Located in Shaaxi, Xian is one of the oldest and most historic city in China. It’s also known as ‘the place you can take a photos terracotta warriors’. Despite spending several days here last year, I didn’t actually manage to see the city’s main attraction (in a similar vein to my visit to Beijing, which somehow resulted in me not actually seeing the wall!). I’d like to think this is because I don’t need to live my life by lonely planet’s recommendations but what actually happened is 1) I got lazy (The warriors are located some distance from the city centre) 2) I was so busy doing all the other cool stuff the city had to offer, I was too reluctant to spend a whole day on what many fellow travellers had told me was overrated.
So, if you’re looking for a review of the infamous warriors, I’m afraid you might have to go elsewhere. If you’re hoping to read
A Guide to Xian, China that shows everything else the place has to offer then stay with me!
1. Pagoda’s Galore
Now if you’ve been living in China like me, then you might be slightly Pagoda-d out! However, what’s great about Xian’s pagoda’s (The Drum Tower and Bell Tower). Located in the centre of the city they’re really easy to reach via the subway network (Stops: Guolou for the Drum Tower and Zhonglou for the Bell Tower) rickshaw or bus. The area is bustling and allows for panoramic views of city life down below. There’s something quite relaxing about a few moments away from all the traffic and noise of city life. To enter both, purchase a combined ticket for 40 yuan (around $6 or 4 pounds)
While the Bell Tower is again nothing special by day, at night it is lit up- making for some stunning photos.
2. Muslim Quarter
Located near the Drum tower, the Muslim quarter is a great part of town to wander around. At night, fairly lights hang from the trees while day there’s barely a space to push between people and the many many rickshaws that are abundant in Shanghai. There’s lots of great Muslim food on offer and shops selling everything from food, clothes and traditional Chinese ornaments.
3. The city walls
Fun fact I found while researching this blog post: Xian’s city walls are the largest in the WORLD. Wow, that’s pretty crazy! Although I do remember it feeling like an awfully long walk at the time!
At around 40 yuan ($6 or 4 pounds) to enter, these walls are a cheap tourist attraction that could last the day if you have the stamina! There are multiple options for scaling the wall: good old fashioned walk, cycling or for the lazy a motorized trolley. We chose the walk. As there are multiple entrances/exits, it’s easy to break the journey down into several sections or to just tackle part of them. Unlike many tourist attractions, the walls were quite quiet when we arrived. I imagine this is because the Chinese are not a huge fan of walking around (they seem to much prefer to take a photo from the motorised vehicle instead!)
4. Get a bargain at the city’s Subway stations.
As a bit of a poundland fanatic when living in the UK (Everything’s a pound…that’s almost free!) I was so excited to discover the abundance of 10 yuan stores (approximately 1 pound) that line the underground walkways of the city’s subway system. Most it is of course, full of Chinese tat but for 10 yuan it hardly matters! There’s everything from alarm clocks, jewellery, food and the usual things that falls apart as soon as you take it home!
Overall, Xian is a great city to explore, warriors or no warriors. It’s efficient metro system, cheap taxi system (fares start at 6 yuan, more than half the price of Shanghai) and reasonable entrance prices to it’s key attractions make it a great place to explore China on a budget.
Have you ever visited Xian? Have you ever managed to avoid every famous tourist attraction while traveling (as I appear to be doing?)
Unless you’re in Xi’an for a week or more, it’s quite possible to miss many of the attractions in and around the city. Daming Palace north of the railway station is newly opened and is huge; the WuZeTian mausoleum north of the city is also a great way to see some of the countryside; XingQingGong Park east of the East Gate is very peaceful; Furong Lake and Quijang Pond is quite close to DaYanTa; HuaQingChi Hotsprings in Lintong is a great stop on your way to Bing Ma Yong.
When most visitors go to Bing Ma Yong, the city wall, and the Muslim Quarter in their typically two days visit, it’s easy to not fully grasp what Xian has to offer.
FYI your photo captioned ‘view from the drum tower’ is actually a view from the South Gate looking north.
Cheers,
Thanks for the correction. Are you from xian?
I’m not from Xi’an originally, but I do have family there and have lived there briefly a few years back. One certainly has a different view of a place as a ‘resident’ than as a tourist on a limited time schedule. Did I read that you teach? Which city are you in?
Yes I can imagine. I really enjoyed my stay there but it was brief! Yes I live in ningbo, Zhenjiang and am a teacher
Ha! My wife’s father is originally from Ningbo. It’s on our list next time we’re on the mainland.
Beautiful pictures! I can’t remember not visiting a must-see sight but I almost always manage to not take a picture of important stuff. Whether that’s a sight, an important building, a monument or a beautiful landscape – you can be sure that I don’t take a picture of it! Don’t even know why. Sometimes I’m just lazy and sometimes I don’t see the importance but I’m always regretting it later on!
Haha yes I have photo regret too!
I’m a history major and the terracotta warriors would have been my first stop! I actually went to an exhibit in Washington DC several years ago when several of the warriors went on a bit of a world tour. It was absolutely amazing for a history buff like myself and I’m saddened to hear everyone say that it’s overrated. 🙁 I’m so glad to see there is still a lot more to see in the city of Xian though. And what a fun fact about the city walls, I didn’t know that!
I’ve been to Xi’an for a week and it’s not only about the Terracotta Warriors. The city itself has so much to offer. They are many amazing temples around and the city looks stunning at night. I tried some local baozi and I could not stop eating them – so freaking good!
Haha I need to get better at eating local food when traveling, I’m yet to fall in love with chinese food
I really want to go to Xian, I’ve heard the terra cotta soldiers are cool but not life changing too, though I still want to see them. The city wall sounds amazing!