Xi'an

Overview

Xi’an’s selling point is buried in a field 35 km east of the city: an army of around 8,000 life-size terracotta soldiers, horses and chariots, made to guard the tomb of China’s first emperor in the third century BC and rediscovered in 1974 by farmers digging a well. Almost everyone who comes here comes for the warriors, and almost everyone leaves talking about the city itself.

What you find when you arrive is a 14 km rectangle of intact Ming dynasty city walls, 12 metres high, surrounding a low-rise core that still feels like a walled town in a way Beijing no longer does. Inside the walls are the Bell Tower at the dead centre, the Drum Tower a few hundred metres west of it, and the Muslim Quarter, a tangle of lanes north of the Drum Tower where the city’s Hui community has lived since at least the Ming dynasty, selling skewered lamb, persimmon cakes and roujiamo flatbreads that locals call the Chinese hamburger.

This was the eastern terminus of the Silk Road, the capital of more dynasties than any other Chinese city, and the largest city in the world for stretches of the Tang dynasty when it was called Chang’an. What you see today is almost entirely Ming and later. Tang Chang’an, which once enclosed an area seven times the size of the modern walled city, is buried under Xi’an’s southern suburbs and accessible mostly through the artefacts in the Shaanxi History Museum and the lone Big Goose Pagoda outside the south wall. Two days do the city, three with the Terracotta Army.

Neighbourhoods

Xi’an’s geography is unusually clean. The Ming-era walls form a rectangle around the historic core, and almost everything a first-time visitor wants to see is either inside the rectangle or in the southern suburbs.

Inside the walls (the old city)

The walled rectangle, around 12 sq km, contains the Bell Tower, Drum Tower, Great Mosque, Muslim Quarter, Forest of Stelae and most of the better hotels and hostels. The lanes are mostly low-rise and walkable, with the central axis (Bei Dajie north to Nan Dajie south, crossed by Dong Dajie east and Xi Dajie west) running through the Bell Tower roundabout. Stay here if you can.

Muslim Quarter (Beiyuanmen)

A specific area within the walled city, occupying maybe four blocks north of the Drum Tower, the Muslim Quarter is the home of Xi’an’s Hui community and the city’s most concentrated street-food district. The main strip, Beiyuanmen, is heavily touristed and packed with the same persimmon cakes and lamb skewers stall after stall; turn off into Damaishi Jie or the alleys around the Great Mosque for the local versions. Atmospheric in the evening; pickpockets work the crowd.

Around the South Gate (Yongningmen)

The South Gate is the most ceremonial of the four, with light shows in the evenings, and the streets immediately inside it (Shuyuan Men, Shuncheng Nan Lu) have most of the city’s hostels in a strip of converted courtyard buildings, plus the tail end of Xi’an’s small art-and-antiques scene. Easy walking distance to the Forest of Stelae and to Bell Tower.

Big Goose Pagoda district (south of the walls)

A built-up modern area centred on the Big Goose Pagoda and the Tang Paradise theme park nearby. Has the Shaanxi History Museum, modern shopping malls, and a strip of newer hotels at the lower end of the four-star range. Less atmospheric than the walled city but a quieter base if you don’t mind the metro commute. Reachable on metro line 3 (Dayanta station).

Northern suburbs (railway)

The main train station, the Xianyang airport bus terminal at the Melody Hotel, and a string of older hotels sit just north of the walled city, around the North Gate (Anyuanmen). A pragmatic base if you have an early train but otherwise functional rather than charming.

See & do

Most of Xi’an’s headline sights cluster either inside the city walls (Bell Tower, Drum Tower, Great Mosque, Muslim Quarter) or in the southern suburbs (Big Goose Pagoda, Shaanxi History Museum). The Terracotta Army is a half-day trip east of the city.

Army of Terracotta Warriors

The Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor and its army of around 8,000 life-size painted clay soldiers, horses and chariots is 35 km east of central Xi’an, near the town of Lintong. The site is split into three pits: Pit 1, the largest, contains the main infantry formation in long parallel trenches; Pit 2 has cavalry and archer units, partly excavated; Pit 3 is the small command headquarters. The bronze chariots displayed in the museum hall are exceptional. The actual tomb mound of Qin Shi Huang, a kilometre west of the warrior pits, has never been excavated. Allow three to four hours on site, plus two hours of travel each way. Tickets ¥120 in winter, ¥150 in summer.

