Xi'an 西安

Xi’an is the eastern terminus of the Silk Road and the capital of China for eleven dynasties, including the Han and the Tang — the two periods Chinese people mean when they talk about the country’s golden ages. The reason to come is archaeological and visceral: an army of 8,000 clay soldiers standing in pits, a Ming city wall 14 km around that you can cycle on top of, and a Muslim Quarter where dinner costs ¥40 and tastes better than most of what you pay triple for in Beijing. It is also the cheapest great city in China to visit, and the best food-per-hour ratio in the country.

• Region North-west China
• Suggested stay 2 days
• Best season March–May and September–November
• Getting there Xi’an Xianyang airport (XIY) + high-speed rail: 4.5 h from Beijing, 6 h from Shanghai

Xi’an sits on the Guanzhong Plain in Shaanxi province, in the middle of the country, protected by the Qin Mountains to the south and the Loess Plateau to the north — the fertile basin that fed the first Chinese empires.Getting there: Xi’an Xianyang International (XIY) has direct flights across Asia and Europe; the airport metro line 14 reaches the city in about 40 minutes. High-speed rail: 4.5 h from Beijing, 6 h from Shanghai, 3 h from Chengdu. Xi’an North station is on metro line 2. Xi’an is a 240-hour visa-free transit port.

• The Terracotta Army — 1.5 h east of the city. Three pits, and a museum. Go early (opening) or late (after 14:00) and hire a guide; the meaning is not on the labels.
• The city wall — the only complete Ming city wall in China, 14 km around, 12 m high. Rent a bike on top (¥45–100, 100 min is about right for one circuit).
• The Muslim Quarter — a dense Hui neighbourhood of food streets around the Great Mosque. Go at dusk.
• Giant Wild Goose Pagoda — a 7th-century brick pagoda built to hold the Buddhist scriptures Xuanzang brought back from India; the north square has the largest musical fountain in Asia at night.
• Shaanxi History Museum — free, excellent, and the best single-room introduction to Chinese civilisation in the country.
• Han Yang Ling andthe Tang tombs — underground museums you walk into, with far fewer people than the Terracotta pits.

Known as Chang’an (“perpetual peace”) for most of its imperial life, this was the capital of the Western Han from 202 BCE — when the Silk Road opened — and of the Tang from 618 CE, when the city was probably the largest in the world, with a million residents and a grid of walled wards. The Tang fell in 907 and the capital moved east; Xi’an never ruled again, which is precisely why so much is buried here rather than built over. The wall you see is Ming (14th century), built on Tang foundations. The 1974 discovery of the Terracotta Army by farmers digging a well is the most famous archaeological find of modern China.

Xi’an is a north-western city: broad, dry, direct, and famously fond of noodles. TheHui community — Chinese Muslims, descendants of Silk Road traders — have lived around the Great Mosque for over a thousand years and run the food economy of the old city; the quarter is genuinely lived-in, not a tourist set. Shaanxi opera (qinqiang) is loud and nasal and performed in teahouses. Locals bowl, fly kites on the wall ramparts in spring, and eat late: the quarter is still busy at 22:00. The dialect is thick and vowels are flattened; Mandarin works fine.

This is the best cheap eating in China.Roujiamo (cumin lamb or pork in a flatbread — “the Chinese hamburger”),yangrou paomo (you tear your own bread into a bowl, the kitchen adds lamb broth — eat it before noon),biangbiang mian (hand-slapped wide noodles, the character forbiang has 58 strokes),liangpi (cold skin noodles with chilli oil),guokui, andpomegranate juice pressed in the street. Take home:persimmon cakes (huoshijing),red dates,walnuts, and replica terracotta figures from the gift shops near the pits (bargain hard).

Allow 2 days. Day 1: Terracotta Army in the morning, city wall bike ride at sunset, Muslim Quarter for dinner. Day 2: Shaanxi History Museum, Big Goose Pagoda, Han Yang Ling if you like underground sites.Timing: spring and autumn; summer is scorching on the wall (no shade); winter is dry and grey but manageable.Mistakes: going to the Terracotta pits at midday with a tour bus; buying the “terra-cotta” from street hawkers at the car park; skipping the wall because it looks like a tourist attraction — it is the best thing in the city.