Four Days in Xi'an: The Full Guide

# Episode 3: Four Days in Xi'an (full transcript) > Show: TravelHubChina Audio — China Inbound Travel Podcast > Episode: 3 (Season 1) > Recorded: 2026-09-17 > Host: Harris Wang (TravelHubChina Editorial) > Length target: 9-10 minutes > Format: solo monologue, English --- Hey, this is Harris Wang — welcome back to TravelHubChina Audio, your English guide to independent travel in China. I'm a writer based in Xi'an, and I've been covering this city for the better part of a decade. Today's episode: Four days in Xi'an. The full thing — not just the Terracotta Warriors. Xi'an was the capital of thirteen Chinese dynasties over eleven hundred years. It's the eastern terminus of the Silk Road. It's the only walled city in China with the entire Ming-era wall intact — thirteen point seven kilometers of it, with eighteen gates. And right now, in 2026, it's the most underrated big-city destination in mainland China. Most foreign travelers hit Xi'an for a single day on a guided tour bus. That's the wrong way to do it. Here's how I would spend four days here. Day one: the Terracotta Warriors and Huaqing Palace. The Terracotta site is forty kilometers east of the old city, in Lintong district. The cheapest way out is Tour Bus 5 — that's the number five on the bus, the 游5 route — from the east square of the train station, seven yuan one way, about an hour. If you want to save time, take a DiDi or a private car. The drivers will quote you two hundred to two hundred and fifty yuan one-way. The official site opens at eight-thirty, but I tell everyone to arrive by seven-thirty if they can — the tour buses from Beijing and Shanghai start hitting around ten, and the place is genuinely peaceful before then. Budget three hours. Three pits. Pit one is the largest, with about six thousand visible figures. Pit two has the best-preserved archers and cavalry. Pit three is the command post, much smaller. Then there's the Bronze Chariot Hall — those two bronze carriages found buried near the tomb of the first emperor. They're beautiful and small and most people walk past. Back in Xi'an by late afternoon — head to Huaqing Palace on the return. Tang dynasty hot springs. Emperor Xuanzong and Yang Guifei. The gardens are nice, but the real reason to come here is the evening show — "The Everlasting Regret" — illuminated fountains retelling the love story in song and dance. Tickets are three hundred yuan, separate from the palace entry. If you have the budget, do it. If not, the gardens alone are still worth it. Day one dinner: the Muslim Quarter, officially called Beiyuanmen. The main drag is now extremely touristy — biangbiang noodles for fifteen yuan at every third stall. Skip those. Walk two streets back, perpendicular to the main strip. That's where the locals eat. Roujiamo — the Chinese hamburger — five yuan, perfect after a long travel day. Day two: the ancient city wall, the Muslim Quarter done properly, and the Big Wild Goose Pagoda. The wall is the headline. Buy tickets online in advance via Trip.com or the official WeChat mini-program — fifty-four yuan for the full circuit. The single best thing to do is rent a bike at the South Gate, ride the full thirteen-point-seven kilometers, stop at four corner towers. Most people ride one way and turn around at the East Gate — that's fine, the East Gate is the most photographed. But the full loop is the move if you have ninety minutes and you can pace yourself. Early morning is best. Six-thirty AM the wall is empty, the air is cool, locals are doing tai chi on the ramparts. You will see maybe twenty other foreigners. By ten AM it will be a thousand. Bring water. After the wall, walk the Muslim Quarter properly. Don't eat on the main strip — I said that yesterday, I'll say it again tomorrow. Walk to the alleys behind the Drum Tower, the Xiyangshi area, that's where the Hui Muslim families have been cooking for generations. The food is identical, the prices are half, and you'll be sitting next to people who actually live here. Evening: Big Wild Goose Pagoda. Free entry to the grounds, the north square has a musical fountain show every night at nine. The pagoda itself is Tang dynasty, seventh century, and historically important because it's where Xuanzang translated the Buddhist sutras he brought back from India. Walk the south square at sunset. The fountain show is kitschy but genuinely impressive — bigger than you expect. Day three: this is your flex day. Three options. Option A is Mount Hua, the most dangerous hike in China. It's ninety minutes by train from Xi'an North station, then another forty minutes by bus to the trailhead. The North Peak cable car gets you up in eight minutes if you don't want to do the six-hour hike. I do not recommend hiking Mount Hua in winter — the chains are icy, the steps are genuinely scary. October is the best month. If you're an active traveler and you only have one day in Xi'an to deviate from the standard itinerary, this is it. Option B is the Hanfu District near Tang Paradise. You can rent traditional Tang-dynasty clothing for the afternoon, walk among the restored Tang architecture, get your photo taken. It's touristy, yes. It's also genuinely fun, especially if you're traveling with a partner. Option C is the Shaanxi History Museum. It's free, it's world-class, and almost no foreign visitors go. The bronze ware collection alone is worth a full afternoon. Day four: this is the day most tourists miss. Morning: the Small Wild Goose Pagoda, not the Big one. Quieter. Less visited. The