Xi'an
China
Xi'an doesn't ease you in gently. It hits you with the smell of cumin and charcoal smoke before you've even left the train station, and by the time you've spotted the City Wall looming over the rooftops, you're already hooked. This city was the eastern terminus of the Silk Road, the capital of thirteen dynasties, and it carries all of that weight with a kind of casual, everyday confidence that few cities manage.
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Xi'an is a city of layers — literal and figurative. Tang Dynasty ruins sit beneath a Qing-era mosque courtyard, which sits around the corner from a lamb noodle shop that's been open since before your grandparents were born. The Muslim Quarter pulses with street vendors and the clatter of cleaver on bone, while two blocks away, elderly men play chess in the shadow of the Bell Tower with the unhurried energy of people who have nowhere better to be. It's a city that takes its history seriously but doesn't make you feel like you're walking through a museum — it's too alive for that, too noisy, too delicious, too contradictory.
Must-Do Experiences
Rent a bike and ride the City Wall at dusk
The Xi'an City Wall is one of the best-preserved ancient city walls on earth, and the single best way to experience it is on two wheels at golden hour. Rent a bike at the South Gate (Yongning Gate) entrance, ride the full 14km circuit, and watch the city light up on both sides of you — old town on one side, modern Xi'an on the other. Give yourself 90 minutes and stop at the watchtowers to catch your breath.
Get lost in the Great Mosque's inner courtyards
Most visitors walk through the Great Mosque on Huajue Lane without realizing it's one of the most architecturally unusual mosques in the world — built entirely in Chinese pagoda style, with Arabic calligraphy carved into traditional Chinese stone archways. Skip the crowds by arriving right when it opens at 8am, and take your time in the back gardens where the minaret looks more like a pagoda and the silence is remarkable given what's waiting just outside the gate. The fusion here isn't a design accident — it's 600 years of culture negotiating with itself.
Eat biang biang noodles at a street-side counter in the Muslim Quarter
Forget the sit-down restaurants with laminated menus — find one of the hand-pulled noodle stalls on Beiyuanmen Street where the cook is slapping thick, belt-wide dough against the counter and tearing it straight into boiling water. Order the biang biang mian with chili oil and vinegar, eat standing up, and go back for a second bowl. This is the food Xi'an runs on, and no amount of fancy restaurant versions will top watching it made six inches from your face.
Spend a morning at the Shaanxi History Museum — properly
Most people sprint through the Shaanxi History Museum in two hours. Don't. The free permanent collection covers 1.5 million years of civilization and includes Tang Dynasty gold and silver that looks like it was made last week. Book your free ticket online in advance (they run out fast, especially on weekends) and focus your energy on the Tang Dynasty galleries on the second floor — the three-color glazed ceramics alone are worth the trip. Arrive when the doors open at 9am to beat the school groups.
Take the sunrise cable car up Mount Huashan
About 120km east of Xi'an, Huashan is one of China's five sacred Taoist mountains and genuinely one of the most dramatic landscapes you'll see anywhere in the country. Take the first bus from Xi'an's East Bus Station around 6am, catch the north peak cable car, and you'll be above the clouds before 9am. The so-called 'Plank Walk' — a narrow ledge trail bolted to a sheer cliff face — is optional but completely worth the adrenaline. Avoid national holidays unless you enjoy standing in a queue on a vertical rock face.
Wander the neighborhood around the Small Wild Goose Pagoda on a weekday morning
The Small Wild Goose Pagoda gets a fraction of the foot traffic of its bigger sibling, and the surrounding Jianfu Temple park is genuinely peaceful — old couples doing tai chi between the trees, teahouses opening their shutters, a pace that feels nothing like the tourist center. The pagoda itself is quieter and more intimate than the Big Wild Goose, and the museum inside the grounds has some excellent Tang-era Buddhist artifacts that most visitors walk straight past.
Have breakfast at a hole-in-the-wall paomo spot near the Drum Tower
Yang rou pao mo — lamb soup with hand-torn flatbread — is Xi'an's definitive morning meal and one of the great breakfast experiences in all of China. You tear the bread yourself into tiny pieces (the smaller the better, locals will judge you), hand it back to the kitchen, and wait for a clay bowl of rich, slow-cooked lamb broth to arrive. Find a small family-run spot on the streets just south of the Drum Tower before 9am, when the broth is at its best and the locals are three bowls deep.
