Must-See Attractions
Terracotta Army
About 40 kilometers east of Xi’an’s city center, the Terracotta Army was built to guard the tomb of Qin Shi Huang, China’s first emperor. The site contains nearly 8,000 life-sized clay soldiers and horses, arranged across three excavated pits. Pit 1 is the most impressive, with rows of warriors stretching deep into a vast indoor hall. The scale is hard to grasp from photographs, and the site’s 2,200-year age feels much more real when seen from the viewing rail above the pit.
Ancient City Wall
The Xi’an City Wall is one of the largest and best-preserved ancient city walls in China, stretching 13.7 kilometers around the old city center. Its top is wide enough for cycling, and a full loop by bike takes about 90 minutes. Because the wall is still intact and fully walkable, it gives a clear sense of how a Ming-era city was laid out. Entering through the South Gate in the late afternoon is ideal; it allows you to enjoy a sunset ride before the wall transforms under the evening lights.
Muslim Quarter
The Muslim Quarter sits directly behind the Drum Tower. It is a dense network of narrow streets and home to Xi’an’s Hui Muslim community. Beiyuanmen, the main pedestrian lane, is lined with stalls and small restaurants selling lamb kebabs, flatbread, cold noodles, and other Xi’an snacks.The quarter is worth visiting for the neighborhood as much as the food, with Chinese-style buildings, Arabic signage, and a Hui Muslim community whose roots in Xi’an go back to the Tang dynasty.
Giant Wild Goose Pagoda
The Giant Wild Goose Pagoda is a seven-story brick pagoda built in 652 CE during the Tang dynasty, originally commissioned by the monk Xuanzang to store Buddhist scriptures he had carried back from a 17-year journey to India.At 64 meters tall, the pagoda has a clean, symmetrical form typical of Tang architecture, and visitors can climb inside to narrow upper floors where the windows open onto wide views of the city and the Qinling Mountains on a clear day.
Shaanxi History Museum
The Shaanxi History Museum holds over 1.7 million artifacts, from prehistoric tools to Tang dynasty murals and goldwork. The Tang collection is especially worth seeing, with glazed tri-color pottery figures, tomb murals, and gold and silver objects displayed in a clear, well-organized way. Admission to the permanent galleries is free, though some special exhibitions require a separate ticket, and two to three hours is a realistic minimum for a proper visit.
Top Attractions in Xi'an
Hidden Gems In Xi'an
Beilin Museum
Set inside a former Confucian temple compound on Sanxue Street, the Beilin Museum holds nearly 3,000 inscribed stone steles.The calligraphy ranges from Han-era official inscriptions to Tang Dynasty masterpieces. One standout stele from 781 CE is inscribed in both Chinese and Syriac and records the arrival of Nestorian Christianity in China.Compared with Xi’an’s main sights, the museum feels noticeably calm, with quiet courtyards between the halls.
Hanguang Gate Relic Museum
Built inside the body of Xi’an’s Ming city wall, this small museum reveals the remains of a Tang Dynasty gate uncovered during wall repairs in the 1980s. The centerpiece is a four-storey cross-section of the wall, with rammed-earth layers from five different dynasties marked out under projection lighting — the oldest layer at the bottom dates back over 1,400 years. It's an odd, slightly eerie space: you're standing inside the wall looking at its own interior history.
Shuyuanmen
Just inside the South Gate, Shuyuanmen is a bluestone lane lined with Ming-and-Qing-style storefronts selling brushes, ink sticks, inkstones, and rice paper. Unlike many restored districts, it still functions as a place where people buy and practice calligraphy, with calligraphers sometimes working in open doorways. It offers a quieter contrast to the high-energy buzz of the nearby Muslim Quarter.