neighborhood around it is where Xi'an actually lives — small lanes, students, breakfast stalls serving you tiaozao and doujiang. Eat breakfast like a local. Stroll. No tickets required for the small pagoda grounds itself. Midday: get out of Xi'an. Options: - Famen Temple, ninety minutes by high-speed rail. The largest Buddhist pagoda in Asia, founded in the second century, rebuilt in 2009. The finger-bone relic of the Buddha is allegedly housed inside. I find this slightly creepy but it is genuinely impressive architecture. - Qianling Mausoleum, the joint tomb of Emperor Gaozong and Empress Wu Zetian. On a hill. Excellent Tang dynasty stone sculpture. Less than an hour by bus from the city. - If you really want something different, the Terracotta Army pit three replica in the airport terminal is genuinely good — last-minute gift shopping without going into the city. Afternoon before you fly: nothing. Just sit in the Muslim Quarter. Eat bread. Drink tea. Don't go to another museum. Now the practical bits. Money: budget eighteen hundred to three thousand yuan per person for four days — that's about two hundred fifty to four hundred twenty US dollars — excluding flights. That covers mid-range hotels at three hundred to six hundred yuan a night, meals at forty to one hundred yuan, transport. DiDi is cheap. Tour Bus 5 to the Terracotta Army is seven yuan one-way. The Mount Hua day trip including the cable car is roughly four hundred yuan. When to come: April, May, September, October. Avoid Golden Week in early October — the Terracotta site can hit thirty thousand visitors a day. Avoid Chinese New Year. June through August is hot, forty degrees, humid. Visas: if you're from one of fifty-seven countries including the US, UK, Canada, Australia, most of the European Union, you can use the 240-hour visa-free transit. You land at Xi'an Xianyang airport, fill out the form at the dedicated counter, and you can stay for ten days. India and Indonesia joined this list in 2025. Connectivity: get an eSIM before you arrive. Airalo works, Holafly works. China doesn't block Google for citizens but it does for foreign SIM cards without a VPN. Download Astrill or LetsVPN. DiDi works in Xi'an, the metro works, Alipay works in tourist areas. Hotels: three tiers worth knowing. Budget travelers should look at hostels around the South Gate — places like the Han Tang Inn run four hundred to six hundred yuan for a private room. Mid-range travelers should consider the hotels just inside the South Gate or along the East Avenue. Expect eight hundred to fifteen hundred yuan per night. Splurge travelers: there are several heritage courtyard hotels inside the old city, often converted Qing-era merchant homes. These run two thousand to five thousand yuan a night and are genuinely unique. Food guide — five things to eat in Xi'an before you leave: One: biangbiang noodles. Wide hand-pulled wheat noodles, served cold in summer and hot in winter. Look for stalls that pull the noodles in the window — fresh biangbiang only takes a minute. Eighteen to thirty yuan. Two: roujiamo. The Chinese hamburger. Crispy baked bun, slow-stewed pork belly, often with green pepper and cilantro. Five to fifteen yuan. The famous one is at the corner of Beiyuanmen and Xiyangshi. Three: liangpi. Cold rice or wheat noodles in vinegar, chili oil, and garlic. A staple snack, twelve to twenty yuan. Street carts near the Drum Tower are excellent. Four: persimmon cakes. The autumn specialty — they are fried flat, stuffed with sweet bean paste. You can eat them hot, you can eat them cold. Ten yuan each. Buy them fresh, not the ones on display. Five: paomo. The bread-in-soup dish that Xi'an invented. You tear a round flatbread into small pieces, drop them into a bowl of beef or lamb broth with glass noodles and scallions. Order at a restaurant, not a street stall — you want a good broth. Final practical notes: Airport transit: Xi'an Xianyang airport is forty-five minutes west of the city. DiDi costs about eighty to one hundred yuan. The airport bus runs every thirty minutes, twenty-five yuan per person, and goes to the Bell Tower in the old city center. Train stations: there are two. Xi'an station, the older one, handles most regular trains. Xi'an North handles high-speed rail. Make sure you know which one your train leaves from — they're not adjacent. When to arrive: Tuesday or Wednesday is the sweet spot. Fridays and weekends are crowded. The Terracotta Army can hit thirty thousand visitors a day on weekends in October, and you will queue. Health notes: Xi'an's tap water is not potable, always buy bottled. Diarrhea medication is widely available at pharmacies. The air is dry — bring moisturizer. The hospital network is excellent but expensive without insurance. That's four days in Xi'an. The full guide with prices, transit times, and restaurant names is at travelhubchina.com — link in the show notes. If you found this useful, please consider sharing it with a friend who is heading to China. And if you have questions, find me on Twitter, the handle is in the show notes. Next week on TravelHubChina Audio: another city. Subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts, and we'll see you then. --- ## Related site content (links to embed in shownotes): - https://travelhubchina.com/cities/xian/ — Xi'an city hub - https://travelhubchina.com/articles/4-days-xian-itinerary/ — full 4-day itinerary - https://travelhubchina.com/attractions/xian-city-wall/ — Ming Dynasty city wall - https://travelhubchina.com/podcast/feed.xml — RSS feed for the show