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Xi'an
Capital and largest city of Shaanxi, China

Xi'an

Xi'an is the capital of the Chinese province of Shaanxi.

Plan a trip to Xi'an→From Yuncheng (Yanhu)

A sub-provincial city on the Guanzhong plain, the city is the most populous in the province and third-most populous in Western China after Chongqing and Chengdu, as well as the most populous in Northwestern China. Based on the city's 2025 1% population sample survey, its estimated year-end resident population was 13.24 million, of whom 10.72 million were urban residents.

Get in

Getting to Xi'an

  1. 01
    Xi'an Xianyang International Airport
  2. 02
    Xi'an North Railway Station
See

Worth seeing

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Do

Things to do

Stroll round the Drum and Bell Tower area after dark, when they're brilliantly illuminated.

  1. 01
    Hui Muslim Quarter
  2. 02
    Walk the City Walls

    Walk along the city walls and see the South Gate (南门 Nánmén, literally translated as "The Southern Gate"), which is illuminated at night.

  3. 03
    Qujiang Sightseeing Monorail

    An elevated 6.8 km sightseeing monorail looping around the Qujiang cultural district.

Eat

Where to eat

Xi'an used to have only a few restaurants known by the locals to serve delicious food. These days you can find a wider variety of restaurants, including western fast food brands that locals may find exciting. However younger generations don't seem to appreciate the traditional cuisines and rather choose to eat fast food, so some of good old restaurants are forced to close down, being taken over by the newer ones.

  1. 01
    Wen Xin Jiaozi Guan
  2. 02
    Lao Sun Jia

    Has fantastic yangrou paomo which is very cheap but flavorful.

  3. 03
    Li Ming's Dumpling House
  4. 04
    Yong Xing Fang
  5. 05
    Nanliu Alley
How locals move

Getting around Xi'an the local way

  • Go nextHuashan is a 2160-m mountain with spectacular views; either hike up the 6 km trail (4–6 hours) or take the 10 minute cable car for ¥70 (though the cable car often has lines lasting 2 hours.) Try to catch sunrise on the East peak, but it's cold up there.

From Wikivoyage: Xi'an, CC BY-SA. Not yet checked by us. Last edited 2026-09.

Text adapted from Wikipedia and Wikivoyage, CC BY-SA 4.0. Photograph: Wikimedia Commons (see file page), Wikimedia Commons.