Xi’an City Walls

The 14 km Ming-era walls, built in 1370 on the foundations of the Tang imperial city, form a rectangle around the historic centre with a gate at each compass point and additional gates added over the centuries. The walls are 12 metres high, 12 to 14 metres wide on top, and you can walk or cycle the full circuit; bicycle hire from the South Gate runs around ¥45 for 100 minutes, and a leisurely full lap takes two to three hours by bike. Access via ramps at the major gates. Tickets ¥54.

Bell Tower and Drum Tower

The Bell Tower (Zhong Lou), now stranded on a roundabout at the dead centre of the walled city, dates in its current form from 1582 and held the bell rung at dawn. The Drum Tower (Gu Lou), 200 metres to the northwest at the entrance to the Muslim Quarter, marked nightfall and was renovated in 1740. Climb both for the views over the rooftops; combined ticket ¥50. Short musical performances on traditional instruments are included with the ticket several times a day.

Muslim Quarter and Great Mosque

North of the Drum Tower, a grid of lanes, Beiyuanmen, Xiyangshi, Damaishi Jie, has been the home of Xi’an’s Hui Chinese Muslim community since the Ming dynasty. The streets are pedestrianised after dark and packed with food stalls, persimmon-cake bakeries, sesame-oil presses, butcher shops and souvenir shops. Down a small alley off Xiyangshi sits the Great Mosque (Qingzhen Dasi), one of the largest in China, built in 742 and rebuilt during the Ming dynasty. The architecture is Chinese, with a pagoda standing in for the minaret and a spirit wall at the entrance, but the mosque faces west to Mecca. Prayer hall closed to non-Muslims; the gardens are the main draw. Tickets ¥25.

Shaanxi History Museum

A vast free museum in the southern suburbs, holding the most coherent overview anywhere of the dynasties that ruled from this place: Zhou bronzes, Qin terracotta originals, Han pottery and the genuinely astonishing Tang murals from the unearthed royal tombs. Free entry but tickets are issued in limited daily batches; either book online a day or two ahead through the museum’s WeChat mini-program, or arrive by 8.30am for the morning batch. Bring your passport.

Big Goose Pagoda and Tang remains

The Big Goose Pagoda (Da Yan Ta), 4 km south of the South Gate, is a 64-metre Tang pagoda built in AD 652 to house the Buddhist sutras the monk Xuanzang brought back from his 17-year journey to India. One of the only surviving Tang structures in the city. Around it is the Daci’en Temple complex and a modern square with a fountain show in the evenings. The smaller Little Goose Pagoda, in the grounds of the Xi’an Museum about 1.5 km west, dates from 707 and is the quieter visit.

Food & drink

Xi’an food is the cooking of the dry north and the Silk Road overlap, with wheat in every form (noodles, breads, stuffed flatbreads), a heavy hand of cumin and chilli, and lamb where Beijing would use pork. The Muslim Quarter is the eating hub, but the dishes themselves you can find across the city.

Roujiamo (the Chinese hamburger)

A round flatbread (mo) split open and stuffed with shredded slow-cooked meat, usually pork in a Han Chinese version, or beef and lamb in the Hui Muslim version of the Muslim Quarter. The mo is baked in a small clay oven pressed against the wall behind the counter, the meat is simmered for hours in a pot of dark spiced broth that the seller will tell you is decades old and gets refreshed daily. A vegetarian version, caijiamo, swaps in stir-fried vegetables. ¥10 to ¥15 a piece.

Biangbiang noodles

The signature Shaanxi noodle. Thick belt-wide hand-pulled wheat noodles, tossed with chilli oil, soy, vinegar, garlic and a scatter of greens, often topped with a flash-fried mix of cumin and crushed dried chilli poured over hot from a ladle. The dish is named onomatopoeically for the sound of the dough being slapped against the counter, and the character used to write its name has 58 strokes, one of the most complex Chinese characters in everyday use. ¥18 to ¥25 a bowl.

Yangrou paomo

The dish to order in the Muslim Quarter. You’re handed a hard flatbread (mo) and a bowl, you tear the bread into chickpea-sized pieces yourself (this is half the experience and takes 10 to 15 minutes), then the kitchen takes the bowl and floods it with a thick lamb broth, glass noodles, sliced lamb and garlic, served with pickled garlic cloves and chilli paste on the side. Filling, salty, distinctive. The famous old chain Lao Sun Jia, a century-plus institution, is the textbook version; smaller Hui-run places in the Muslim Quarter are equally good and cheaper.

