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 Xian, China travel tales
Our customers share their travelling experiences in Xian, China.
Read about first hand stories on travel tips and guides, events, entertainment,shopping, food, business and transportation.
Also, you might want to read our
Beijing city guide,
Guangzhou city guide,
Kunming city guide,
Shanghai city guide,
and Xian city guide.
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| S Sin hock |
15 August 2005 |
Stayed at Bell Tower Hotel - Xian, China.
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Never take up the local day tour with many places to go. You will be exhausted! Select trip with just Terracotta, Ching-Hwa Lake and Da-Yan Temple!
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| D Hammond |
13 August 2005 |
Stayed at Hyatt Regency Xian - Xian, China.
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You can not visit Xi'an with out going to the Terracotta Warriors. I took a local taxi there with an English speaking guide. For little over half a day it cost 400 RMB (ca £30). This included a trip to the Tomb of Qin Shihuang & the hot springs Huaquing Pool.
The next day I used the same taxi to do the Western tour to Zhao & Qian Tombs both very impressive & the Famen Si temple. Its a long day 9.30 till about 5.00.
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| W Leung |
04 August 2005 |
Stayed at Shangri-La Golden Flower Hotel Xian - Xian, China.
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There is no taxi stand at the airport, instead, there are drivers at the arrival hall approaching the arriving passangers. They asked for RMB220 and that's a high price, almost doubled. A taxi going from Shangri-La to the Airport would be about 100. Most of the taxis offer day tour service. You may check against the price of different drivers. I hired a taxi to Hwa Shan, only RMB550 a day. The hotel can also arrange transportation but the price is...1200! There are also public transportation at the train station. That's a good time to experience the reality, no queue! People are squeezing in. That's the fun part of this trip.
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| E Tabor |
10 July 2005 |
Stayed at Bell Tower Hotel - Xian, China.
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Xi'an is another large Chinese city (around 6 million, I think) but it's a polluted, rather beat place. The air was translucent and very irritating. We saw more beggars there than anywhere else we visited. So why bother? Two words: Terra-Cotta Warriors. Yes, this is the place. The Terra-Cotta Warriors stand about an hour away, and make a visit to Xi'an absolutely necessary when visiting China. When you visit the T-C Warriors, you get a "tour," which includes Emperor Qinlong's Mausoleum, the Huaping Hot Springs and site of the 1936 Incident (involving Chiang Kai-Shek and Mao Tse-Tung) and a very skippable gondola ride up a mountain with yet another temple on top. There are some interesting pagodas much closer as well. I hear the Shaanxi Museum is excellent, but my 11-year-old wouldn't hear of it.
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| L Murray |
06 May 2005 |
Stayed at Bell Tower Hotel - Xian, China.
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We used Golden Circle Tours - they have an office on 2nd floor of hotel - to go to see the Terracotta Warriors. It was a great day - 7 of us in a mini-bus and a charming guide called Cassie. We also used them to take us to the airport, with a stop at the Han Yang Museum on the way. Worked out very well and this museum is definitely worth a visit. Also, don't miss the Lamasery in Xi'an - it's lovely.
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| C Thorburn |
02 April 2005 |
Stayed at Jianguo Hotel Xian - Xian, China.
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We travelled to tourist destinations by taxi with prearranged price. Cost for group of 5 was 400Y and taxi took us to Terricotta Warriors, Jade factory (unplanned), The Springs, Qin museum and tomb. Walled city and attractions easily walked around. Local map for places like Wild Goose Pagoda were very confusing. Lack of street signs and language barrier with locals didn't help the situation.
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| D Ross |
22 February 2005 |
Stayed at Grand New World Hotel - Xian, China.
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I highly recommend using Clarence Quo for an all-day or half day tour of the terracotta warriors and Xi'an. He can be found at taxitours.com. He is very reasonable, accommodating, and speaks excellent English. He offers tours to areas not usually available through the standard organizations.
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| E Shindo |
23 December 2004 |
Stayed at Shangri-La Golden Flower Hotel Xian - Xian, China.
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Xian, located at the bottom of the valley can be very cold weather with grey skies during the winter. Fortunately little wind to roam about. The Terracotta warrior visit is only a couple hours's drive and the National Museum has more exhibits than Beijing. Though an English guide can be pricey -- relatively speaking to other expenses -- a very strong recommendation. If on holiday, a 3 day visit would suffice to go through most attractions on a leisurely pace. Recommend trying the Xian-style Hot Pot.
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| N Bourque |
17 December 2004 |
Stayed at Jianguo Hotel Xian - Xian, China.
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I found Xian to be very nice to visit. I particularly liked the Bell Tower and the music program. It's easy to get around if you have the right map (in english - I never found one....) and the buses are great value at one Yuan a trip. Of course the Terra Cotta Warriors is a must, but for myself, I enjoyed the Big Wild Goose Pagoda equally as well, if no other reason than for the incredible carvings. The taxi rank at the train station was the worst I have encountered for chaos. I finally walked from there to the hotel just to get away from the hawkers. I did not have time, but I would have liked to have spent some time on the city walls, and at the History Museum. Be careful in restaurants. Most have great food, but few english menus, and even when I found one that did, and ordered chicken, I got what I think was eel, but could not convince the waitress it was not chicken. Bring a phrase book!!
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| C Goble |
31 October 2004 |
Stayed at Bell Tower Hotel - Xian, China.
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We arranged a one day tour for the day after our arrival through Star Tours in Beijing. We were met at the airport by our tour guide and she recommended seeing some of the sights that day so that we wouldn't have so much to see the next day. We visited the Wild Goose Pagoda, the city walls, a wonderful old pedestrian street full of artist supply shops and buildings from the late 1800's. The Terracotta warriors are amazing and we took in a dinner show in Tangyue Gong Palace which was very interesting (colorful costumes, sets and traditional Chinese music). It's touristy but fun. The smog was really awful the two days we were there (the worst we experienced in 2 1/2 weeks in China) but a rain cleared the air the day we left. It's still a place one should not miss.
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