Visit the Forest of Stone Steles Museum on a quiet afternoon
One of China's oldest museums and somehow one of its least crowded, the Forest of Stone Steles on Shuyuanmen Street houses over 3,000 engraved stone tablets dating back to the Han Dynasty — essentially a library carved in rock. The calligraphy alone draws Chinese scholars from across the country, and the narrow lanes leading up to the entrance are lined with art supply shops and scroll vendors where you can watch ink being ground and brushes being made. This is a neighborhood worth two hours of your time, not just a single stop.
Watch the evening show at the Bell Tower and Drum Tower square
Every evening around 7:30pm, the Bell Tower and Drum Tower are lit up and traditional performances run inside the Drum Tower — drums, costumes, the full production. It's genuinely impressive and nowhere near as cheesy as it sounds. The square between the two towers fills with locals taking evening walks and kids on scooters, and standing there with the floodlit towers on either side while the city hums around you is one of those Xi'an moments that stays with you.
Walk Shuyuanmen Culture Street for calligraphy and art supplies
This cobblestoned lane running east from the South Gate of the City Wall is lined with traditional bookshops, calligraphy supply stores, and paper-cut art studios that cater far more to locals than to tourists. You'll find Xi'an-themed woodblock prints, handmade ink stones, and rubbings taken directly from the Stone Steles Museum nearby — and the vendors actually know what they're selling. Go in the late afternoon when the light through the old tile roofs is at its best.
Catch a Tang Dynasty music and dance performance at Tang Paradise
Tang Paradise is a large cultural park themed around the Tang Dynasty, and while it skews theatrical, the evening water and light show and the live classical music performances inside the theater are genuinely well-produced. It works especially well if you're traveling with family or want some context for all the Tang Dynasty artifacts you've been looking at in the museums — suddenly the costumes, music, and ceremony make a lot more sense. Go on a Friday or Saturday evening in spring for the full outdoor spectacle.
Explore Daming Palace ruins at dawn before the crowds
The Daming Palace National Heritage Park in the northeast of the city was once the largest palace complex in Tang Dynasty China — three times the size of the Forbidden City in Beijing — and today it's a vast, somewhat melancholy stretch of archaeological sites, reconstructed gates, and long open plazas that feels almost nothing like the rest of tourist Xi'an. Come at 7am when local residents use it as a morning exercise park and you'll have the scale of the place almost entirely to yourself. Bring a good map — it's bigger than it looks.
Local Tips
- 1Book your free tickets to the Shaanxi History Museum on their official WeChat account at least two days ahead — walk-in availability disappears fast on weekends.
- 2The Muslim Quarter is most alive between 6pm and 9pm, but the lamb soup stalls near the Drum Tower are strictly a morning thing — most close by 10am.
- 3Download a VPN before you arrive in China — you'll need it for Google Maps, Instagram, and WhatsApp, none of which work without one.
- 4On the City Wall, the East Gate bike rental station is less crowded than the South Gate entrance and gets you onto the quieter eastern stretch faster.
- 5If you're heading to Mount Huashan, skip the travel agencies selling 'tour packages' outside the train station — the public bus from East Bus Station is a quarter of the price and just as straightforward.
- 6Street vendors in the Muslim Quarter will tell you everything costs 10 yuan before you ask. The first price is rarely the real one — a polite counter-offer is completely normal and expected.
Weather & Best Time to Visit
Xi'an experiences a temperate continental climate with distinct seasons, including hot summers, cold winters, and mild springs and autumns. The city is known for its historical sites, which can be enjoyed year-round with proper preparation for the weather.
Getting To & Around Xi'an
Major Airports
Getting Around
Taxi
Widely available, can be hailed on the street
Payment: Cash or mobile payment apps
Apps: Didi Chuxing for booking taxis
Rideshare
Services: Didi Chuxing
City-wide, reliable and convenient
Bike Share
Service: Mobike, Ofo
Coverage: Available throughout the city
Pricing: 1-2 CNY per 30 minutes
Walking
Highly walkable in city center and tourist areas
Tip: Great for exploring historical sites, use maps for navigation
Car Rental
Not recommended due to traffic and parking
Note: International driving permit required, limited parking
Things to Do
Top attractions and experiences
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