Mini Group: Two-Day Xi'an Panoramic Tour

7:30 am – 9:00 am, Pick-up at Your Hotel and Drive to the Terracotta Warrior Museum (Day 1)

Your guide will be waiting for you in your hotel lobby at the appointed time holding a sign with the Trippest logo and your name on it.

The distance from downtown Xi'an to the Terracotta Warrior Museum is about 45 kilometers. Normally, it takes about 50 minutes to drive there.

9:00 am – 12:00 pm, Visit the Terracotta Warriors and the Mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang (Day 1)

Your exploration of the Terracotta Army site begins. Please follow your guide to discover the amazing terracotta warriors that were buried for more than 2,000 years and to hear interesting stories about China's first emperor - Emperor Qin Shi Huang (259–210 BC).

There are three pits in the museum. Our recommended visiting sequence is Pit 1 – Pit 2 – Pit 3 – Bronze Chariot Pit – the Mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang as you will follow historical clues that lead from general to detailed information.

• Pit 1 is the largest of the pits and it is estimated to house around 6,000 figures as well as a great quantity of bronze weaponry. You will be shocked by the large scale of the figures lining up, and will feel as if you have been taken back to the Qin Dynasty when the army of soldiers was waiting to go out to battle.
• Pit 2 is not as large as Pit 1. It is estimated that the terracotta warriors and horses in this pit amount to 1,300 figures. However, the great variety makes it top-rated among all three pits.
• Pit 3 is the smallest one with only 72 terracotta warriors and horses. It is believed that it served as the headquarters for the army, directing the warriors in Pit 1 and Pit 2.
• The Bronze Chariot Pit exhibits two painted bronze chariots in a large scale. As burial objects, the bronze chariots represent Emperor Qin Shi Huang's vehicles. Crowned as "the King of Bronze Ware", the bronze chariots are the earliest, largest, and best-preserved bronze artifacts in the world.

When you take a closer look at the different clay figures' details, you'll find each figure has its own unique face. Please notice the differences in their hairstyles, headwear, and gestures. These are used to show their military ranks.

12:00 pm – 1:30 pm, Lunch Break (Optional)

We will have our lunch at a selected local restaurant. You will have chance to taste the most featured Shaanxi local food. Lunch fee is at your own expense. 

1:30 pm – 5:00 pm, Drive back and Visit Xi'an Ancient City Wall (Day 1)

After lunch, return to Xi'an for the next destination, Xi'an Ancient City Wall. A nap might be necessary for you to feel refreshed during a 50-minute driving back.

Xi'an Ancient City Wall was first built in the Ming Dynasty (1370–1378 AD) and is the largest and the best-maintained ancient city wall in China. It is shaped like a rectangle with a total length of 13.74 kilometers. The downtown part of Xi'an City is centered within this ancient city wall. There are four major gates (the north gate, the east gate, the south gate, and the west gate) of this city wall. Your visit will start from East Gate (Chang Le Gate).

We highly recommend you to take the eco-car running on the city wall (your guide will buy the tickets for you). This runs from East Gate – North Gate – West Gate – South Gate and you will meet your guide and the other tour members at South Gate at about 4:30pm (the Bicycle Service Station). But in summer, it is very hot on the wall, so we suggest you to ride the essential part of the City Wall from East Gate to South Gate only, which is about 3.5 kilometers.

5:00 pm – 6:00 pm, Visit Xi'an's Most Famous Food Street - Muslim Street (Day 1)

After visiting the city wall, you will head to Xi'an's most famous food street, Muslim Street, where you'll see lots of featured foods and snacks. You can try some if you'd like to.

Please take note of the following tips for this food street:

• This is Muslim Street, where most local people are Muslims. Please try to respect their traditions and follow instructions from your guide.
• Please be aware of your bag as this street is very crowded and noisy; watch out for pickpockets.
• Please follow your guide as there are many people and it is very easy to get lost.
• You can try some food there but it's better to ask your guide for recommendations as some of the food and shops have bad sanitary conditions.

6:00 pm – 6:30 pm, Drive Back to Your Hotel (Day 1)

8:00 am – 10:40 am, Hotel Pickup and Visit the Shaanxi History Museum (Day 2)

The same as your previous day, your guide will be waiting for you at your hotel lobby at the appointed time (around 7:30 am - 8:00 am) and pick you up to our first destination: Shaanxi History Museum.

Shaanxi is a very important area in both ancient and modern China and it had been the capital place of more than 13 dynasties. Therefore the local culture and arts of Shaanxi would be a window or a typical representative of traditional Chinese culture and art. And in this museum, it has exhibited more than 370,000 historical relics which has vividly displayed the traditional culture and arts of ancient China from the Neolithic Period to modern society and is the first large-scale modern museum in China.

11:00 am – 11:40 am, Exterior Visit the Big Wild Goose Pagoda (Day 2)

Afterwards, you will be transferred to the south square of the Big Wild Goose Pagoda. The 9-floor Buddhism Tower along with a temple called Temple of Great Maternal Grace was built by the Emperor Li Zhi of Tang Dynasty to memorize his mother Empress Wende. After the temple was built, Li Zhi invited the famous Monk Xuan Zang (known as Tang Monk in the famous book of The Journey to the West) as the honored master here in the temple.

Master Xuan Zang lived here and had brought lots of Buddhism sutras from India. He translated the Buddhism text here and had brought the religion of Buddhism from India to China. Here you can take a picture with the statue of Master Xuan Zang.

12:00 pm – 1:00 pm, Lunch Break (Optional)

We will have our lunch at a selected local restaurant. You will have chance to taste the most featured Shaanxi local food. Lunch fee is at your own expense.

1:00 pm – 2:30 pm, Visit Tangbo Art Museum (Day 2)

After lunch, we will visit a very small but featured private art museum called Tangbo Art Museum which possesses a collection of Shaanxi folk arts and representative ancient paintings exhibited in historical sequence.

Here you'll have chance to learn Chinese Calligraphy, Chinese Tea Ceremony or Chinese Paper-cutting hand by hand which I believe it would defiantly be a highlight of the day.

3:30 pm – 5:00 pm, Visit the Hanyangling Mausoleum (Day 2)

It takes about 40 minutes to drive there. This museum has an underground exhibition hall so that people can see the results of the archeological digs in the big mausoleum complex of Emperor Jingdi (also named Liu Qi, 188 to 141 BC) of the Han Dynasty, his wife, officials, dynastic clan members, and commoners.

There is also a graveyard for slaves who built the complex. The underground hall was opened in 2006. The archeological dig site only covers a small area, but the whole burial complex is immense. It covers a total area of about 10 square kilometers or 4 square miles.

5:00 pm – 6:00 pm, Transfer Back to Hotel (Day 2)

Your guide and driver will transfer you back to the hotel, making a perfect end to your Xi'an panoramic tour.