Top 5 Things in Xi'an, China

I recently spent 4 days in Xi'an, which is the capital city in Shaanxi Province, China. I had an absolutely amazing time, so I thought I would share my top 5 activities in Xi'an.


1. Terracotta Warriors

This one is pretty obvious. This is the reason most people outside of China have heard of Xi'an. It's famous for a reason. If you have any interest in Chinese history, I would highly recommend you go. It was so cool to learn about the reason they're there, how they found them, and how they are excavating and preserving them.

I would say you need a guide. There's not much to read throughout the museum and exhibits, so having someone there to give the history is a must. We were so lucky with our tour guide. She was so patient and so passionate. We asked so many questions and she answered them all very well, even teaching us some Chinese vocabulary along the way! She said at the start that the tour would take 2 hours, but we were there for nearly 4 hours, because we asked so many questions. Also, since it's November, there weren't very many people there, which made a huge difference in our experience.

2. Muslim Quarter

I have just written a whole blog post on why I love the Muslim Quarter so much, so go check that out for details, but it boils down to a lovely atmosphere, a change of pace, wonderful food, and kind people. What more could you want, really?

I've even made a short little video about the amazing Muslim-influenced food in Xi'an, which I'm really pleased with.

3. Cycling around the City Wall

We were lucky enough one evening to be shown around a bit by my friend who is from Xi'an. She recommended we rent bikes and cycle around the old city wall, so we did just that. You get the bikes for about 2 hours, which is all you need. You can rent bikes from the south gate of the wall, which is the most interesting point in the wall to look around and do other things.

My advice would be to wear a pollution mask while cycling if the air is bad. Xi'an is one of the most polluted cities in China air-wise, so look at the AQI and wear a mask if needed. You can get winded pretty easily if the pollution is even at AQI 50 if you're doing aerobic exercise.

4. Artists' Area near Shuyanmen in Beilin Qu

We stumbled across this area after cycling around the wall, because it's right by the south gate. There are endless places to buy jewelry, paintings, calligraphy of all forms, etc. It's so cool to watch the artists work, and walk down the old streets.

I ended up buying a small landscape painting, because the artist was really nice and he was selling it for a really reasonable price. It got a painting for 80 RMB, which works out to be about $10. There are also much bigger and nicer pieces if you're looking to collect some quality artwork.

5. Great Wild Goose Pagoda, Cultural, Exchange, and Xi'an Museum

All three of these things are right next to each other, so we ended walking from one to the other. The cultural exchange is at one end of the entrance to the pagoda and park. We just wandered in and loved it perhaps the most. 

There was a tree where people tied on papers with their wishes on them, and several little shops with books, jewelry, vintage postcards, etc. I even found a cool canvas bag with Shaanxi Province dialect phrases on it, which the linguist inside me had to have.

We went into the park and looked a the pagoda. There wasn't much there, but there was an exhibit on Buddhism in China, which was really fascinating. Also, the autumn leaves made the whole area so beautiful.

The Xi'an Museum was not very extensive, but it had some good artwork.

It also had some history on the original city of Xi'an, which included a scale model of the city.