Budget Xi'an Day Tour: Mini Group & No Shopping

Climbing onto the Xi’an City Wall, you can’t help but pay tribute to this tridimensional military defense masterpiece built over 600 years ago, with barbicans, gate towers, ramparts, and other sophisticated designs. Look down from any gate, and you’ll be surprised to know that one still had to pass through a barbican to enter the city after the gate. In ancient times, if the comers were enemies, the soldiers on the city wall would throw stones and release arrows into the barbican, trapping and annihilating them completely. Walk forward and notice the ramparts, with crenels for soldiers to observe the enemy and carry out precise strikes, protruding every 120 meters (394 feet). Surprisingly, the distance is right the effective range of bows and arrows. Here, you’ll also have a chance to see citizens practicing Tai Chi and singing local opera at the foot of the City Wall, continuing the long-standing cultural traditions of the city. Bicycle sightseeing on the Wall is also possible, and if you are interested, your guide will be happy to help you rent one at your own expense.

Next, let’s move to the Giant Wild Goose Pagoda, a square cone-shaped shrine built in the 7th century AD to store Buddhist scripture, Buddha statues, and sariras brought back from India by a famous Chinese hierarch, Xuanzang. It was originally built with five floors, and about 50 years later, when the country was growing stronger and the imperial belief in Buddhism reached a new height, it was greatly expanded to 10 floors. After being damaged by wars and earthquakes in the following years, it was eventually reduced to seven floors seen today, which precisely confirms a Buddhist proverb praising merit and virtue - ‘Saving a life is better than building a 7-story pagoda’. Moreover, from your guide, you can also learn that its site selection is very meticulous. The ideal Chinese geomantic layout of ‘backed by mountains and facing water’ is conducive to absorbing the essence of heaven and earth, which carries the wish of promoting the prosperity and development of Buddhist culture while also praying for national peace and prosperity.

Lunch today is not included. There are plenty of Chinese and Western dining options near the Giant Wild Goose Pagoda, and you are especially recommended to try the most typical Xi’an food, the Chinese Hamburger, which is made of minced pot-stewed meat sandwiched in baked fermented flatbread, giving you a unique texture that combines crispness and tenderness. The guide will be glad to recommend restaurants according to your preferences and assist you in placing your order.

Next, your guide will accompany you on a comfortable ride along the highway for about an hour to the Terracotta Army Museum, the largest ancient military museum in China built on the original site of the Mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang (259 - 210 BC), the first emperor who made China a unified country 2,000 years ago. On the way, the guide will give you a fascinating explanation about the historical background of this ‘Eighth Wonder of the World’. Besides, we promise that we will not make any stops at any kind of shopping points to make sure that you enjoy a pure sightseeing.

After arriving, skip the long ticket line and enjoy quick access to the Terracotta Army Museum with your guide. What we will mainly visit within 2.5 to 3 hours are the three burial pits, which account for less than one percent of the entire mausoleum. 

In Pit No.1, marvel at the rectangular military formation composed of over 6,000 terracotta warriors and horses. Modeled after members of the real army at that time, these statues, with an average height of 1.8 meters (6 feet), are carefully selected strongmen. Look closely, and you’ll find that some of them are as young as teenagers, while some have beards and wrinkles on their faces, which is consistent with the documented data that men began military service at 17 and were exempted at 56 during the reign of Emperor Qin Shi Huang. When you get to the Pit No.2, which is designed in a curved battle phalanx, focus your attention mainly on those 470 life-sized terracotta horses. The exquisitely carved bridles on their heads and saddles on their bodies further demonstrate the superb craftsmanship of ancient artisans. A delicate wooden chariot in Pit No. 3 will amaze you a lot. Four horses ride in front of this two-wheeled single-shaft carriage and four soldiers stand around it, and experts speculated that it was most likely the one used to convey the commander's orders to the whole army. In the Exhibition Hall, let’s dig into stories behind more than 200 undisclosed items excavated since 1974, such as a green-faced head, bronze waterfowls, and acrobatic figurines. All these relics are not only a microcosm of the powerful and invincible defense forces of the empire in the 3rd century BC, but also a testament to the glorious achievements of Emperor Qin Shi Huang in unifying the states.

► Note:
Based on our rich experience, the morning light is the best and is more favorable to your visit to the Terracotta Army Museum, which uses a transparent roof to introduce natural light to illuminate those artworks. Coupled with considering the possible traffic congestion and heavy crowds caused by the high popularity of this world heritage site, we sometimes adjust the visiting order of today’s itinerary, moving the visit to the terracotta warriors to the morning.

The guide and driver will escort you back to the downtown area in one hour. You could either take a nap to regain your energy or share your visiting experiences with your fellow travelers on the way.

As we continue to drive to the Muslim Quarter in the city center, Xi’an’s most vibrant food paradise, you can opt to get off here to freely enjoy dinner or the surrounding night views to your own preference, and then return to the hotel by yourself. Your guide will be sure to give you suggestions for touring and transportation. For guests having no interest in this venue, we will escort you back to your hotel. That’s all for your budget mini group Xi’an day tour. Hope you had a great time with us!

● If you still have extra time to visit other hot spots in Xi’an, such as Mt. Huashan, one of the Five Sacred Mountains in China, you can consider our other small group day tours and ask our travel consultants for recommendations at any time.

► FYI: What Can You Enjoy in Muslim Quarter (at your own expense):
As soon as you step into this community with intricate streets, your senses will be instantly activated - diverse antique neon-lit signboards come into your view, barbecue aroma mixed with smoke rushes into your nostrils, and hawking in local dialect of enthusiastic vendors fills your ears. Have a bowl of local chewy and belt-wide Biang Biang Noodles with chili oil sauce as a staple for your dinner at a time-honored restaurant, and then stop at some stalls to taste other specialty snacks like sweet and soft Rice and Jujube Cake or Persimmon Cake. It’s better to order a small amount each time so that you can try more varieties, as the local food is high in carbs and calories. After dark, walk a few steps to the nearby illuminated Bell and Drum Towers, Xi’an’s old landmarks, and get an internet-famous angle to frame them with you. The continuous stream of visitors dressed in ancient costumes here will also leave you in admiration.