1 Day Private Tour to Terracotta Warriors, No Shopping

Today, look forward to an unforgettable travel experience in Xi’an, the ancient capital of 13 dynasties! In the morning, your private guide and driver will pick you up from your hotel and then transfer you to the Terracotta Army Museum by a comfortable 1-hour drive, during which your guide will brief you on this Eighth Wonder of the World.

At the Museum, observe thousands of life-size clay soldiers created about 2,200 years ago to protect Qin Shi Huang (259 BC - 210 BC), China’s first emperor, in his afterlife. You will find soldiers in three pits all have their own unique face and gesture, like they were replicas of a real army. Diverse uniforms and different hairstyles show their status of generals or soldiers, and the foolproof way to tell it is from their headwear - the soldiers generally wear no crown and some wrap their hair with a piece of cloth, while the generals feature long crowns. Try to distinguish by yourself with more details offered by your professional guide! Aside from an array of vivid clay figures, you can also see numerous terracotta horses and weapons like crossbows, bronze swords, and spears. Also follow your guide to be awestruck more by Qin artisans’ craftsmanship at a recently-introduced exhibition featuring 230 representative historical artifacts excavated since 1974. Find red remains on the lips of some terracotta heads and the purple sleeves on soldiers, learn from your guide and official explanatory illustrations, and gain an insight into the coloring techniques and the color aesthetics on the clothing of the Qin Dynasty. The bronze crane with a worm in its mouth and many other sculptures also reflect the Qin craftsmen's pursuit of detail… For lunch time, it is suggested to go back to downtown for more and better lunch options at your own expense. Your guide will be glad to offer some local food suggestions, like the popular Chinese hamburger, which has been listed as the Intangible Culture Heritage of Xi'an. Since you may have lunch at a later time, having a big breakfast at your hotel is necessary!

After lunch, we will head to the Small Wild Goose Pagoda, a surviving earthquake-decapped 13-floor pagoda, erected in the Tang Dynasty (618 – 907 AD) with imperial sponsorship. Take a leisurely stroll in a nice park around while enjoying the delicate ancient Chinese architecture. Then visit the ancient City Wall, on which you can take a leisure walk and enjoy the city view from a panoramic perspective. Bikes, single or tandem, are available to rent for pedaling around. If you are interested, your guide will help you with bike renting at your own expense.

The last stop is the well-known Muslim Quarter, a lively community with various shops selling interesting stuff like horn comb and sand paintings, as well as a wide range of authentic local snacks like lamb pita bread soup, beef and lamb BBQ, and Biang Biang noodles. Perhaps ask your guide for some advice to avoid tourist traps and dine at a restaurant frequented by locals.

Finally, we will send you back to the hotel. Of course you can stay more time for fun at the Muslim Quarter and then take a cab back to the hotel on your own. Your 1 day Xi'an Terracotta Warriors tour comes to an end here, and we hope you really enjoyed it!

► Restaurant Recommendation for Dinner (at your own expense):
It is recommended that you choose Old Li Family Biang Biang Noodles (Muslim Quarter branch). This well-known restaurant, which has been run for more than 30 years, is widely recognized for its traditional noodle making techniques and unique flavors, and was also featured in CCTV’s food documentary series once. A bowl of Biang Biang Noodles is generally made of three strands of long noodles, and as they are as wide as the belt, the dish is also called the Belt-like Noodles by locals. An interesting folk culture is that people in rural Shaanxi do not sit but squat when eating noodles. It is said that squatting tends to make people feel full easily so that they could eat less to save food during times of shortage in the past. Also, as the bowls used to be large and heavy and there was a lack of tables, eating this way is more comfortable.
Average cost per person: CNY 23 (USD 3)
Address: No.99, Beiyuanmen Snack Street, Lianhu District