Xi'an Travel Forum

We plan to be in Xian for 36 hours next month and had a few questions.

1. How much time (including travel time) do we need to set aside to see the Terra Cotta Warriors. Is there a certain time of day when they are less crowded?

2. The Shaanxi History Museum looks very interesting. Are the descriptions of the exhibits just in Mandarin or is there also signage in English or other languages?

3. Aside from those two things, what other "must see" sights would you recommend that we squeeze into our short visit?

I loved the Xian Beilin Museum, easy to get to, just under the wall, some lovely ancient exhibits. Shaanxi is great.

A bicycle trip aound the wall at sunset is pretty good.

The drum tower, the muslim quarter market has great eating. But the dumplings in Xian are to die for......

We took about 1/2 day for warriers but wasn't long enogh but as it was Golden Week the crowds were just horrendous and we left earlier than planned

To visit the Terra Cotta Warriors, you need 4 hours at least because you need to spend at leat 1 hour on the way. Leave 3 hours for visiting. There's no certain time when they are not very crowded. My suggestion is gettiong up early and head to the Terra Cotta Army. Don't worry about the Shaaxi History Museum, there are english descriptions. Besides the Terra Cotta Warriors and the Shaanxi History Musuem, you can pay a visit to the Great Mosque and the moslim area. You can have a thorough understanding on the Chinese Moslims' daily life after visiting the Great Mosque and the Moslim area. I mean if you are interested in it. There are also many places worthy of visiting. Need more information, send me a email through: info@travelchinaspring.com. I will try my best to give you more information you want to know.

There is also the Large Wild Goose Pagoda and the Small Wild Goose Pagoda. The city wall is huge, maybe 15 km round trip. If you don't want to cycle round the top, there are electric carts like at airports.

In the evening, you could try to take in a dinner show.

The warriors are a whole day out, almost, but there are a couple of other visitable places, whose names escape me, which are on the way back. One is the palace dedicated to the beautiful wife of ?Qin - also here is/are memorable locations associated with Chiang Kai-Shek.

When in season, Xi'an is a centre of pomegranate production.

What out for pickpockets, especially in the market streets near the drum tower. And try the semolina on a stick.

PS some of my photos here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/john37perry/sets/72157594231844785/

I would also recommend the Great Mosque and the area around. Btw, the Great Mosque has the only 5* ladies loos that we encountered in the whole of our trip!! Husband also waxed poetic about the gents! There is an interesting local market nearby. A walk or bicycle ride along the walls.

1st Day:Terra Cotta Army and History Museum, if you still have time, you can go to the Big Wild Goose Pagoda
2st Day:Riding bicycles on the Old City Wall, wandering about in Muslime Quarter(local market and many local snacks here), walking towards Beilin Museum across Shuyuan Men(folk crafts,Chinese drawing and handwriting)

1) Half a day, at least. We started from the train station at around 0900 and arrived back at the same place almost at 1500.
2) Bilingual, English and Chinese.
3) What are your sightseeing interests and preferences? What time are you arriving and leaving?