Other dishes worth ordering

Liangpi: cold wheat noodles tossed with vinegar, sesame paste and chilli oil, served year round but at their best in summer. Yang rou chuan: cumin-and-chilli lamb skewers grilled over charcoal at almost every Hui Muslim stall. Hulutou paomo: the offal version of paomo, with pig intestines instead of lamb. Persimmon cakes (shibing): pancake-style sweet buns made from autumn persimmons, fried and dusted with sesame, the Muslim Quarter’s main dessert.

Where to eat

The Muslim Quarter is the place for Hui Muslim food: lamb, beef, no pork, no alcohol on the table. The lanes east of Nan Dajie, particularly Dongmutou Shi, have the more typically Han Chinese restaurants serving Sichuan and Shaanxi crossover dishes. The southern suburbs around the Big Goose Pagoda lean modern: malls, chain restaurants, foreign cuisine. Most hostels do passable Western breakfasts and a Chinese dinner menu.

Nightlife

Xi’an has nothing close to the bar density of Beijing, Shanghai or Chengdu, but it has enough to fill a couple of evenings between the city walls and the southern suburbs. The Muslim Quarter is for street food after dark; bars cluster south of the South Gate and around the Big Goose Pagoda district.

South Gate area

The strip around Shuncheng Nan Lu and Defu Xiang inside the South Gate is the closest thing the old city has to a bar district. A handful of long-running expat-friendly pubs sit along the lanes near the hostels, with the standard mix of imported beers, pool tables and a sports-on-the-screen vibe. The hostels themselves run lively basement bars open to non-guests, often the social hub for the few foreign travellers in town. Drinks ¥30 to ¥60.

Defu Xiang and the South Gate light show

The South Gate (Yongningmen) puts on a nightly light projection on the wall and the moat from around 8pm, free to watch from outside. Combine with a walk along the lit-up wall for a low-cost evening.

Big Goose Pagoda square

The square in front of the pagoda runs a fountain show set to music several times an evening, peaking at 8.30pm or 9pm depending on the season. It is touristy and very Chinese-tourist-oriented; it’s also genuinely impressive at scale and free. The mall complexes around it have the city’s chain bars and a couple of cocktail places.

Muslim Quarter at night

Not a bar zone but the busiest food street in the city after dark. The grills fire up around 6pm, the persimmon-cake bakers work into the small hours, and the Beiyuanmen strip stays packed until midnight. No alcohol in most stalls (the area is observantly Muslim) but the street snacks more than fill the role.

Live music and clubs

A handful of small venues in the south of the city, around the Sichuan-style restaurants and the universities, host occasional rock and indie shows. Clubs cluster in the entertainment districts of the southern suburbs near the Big Goose Pagoda and in newer developments along the airport corridor. None of this is what you came to Xi’an for.

When to go

Xi’an has a temperate continental climate with hot summers, cold winters, and shoulder seasons that are short but reliably good. Pick spring or autumn.

April and May (peak)

The best window. Daytime highs run 18 to 26°C, the trees inside the walls leaf out, and the dust storms that occasionally roll in from the Gobi in March have usually subsided. May Day (1-5 May) brings a domestic-tourism crush at the Terracotta Warriors and the city wall; either book that holiday far ahead or work around it. Late April is the sweet spot. Hua Shan, the sacred Taoist peak two hours east, is also at its best in spring before the summer crowds.

September and October (peak)

The other reliable window. Skies clear after the summer humidity, temperatures sit between 15 and 25°C, and the Muslim Quarter persimmon-cake stalls switch to fresh fruit. Mid-Autumn Festival (the moon festival, late September or early October) and the National Day Golden Week (1-7 October) overlap with this period; expect significant price spikes and packed sights. The window between Mid-Autumn and Golden Week, or the second half of October, is best.

June through August (shoulder, hot)

Hot, often muggy, with afternoon thunderstorms in June and July. Daytime highs 28 to 35°C, with occasional 38 to 40°C days. The Terracotta Warriors site has limited shade and gets uncomfortable; visit early morning. Hotel rates middling. Domestic summer holiday crowds keep the city busy.

