Xi'an by season: Mid-Autumn, the film festival & the City Wall marathon

Autumn is Xi'an's finest season (see our best time to visit guide), and three events make it more than just good weather: the Mid-Autumn Festival (中秋节) in mid-September to early October, the Silk Road International Film Festival (丝绸之路国际电影节) in September, and the City Wall International Marathon (西安城墙国际马拉松), historically in November.

The catch, and the reason this article exists as a warning as much as a guide: all three move. Mid-Autumn drifts by weeks with the lunar calendar; the film festival alternates between Xi'an and Fuzhou, so it only lands here every other year; and the wall marathon has changed shape and even location since 2020. None of them sits on a fixed Gregorian date you can plan against months ahead.

The single rule for all of them: confirm the current year's dates on an official source before you book non-refundable travel. Where it helps, we note the channels to check. For the city's year-round seasonal drawcards — spring cherry blossoms, autumn ginkgo and the winter lantern fair — we have dedicated guides; this one is for the dated events.

Mid-Autumn is China's second-biggest traditional festival after Chinese New Year — a 3,000-year-old harvest reunion tied to the full moon. It falls on the 15th day of the 8th lunar month, which in the Western calendar means a date somewhere between mid-September and early October. In 2026 it lands on Friday 25 September, with a three-day public holiday 25–27 September; in other recent years it has moved between mid-September and the first days of October.

The custom is moon-viewing (赏月, shǎngyuè) — sitting out under the full moon with family, tea and mooncakes (月饼, yuèbǐng), the dense pastry rounds sold from every bakery for a month beforehand (the Hui bakeries in the Muslim Quarter are a good source). In Xi'an the classic places to be at moonrise are:

• The City Wall — walking the ramparts after dark with the moon over the tile roofs is the postcard view. The wall stays open into the evening; buy your ticket ahead on a festival night.
• The Big Wild Goose Pagoda north square, where the nightly fountain show plays under the pagoda silhouette — combine the fountain (around dusk) with moon-viewing after.
• Qujiang Pool Park and the Qujiang lakeside, calmer and less selfie-heavy than the wall.

One honest warning: because Mid-Autumn is a public holiday, the whole country travels at once. Trains sell out, hotels price up and the main sights run hot over the three days — read our public holidays and crowds guide and treat it like a mini Golden Week. The evening itself is lovely; the daytime logistics need booking.

Founded in 2014, the Silk Road International Film Festival is a national-level film event staged under the National Film Administration and China Media Group, jointly hosted by Shaanxi and Fujian provinces. Its gimmick is the rotation: it alternates every year between Xi'an (the overland start of the ancient Silk Road) and Fuzhou in Fujian (the maritime start). That means in any given city it's effectively biennial.

When it's in Xi'an, expect it in September, for roughly five days, with screenings, industry forums, red carpets and open-air shows across the city's cinemas and the Qujiang cultural quarter, plus the Golden Silk Road (金丝路, Jīn Sīlù) awards. Recent and upcoming editions:

• 2024 (11th) — Xi'an, 21–25 September.
• 2025 (12th) — Fuzhou (not in Xi'an).
• 2026 (13th) — confirmed back in Xi'an for September, with submissions open.

It is an industry festival first, but it isn't closed to visitors: public screenings (ticketed, usually cheap), open-air evening shows and the fan zones are accessible if you're in town. The honest practical bit is timing — the full programme and screening schedule are released only weeks ahead, so check the official site (xasriff.com) and the festival's WeChat account close to the dates rather than trusting a schedule you found online months ago. If you're here over the festival, it layers neatly onto the autumn golden window and the Tang show and Grand Tang Ever-Bright City night scene.

The idea is irresistible: a marathon run along the top of a complete Ming-dynasty city wall. The Xi'an City Wall International Marathon (西安城墙国际马拉松, formally the 友谊赛 "friendship race") was founded in 1993 and is billed as the world's only marathon on a fully preserved ancient wall. In its classic form it's a November morning, starting and finishing at the South Gate (Yongningmen, 永宁门), with a half-marathon (21.1 km), a 13.7 km point-to-point and a 5 km, and a deliberately small field — capped around a few thousand runners to protect the 600-year-old bricks.

Here is the honest part you need to hear: the classic on-the-wall race has not run in its familiar November form since 2021. The 2020 edition was cancelled for COVID; 2021 shifted to April; 2022–2023 were restructured into a "road-running series"; and the 2024 edition was held off the wall entirely, at the Han Chang'an Weiyang Palace ruins site in September. As of mid-2026 there was no confirmed date for a wall-top edition. So if "running on the wall" is the reason you'd book a trip, you must verify the current edition's format and date yourself — check the Xi'an Sports Bureau (西安市体育局) and the "曲江赛事" (Qujiang Events) WeChat channels — before committing to flights.

Also, don't confuse it with the Xi'an Marathon (西安马拉松, "西马"), a separate and much bigger city-wide road race of roughly 38,000 runners held in October (19 October in 2025). 西马 starts on the wall at Yongning Gate but comes down into the streets within the first kilometre — a great race, but a different experience from circling the ramparts.

The good news: you do not need the event to run or walk the wall. On any ordinary day a regular City Wall ticket lets you up onto the parapet, where you can rent a bike or jog the full 13.7 km circuit yourself. That experience — which is what most visitors actually want — does not depend on the marathon happening at all.

If you want to fold one of these into a visit, late September to early November is the sweet spot — mild days, the ginkgo turning gold late in October (see our autumn ginkgo guide) and the city's after-dark scene at full strength (Xi'an at night). In 2026 the calendar stacks up particularly well: Mid-Autumn (25 Sept) and the Silk Road Film Festival (September) both fall in Xi'an inside the same week or two.

A few practicals:

• Confirm before you book. Mid-Autumn's date is set by the lunar calendar; the film festival alternates cities; the marathon's status changes. None of them should be the sole reason for non-refundable flights until you've checked the current year's announcement.
• Book the holiday peak early. Mid-Autumn is a national public holiday — trains, hotels and the wall ticket itself go fast. Our booking attractions and public holidays guides cover the mechanics.
• Layer the city wall into everything. Two of these three events involve the wall, and a moonlit walk along the parapet is a fine free-form alternative to any organised event — see the City Wall guide for hours, bike rental and which gate to ascend.
• Keep one flexible day. Because dates shift, build a 3-day itinerary with one morning you can swap — for a film screening, a festival fan zone or a wall-top jog — once you're on the ground and can see what's actually on.