The index · 39 sights
Things to do in Xi'an.
Honest verdicts on 39 sights, stacked across five layers of time — from a 6,000-year Neolithic village to a Tang spectacle staged on the lake. We rate every one straight, so you spend your hours on the time that matters.
The must-sees
Four layers of the city, seven sights you can't miss — rated straight, with no hype.
Empire Time · 210 BCTerracotta Army8,000 life-sized soldiers buried for China's First Emperor — and still on guard 2,200 years later.Explore
Golden Time · since the 700sMuslim QuarterFeeding Xi'an since the 700s — the loudest, smokiest, best-smelling streets of its Hui community.Explore
Golden Time · 652 ADBig Wild Goose PagodaA Tang brick pagoda raised in 652 AD for a monk's 17-year journey to India — still Xi'an's defining landmark.Explore
Golden Time · every layer, one roofShaanxi History MuseumEvery layer of Xi'an's time stack under one roof — Zhou bronzes, Han gold and Tang treasure.Explore
Wall Time · 1370sXi'an City WallA 14-kilometer Ming dynasty rectangle you can cycle on top of — 650 years old and still the city's favorite commute.Explore
Wall Time · 1384Xi'an Bell TowerA Ming tower from 1384 at the dead center of the walled city — best admired at dusk, floodlit above the roundabout.Explore
Current Time · Tang, rebootedGrand Tang Ever-Bright CityTwo kilometers of free, floodlit Tang dynasty spectacle — the golden age, rebooted nightly.Explore02
Worth the detour
16 sights that justify the trip — here are six we'd walk first.
- 02Hanyangling MausoleumEmpire Time · 153 BCA Han emperor's underground court, begun in 153 BC — half-sized figures under a glass floor, without the crowds.
- 03Huaqing Palace & Hot SpringsGolden Time · 700s ADTang emperors soaked here in the 700s — China's most famous love story, and the site of a 1936 kidnapping that changed the country.
- 04Small Wild Goose Pagoda & Xi'an MuseumGolden Time · 707 ADA Tang pagoda from 707 AD that outlasted China's deadliest earthquake — free, calm, and half the crowds.
- 05YongxingfangGolden Time · Wei Zheng's old blockAll 107 counties of Shaanxi's food packed into one walled block — touristy, efficient, and honestly useful.
- 06Daxingshan TempleGolden Time · where the sutras were translatedThe 1,700-year-old temple where Japanese Buddhism was born — free, pigeon-filled, and five minutes from Xi'an's busiest mall.
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If you have time
16 more for the unhurried or the return visit — here are six with fewer tickets and more flavor.
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Every sight, filtered
All 39 — slice them by our rating, their type, or their layer of time.
Showing 39 of 39 sights
Beyond the city walls
7 more sit outside town
A sacred mountain, the Yellow River at full roar, and two imperial tombs — day trips worth the bullet train.