November through March (off, cold)

Dry and cold. January and February average highs sit around 5°C with overnight lows below freezing, and pollution is at its worst in winter from coal heating in the surrounding countryside. The upside is empty sights, half-price hotels, and the Terracotta Warriors site without the school groups. Spring Festival (Chinese New Year, late January or February) closes many small Muslim Quarter restaurants for a week and pushes prices and crowds at the Bell Tower up sharply for a few days. The pottery soldiers don’t mind the cold, but you will; pack proper layers.

Getting there

Xi’an is one of the better-connected cities in inland China, with a major international airport, two main rail stations and high-speed lines to Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu and Chongqing.

By air

Xi’an Xianyang International Airport (XIY) is 40 km northwest of the city centre and serves as a hub for Hainan Airlines and a focus city for several other Chinese carriers. Domestic links cover essentially every major Chinese city; international destinations include direct flights to Tokyo, Seoul, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, London, Paris and Helsinki, though the international roster has rebuilt unevenly since 2020. The new Terminal 5 opened in 2025 and consolidates most international traffic.

From the airport, the dedicated airport metro line connects to Beikezhan (North Railway Station) on metro line 2 in around 30 minutes, fares around ¥16. Airport shuttle buses to several points in the city, including the Melody Hotel near the North Gate, run every 20 to 30 minutes for ¥26 and take an hour. A taxi to the walled city costs roughly ¥120 to ¥150 metered.

By rail

Xi’an has two long-distance stations. Xi’an North (Xi’an Beizhan), well outside the walled city to the north, handles all G-class and D-class high-speed services, including the Xuzheng-Xi’an line west to Lanzhou and the Zhengxi line east to Zhengzhou and onward to Beijing. Xi’an Station (Xi’an Zhan), just outside the North Gate of the walled city, handles older sleeper services and the slower regional trains, plus the popular bus 5 to the Terracotta Warriors leaves from its east plaza.

Sample high-speed times: Beijing 4.5 to 5.5 hours, Shanghai 6 to 7 hours, Chengdu 3 to 4 hours, Luoyang 1.5 hours, Lanzhou 3 hours, Zhengzhou 2 hours.

By road

Long-distance buses arrive at the bus station opposite Xi’an Train Station (north of the walled city) and at smaller terminals near each ring road. Useful mostly for Hua Shan day trips (¥40 each way, 2 hours, frequent from in front of Xi’an Station) and rural Shaanxi destinations not on a rail line. Driving in is straightforward via the G30 and G65 expressways but rarely worth it; parking inside the walled city is difficult and the metro covers everything you’d want.

Getting around

Inside the walled city, Xi’an is small enough to walk almost everywhere; the wall encloses a rectangle around 4 km east-west and 3 km north-south. Outside it, the metro covers the southern suburbs and the airport.

Metro

Xi’an opened its first metro line in 2011 and now has nine lines covering most of what travellers need. Useful lines: line 2 runs north-south through the Bell Tower (Zhonglou station, at the dead centre of the walled city) and links Xi’an North Railway Station to the southern suburbs; line 3 connects east-west and stops at the Big Goose Pagoda; line 9 reaches further out to museums in the suburbs. Fares ¥2 to ¥7 distance-based. Pay with the Xi’an metro app or scan with Alipay/WeChat. Bag screening at every entrance.

Taxi and DiDi

Metered taxis are common; flag fall ¥9 for the first 3 km, then ¥2 per km. Drivers rarely speak English. DiDi, the Chinese ride-hail app, works in Xi’an, accepts foreign cards and lets you input destinations in English. Use it to avoid the friendly negotiation at airport and rail stations.

Bicycle

The 14 km circuit on top of the city walls is the iconic ride: bike rental from the South Gate runs around ¥45 for 100 minutes (¥200 deposit), and a leisurely full lap takes two to three hours. At street level, Hello and Meituan bike share bikes are scattered around; unlock via WeChat or Alipay for around ¥1.50 per 30 minutes. Xi’an is flat and the streets inside the walls have light enough traffic to make this practical.

Walking

The most useful tactic for most of the walled city. Bell Tower to Drum Tower is 5 minutes on foot; Bell Tower to the Muslim Quarter, 10; Bell Tower to South Gate, 20. Outside the walls, distances stretch.

To the Terracotta Warriors

Bus 5 (sometimes signed as 306) leaves regularly from the east plaza of Xi’an Train Station, costs ¥8 and reaches the warriors site in around an hour. This is the cheapest legitimate option. Tour buses from the same plaza charge more for the same trip but include English commentary. Hostels run guided day trips for ¥150 to ¥300 including transport, ticket and lunch. A taxi each way costs around ¥200 to ¥250 if you negotiate, ¥250 to ¥300 metered.

