Pro

City Walls, the warriors, dumplings and the large goose pagoda
Con

Bus drivers, roads outside the city walls and the dust in winter
In a nutshell

Everyone should see the warriors but it's a long journey for a couple of hours
Bell Tower Hotel, Xian: Central Xian
mccrorj Says: Very pleasant hotel right in the centre of the city. Obviously caters for a lot of tour parties and has high turn over of guests. Decor pleasant staff friendly good value mid range hotel. The location is the real selling point it is dead centre of the city. 10 mins from...
Dumpling stall off bell tower: Street Food
mccrorj Says: Cheapest and nicest dumplings I ate in china. Can't remember how much they cost but it was pennies (or cents if you like). Very popular with the locals. There a number of stall located about 150 metres from the Bell tower hotel crossing the road past Macdonalds on your right...
Tina-Perth Says: We were very lucky to have a Chinese friend with us to interpret, but this lady can also supply an English speaking guide. She was fabulous to us and we found her to be fair, trustworthy, prompt and helpful. You negotiate a daily rate with her which saves money.If you need...
oceania26 Says: There's very little western influence here and not as many tourist travel this far north. I was contstantly stared, pointed and snickered at. Extremely rare to find anyone who speaks English and if you go up to someone to ask something next thing you'll know you've drawn a...
Be careful when you fall in the lake
easyoar Says: As is quite customary in China, official translations don't always end up saying exactly what they meant.(Sorry this wasn't meant as a serious warning...)
mccrorj Says: Every organised tour I went on followed this format. You get on the bus and are taken to a factory, silk, jade or even medical. You will spend as much time in these places as you do on your destination. In reality this was only one stop in Xian but in Beijing you couldn't go...
gaizee Says: Flat comfortable shoesHat or umbrella Immodium and gastrolites Don't eat the lettuce, even if it is washed in bottled water, it gave us both tummy upsets.
Plan a Xian Shan vacation with reviews, tips and photos posted by real travelers and Xian Shan locals

As is quite customary in China, official translations don't always end up saying exactly what they meant.(Sorry this wasn't meant as a serious warning...)
2 members live in Xian Shan
Our members can help!
1

I like most tourists visited Xian for one reason only and that was to see the terracotta warriors. In reality I left feeling a little deflated. Impressive though the site is it's a long way to travel...
2
Xi'an - still working on this one

An example of the incredible works from Xian's Terracotta Warriors site. These horses are full size. Each one different.
3

We went up on the wall surrounding the inner city, one of the last remaining in China and visited a laquer factory. But the most interesting was a tour of the Terra-cotta Warriors. Every thing I read...
4

Day 1 How excited were we, today we go to see the terracotta warriors. Because our son and his wife came with us we hired a car and driver for the day which worked out more convient and cost...
5

First of all, I must apologise to any residents of Xian, for I'm sure the town is fantastic, but this was taken from my actual diary notes at the time, and I was feeling pretty miserable...
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