A Week in Xi'an: Warriors, Walls, and the World's Most Complex Noodle
Day 1: Arrival and the Muslim Quarter
Landed at XIY airport, 47km from the city center. The shuttle bus took 90 minutes through traffic that moved like cooling lava. Note to self: next time, take the metro from the airport. It's longer on paper but shorter in practice.
Dropped bags at a hotel near the South Gate of the city wall. Walked to the Muslim Quarter (Huimin Jie) at 6PM, which turned out to be perfect timing — the food stalls were firing up and the main street was filling with smoke from a hundred grills.
First meal: rou jia mo from a stall halfway down the main street. 12 CNY. It's called a "Chinese hamburger" in English, which is technically accurate and spiritually wrong. Chopped braised meat (usually pork or lamb) stuffed into a round flatbread that's crispy outside, soft inside. I ate two.
Second course: biangbiang noodles. I'd been anticipating these for months. The noodle is slapped by hand into a belt-wide strip — literally as wide as a belt — then served with chili oil, garlic, and vinegar. The character "biang" has 58 strokes and can't be typed on any keyboard or phone. The theatrics of the noodle-slapping are as impressive as the taste. 15 CNY. I sat at a communal table with a family who didn't speak English and we communicated entirely through nods of mutual noodle approval.
Day 2: The Terracotta Warriors
Took the green tourist bus 5 (306) from the east side of Xi'an Railway Station plaza. 8 CNY, 1 hour direct. Do not take the "private tour" guys at the station — they're bait-and-switch operations that detour through jade and terracotta replica factories.
The Terracotta Army Museum (120 CNY) has three pits. Pit 1 is the one from all the photos — rows upon rows of life-sized warriors stretching into the distance. Over 8,000 figures, each with unique facial features, carved in 210 BC to guard Emperor Qin Shi Huang's tomb.
I hired a guide at the entrance (150 CNY for English) and it was the best money I spent all trip. Without context, you see clay statues. With context, you understand that this army was buried for 2,200 years, accidentally discovered by farmers digging a well in 1974, and is still being excavated today. The back sections of Pit 1 have warriors still partially buried — heads emerging from dirt. That's the image that stuck with me.
Pit 2 has cavalry, archers, and a famous kneeling archer. Pit 3 is smallest — the command headquarters.
Allow 3-4 hours. I spent 4.5.
Day 3: Cycling the City Wall at Sunset
The Xi'an City Wall is 14km of Ming dynasty fortification, 600 years old, 12 meters high, and wide enough to cycle on comfortably. Entry: 54 CNY. Bike rental: 45 CNY for 100 minutes (tandem: 90 CNY).
I started at the South Gate (Yongningmen) at 5PM, aiming for the sunset loop. The wall gives you a 360-degree perspective on the city — ancient drum and bell towers on one side, modern apartment blocks on the other, and the mountains in the haze beyond.
The 100-minute rental is tight for the full 14km loop if you stop for photos. I made it with 8 minutes to spare, and that was pedaling hard through the final 3km. Start at least 2 hours before closing.
Return the bike at the same gate you rented from, or pay a 20 CNY surcharge for a different-gate return.
The wall illuminated at night, viewed from below, is spectacular. Walk back for photos after returning the bike.
Day 4: Big Wild Goose Pagoda and the Museum
Morning at the Shaanxi History Museum. This is one of China's four great museums and it's free — but the free tickets are limited and you need to queue by 8:30AM to get one. Or pay 30 CNY for the special exhibition ticket and skip the line entirely. I paid. Worth it.
Highlights: Tang dynasty gold and silver work, Han jade burial suits, Zhou bronze vessels. The museum covers from prehistory through the Tang dynasty and the depth is staggering. Allow 2-3 hours.
Afternoon: Big Wild Goose Pagoda (40 CNY temple, +30 CNY to climb). A 64m Tang dynasty pagoda built in 652 AD to store scriptures brought from India by the monk Xuanzang. The climb gives you city views. But the real show is the North Square musical fountain at 8:30PM — Asia's largest, free, and genuinely spectacular with the lit pagoda as a backdrop.
Day 5: Huaqing Hot Springs and the Mountain
Combined this with the Terracotta Warriors day trip since they're in the same direction (30km east). Huaqing Hot Springs Palace (120 CNY) is an imperial resort at the foot of Mount Li where Tang dynasty emperors bathed. The bathing pools of Yang Guifei (a Tang concubine famous for her beauty) are the centerpiece.
The evening show "The Song of Everlasting Sorrow" (298-988 CNY, 70 minutes) is performed lakeside and widely considered one of China's best live performances. I splurged on a 480 CNY ticket. The combination of dance, music, lasers, and the mountain backdrop was genuinely one of the best shows I've seen anywhere.
Day 6: Muslim Quarter Deep Dive
Spent the entire day in the Muslim Quarter, going beyond the main tourist drag. The key: walk into the side alleys. Dapi Yuan and Xiyang Shi have the same food at half the price. A rou jia mo costs 10-15 CNY on the side streets versus 25 CNY on the main strip.
Visited the Great Mosque (25 CNY) — a serene Chinese-Islamic architectural masterpiece hidden behind the food stalls. It's one of the most unique mosques I've seen: Chinese pagoda-style buildings arranged around traditional Islamic prayer halls. Quiet, peaceful, and virtually empty despite being 100 meters from the chaos of Huimin Jie.
For lunch: yangrou paomo (lamb soup with torn bread). You tear a flatbread into tiny pieces, hand it to the cook, and they add it to mutton broth. 25 CNY. The bread absorbs the soup and becomes this rich, starchy comfort food. I now understand why Xi'an locals eat this daily in winter.
Final breakfast: you po che mian (oil-splashed torn noodles) — a variation of biangbiang noodles where boiling oil is poured over chili flakes and garlic directly on the noodles. The sizzle is performative and the flavor is direct. 12 CNY.
I walked the city wall one more time, this time on foot from the South Gate to the East Gate. In the morning light, with few tourists, the wall feels like it belongs to you. 600 years of stone under your feet.
High-speed train to Chengdu at noon. 3.5 hours, 263 CNY. Booked on the 12306 app. The train was smooth, fast, and crossed through mountain tunnels that swallowed the signal repeatedly.
Would I Go Back?
Absolutely. Xi'an is one of those cities that improves with repetition. The Terracotta Warriors are a once-in-a-lifetime sight, but the Muslim Quarter is a return-every-trip kind of place. The city wall at sunset doesn't get old. And the biangbiang noodles — those 58-stroke, belt-wide, chili-oil-drenched noodles — are reason enough for a flight.
