Xi'an City Wall
Ride a bicycle on the best-preserved Ming city wall in China.
Visitor info
- Opening hours
- 08:00-22:00 (South Gate)
- Ticket
- 54 CNY + 45 CNY bike
- Suggested visit
- 2 hours
Price is indicative — final quote on inquiry.
Why it's worth it
The best-preserved city wall in China — a complete 13.7-kilometre Ming loop from 1370, 12 metres high and wide enough on top for the old patrol roads. It encircles the entire old town, gates, watchtowers and all.
Don't miss
- Rent a bike on the rampart and ride the full circuit — about 100 minutes with photo stops
- The South Gate (Yongningmen) lantern-lit after dark, with the ceremony re-enactments
- Looking down into ordinary hutong courtyards from the parapet — two Chinas, one view
Getting there
Metro Line 2 to Yongningmen; the South Gate has the main tourist entrance, stairs and lift.
Tips
- Bikes rent by the hour with deposit; e-bikes available if pedalling 14 km sounds grim — check brake and bell before setting off
- The wall closes to walkers after the evening light-up (around 18:00-19:00 in winter); check that day
- Go late afternoon: cooler, golden light on the grey brick, and you finish as the lanterns switch on
Photos
More in Xi'an
- Big Wild Goose Pagoda
Tang-dynasty Buddhist pagoda with nightly musical fountain.
- Muslim Quarter
Lantern-lit food alleys behind the Drum Tower since the Tang dynasty.
- Terracotta Army
8,000 life-size clay warriors guarding Emperor Qin Shi Huang since 210 BC.
- Emperor Qinshihuang's Mausoleum Site Museum
Discovered by villager Yang Zhifa while digging a well in 1974, the "Eighth Wonder of the World": Over 6,000 terracotta warriors in the First Pit infantry formation with "a thousand faces, a thousand looks"; the Second Pit features mixed arms formations and kneeling archers and green-faced figures; the Third Pit is the command headquarters; the Bronze Chariot and Horse Museum's First Chariot and Second Chariot are known as the "Crown of Bronze..."
- Emperor Qinshihuang's Mausoleum (Lishan Garden)
The resting place of China's first emperor (built for 38 years, mobilizing 720,000 laborers): The burial mound has not been excavated—legends state it was "filled with mercury to simulate rivers, lakes, and seas" to mimic the terrain, which awaits archaeological verification; pit burials such as the Acrobatics Pit, Civil Official Pit, and Stone Armor Pit display the skills of various trades in the Qin Dynasty.
- Huaqing Palace (Huaqing Pool · Lishan)
The site of King You of Zhou's Liguang Palace and the hot spring palace expanded by Emperor Xuanzong of Tang: The ruins of the Haitang Bath (where Yang Guifei was granted a bath) and the other five sets of imperial bath ruins, such as the Xingchen Bath and the Lotus Bath, are the actual setting for the poetic scene of "Spring Cold, Bathing in Huaqing Pool."