7 Best Day Trips from Xi'an
Xi’an’s own City Wall and Muslim Quarter fill a solid two days, but the surrounding Shaanxi countryside holds the trips that turn a quick stop into a real trip. Carry some cash on all seven, since the Terracotta Army bus and several rural stalls are cash-only, and keep your VPN running for map lookups on the road.
1. Terracotta Army and Lintong District
About 35-40km northeast of downtown, this is the trip everyone builds a Xi’an visit around. Adult entry runs about CNY 120, covering the three excavation pits plus the Bronze Chariots and Horses hall. The cash-only bus 游5/306 leaves the East Square of Xi’an Railway Station roughly every 7 minutes, CNY 7, about an hour each way. Watch for fake “306” touts working the same square who charge more than the real bus. Give the site a solid half-day; the emperor’s actual tomb mound remains unexcavated, so what you see is the surrounding pits and grounds, not a sealed burial chamber.
2. Mount Huashan
One of China’s Five Great Mountains, Huashan is about 30 minutes by high-speed rail from Xi’an North to Huashan North, then a full day of cable cars and queues. The harnessed “Plank Walk in the Sky” is genuinely vertigo-inducing and draws 2+ hour lines by midday, but it’s a managed, waivered activity, not a free-solo stunt; ages 15-55 only. “West up, North down” is the standard route for covering the main peaks in a day.
3. Huaqing Palace and Hot Springs
Near Lintong, similar distance and direction as the Terracotta Army, entry runs roughly CNY 120. Beyond the Tang-dynasty hot-spring pools and gardens, this is the actual site of the 1936 Xi’an Incident, where Chiang Kai-shek was detained by his own generals, a significant 20th-century event most first-time visitors never hear about elsewhere.
4. Famen Temple
About 120km west of Xi’an, with thin public transit that makes an organized tour or private car the practical choice over a DIY bus trip. The underground crypt held a relic believed by tradition, though not scientifically confirmed, to be a finger bone of the Buddha, discovered in 1987.
5. Qianling Mausoleum
The joint tomb of Emperor Gaozong and Empress Wu Zetian, China’s only reigning female emperor, marked by 61 headless stone envoy statues and the famous “Wordless Stele,” left blank by design. Less crowded than the Terracotta Army and worth pairing with Famen Temple if you’re heading west for the day.
6. Han Yang Ling
About 25km north of the city, this is the Han dynasty’s own smaller-scale answer to the Terracotta Army, viewed through a glass floor over the excavated pits rather than an open pit hall. Far fewer visitors make it a calmer stop for anyone who wants the concept without the crowds.
7. Qinling Mountain Foothill Parks
South of the city, the Qinling range offers forest parks and short hikes for a lower-key nature day that doesn’t require the full Huashan commitment. These make a good half-day add-on if you’ve already used a full day on the mountain itself.
Getting There
Most of these trips run by bus, high-speed rail, or a hired car with driver; Huashan and the Terracotta Army have the most reliable public transit, while Famen Temple’s thin bus service makes an organized tour worth the extra cost.
Read more: pair the Terracotta Army with the rest of a first city day in our full Xi’an travel guide , and book the Huashan trip as a train ticket alone if you’d rather manage the mountain yourself.