path bolted to a vertical cliff.
Local tips for Xian
Train, not plane, from Beijing
The high-speed line takes about five hours and lands at Xian North on the metro, against an airport an hour out and a flight that saves nothing.
Bus 306 from the east square
The public bus to the warriors leaves from the East Square of the main railway station, about an hour and a half, and the exit is easy to miss.
The touts work the sites
Unlicensed guides at the pits and the station are named in the national advisory; book a guide through the hotel or go with the audio guide.
The plank walk is a via ferrata
Harnessed but genuinely exposed on a vertical cliff, and not a walk you talk someone into.
Huashan is a long day
The shuttle, the cable car, the peaks and the bus back, and people run out of daylight with the bus still ahead; the first train out is the plan.
Two nights is the shape
Most travellers give Xian 2 nights on Stippl and the city sits on 23.93% of Chinese trips, so the warriors get the first morning and the wall the second.
Xian questions, answered
No. It is forty kilometres east in Lintong, about an hour and a half on the public bus from the railway station's east square or an hour by car, on a ticket booked ahead. Work up to Pit 1 rather than starting with it, and give the site three hours; most travellers give Xian 2 nights on Stippl for exactly that morning.
Two covers the warriors, the wall and the Muslim Quarter; three if Huashan is on the list, because the mountain is a full day. 43.0% of Xian trips planned on Stippl stay inside China, so the city is usually one leg of the Beijing to Chengdu spine rather than a trip of its own.
In the middle: it opens only 2.1% of the trips it appears on and closes 3.0%, of everyone who plans it on Stippl, between Beijing to the north and Chengdu or Guilin to the south. Put it into Stippl as two nights on the high-speed line, then ask people who have done the circuit, in subreddits like r/chinatravel, whether Huashan earns the third.
Yes, the full fourteen kilometres on a hired bike from the South Gate, in about two hours with the old city on one side and the new one on the other. It is the only complete circuit of its kind in China, the bikes are hired on the rampart, and the morning is the time, before the heat and the crowds.
The Shaanxi History Museum, always, because it is free and cannot be walked into; the Terracotta Army in practice, since the slots go on sale each morning for the days ahead; and the trains, released thirty days out and bound to the passport. Only 8.2% of Xian plans on Stippl are made inside a fortnight.
Yes, but a long one: the high-speed train east, the shuttle bus, the cable car and the walk between the peaks, with the plank walk a harnessed via ferrata on an exposed cliff. People run out of daylight with the bus back still ahead, so it starts on the first train and is the third night's reason.
Every guide is written by the Stippl editors and checked against the trips our travellers actually plan. Spotted something out of date? Let us know.
Plan Xian in Stippl
Day-by-day planning, stays and budget in one app, with every place from this guide already on the map.
Download the app