Where to stay

Where you sleep in Xi’an is essentially a choice between staying inside the walled city, where the food and the headline sights are, and staying outside it for cheaper rooms or easier rail access. For most travellers the answer is inside.

Inside the walls (recommended)

The historic core has the best mix of price points. Around the Bell Tower in the dead centre, four-star Chinese hotels (Bell Tower Hotel, Sofitel Renmin Square, Holiday Inn) put you within walking distance of everything; doubles ¥600 to ¥1,200. Around the South Gate, on Shuncheng Nan Lu and Shuyuan Men, a strip of converted courtyard hostels (Shuyuan, Han Tang Inn, Han Tang House, Xiangzimen, Jano’s Backpackers) cluster within five minutes of each other; dorms ¥60 to ¥100, doubles ¥180 to ¥300. The hostels here cater to international travellers, run trips to the Warriors and Hua Shan, and have basement bars.

Muslim Quarter and around the Drum Tower

A handful of small boutique hotels in renovated courtyard buildings on Beiyuanmen and the lanes off it. Atmospheric and noisy, since the food street outside runs until midnight. Doubles ¥400 to ¥800. Stays in the heart of the action and saves the walk back from dinner.

South of the walls (Big Goose Pagoda area)

Bigger international chain hotels, mostly four- and five-star (Westin, Sheraton, Hilton, Crowne Plaza), in the modernised Qujiang district around the Big Goose Pagoda and Tang Paradise. Doubles ¥800 to ¥2,500. Quieter, less atmospheric, but a 25-minute metro ride from the Bell Tower. Works for travellers prioritising hotel quality over walkable old-city sights.

Around Xi’an North Railway Station

The newest hotel cluster, a 30-minute metro ride out of the centre, useful only if you have a very early high-speed train. Skip otherwise.

Practical info

Xi’an is straightforward by mainland Chinese standards: smaller and slower than Beijing or Shanghai, with the same connectivity and payment quirks. Plan around them and the city is easy.

VPN and the Great Firewall

Same as the rest of mainland China: Google, WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook, X, YouTube and many Western news sites are blocked. Install a paid VPN before you arrive (Astrill, ExpressVPN and LetsVPN are the names with the longest track record). Hotel wi-fi at international chains and the airport is generally usable but throttled. Note that VPN performance often gets worse around politically sensitive dates.

WeChat Pay and Alipay

The cashless system is built around two domestic apps. Both have allowed foreign Visa, Mastercard and Amex cards to be linked since 2023, with small surcharges over certain thresholds. Set this up before arrival on home wi-fi. In Xi’an specifically, the Muslim Quarter food stalls and the bus 5 to the Terracotta Warriors are particularly QR-code dependent; cash works but is slow and sometimes unwelcome. ATMs at Bank of China branches accept foreign cards.

Passport and ID

Carry your passport. You need it for hotel check-in, train tickets, museum entry (the Shaanxi History Museum requires you to scan it at the gate to claim a free ticket), and many sights. The Forbidden City booking system is one example; the city walls also occasionally check at the gate.

Sights ticketing

Many Xi’an sights, including the free Shaanxi History Museum, use timed entry through the museum’s WeChat mini-program. Book a day or two in advance where possible, or arrive early for the morning batch. The Terracotta Warriors site is generally walk-up friendly except on holidays.

Tap water

Don’t drink it. Bottled water is sold everywhere; hotels supply two bottles a day. Bring a refillable bottle for hostel water dispensers.

Air quality

Xi’an sits in the Wei River basin and gets a winter pollution problem similar to Beijing’s, sometimes worse, driven by coal heating in the surrounding countryside. Check aqicn.org. A KN95 mask is sensible in January and February.

Pickpockets

The Muslim Quarter at peak hours is the city’s main hot spot for opportunistic theft, since the lanes are narrow and the crowds tight. Front pockets only, hand on bag in the food queues. Public buses get pickpocketed too; the bus 5 to the Warriors is a known target.

For country-wide basics (currency, plug type, tipping, visa rules, emergency numbers), see China.

Places to visit

Other

• Giant Wild Goose Pagoda
• Small Wild Goose Pagoda
• Terracotta Army