The three-hour problem

Everybody wants to see the Terracotta Army. Almost nobody wants to spend a whole day getting there and back. The site is about 40 km east of Xi'an, and if you join a group tour you will typically be out of your hotel for eight hours, of which maybe two are actually spent looking at the warriors.

I have done this trip more than thirty times now, with all sorts of travellers. Here is how I would do it if I had one day and wanted to see the warriors and have a real Xi'an evening afterwards.

Getting there without a tour

By high-speed train to Lintong

This is the option I recommend most. Trains from Xi'an North Station to Lintong take about 20 to 25 minutes and cost 9 to 14 yuan. From Lintong Station, a taxi to the site is 15 to 20 minutes and around 20 yuan. Total door-to-door from central Xi'an: about 90 minutes.

The catch is that Lintong is a small station and English signage is thin. Have your destination written in Chinese characters to show the driver.

By metro plus bus

Metro Line 9 runs east to Huaqingchi, and from there a shuttle bus continues to the site. It is cheap, around 10 yuan total, but it takes about two hours and the bus can be crowded. Good for a slow day, bad if you are short on time.

By private car

Roughly 400 to 600 yuan for the day, driver waiting. This is what I book for families and for anyone with limited mobility. You gain the ability to leave when you want rather than when the group does, which is the single biggest quality-of-life difference.

What actually takes the time

People budget for the warriors and forget the rest. The site is three pits plus a museum, spread across a large compound.

• Pit 1 is the famous one, the size of an aircraft hangar, with the rows of infantry. Give it 60 to 90 minutes. Walk to the far end first, then work back towards the entrance, which is against the flow and much more comfortable.
• Pit 2 has cavalry and archers, and is partly unexcavated. Twenty minutes is enough.
• Pit 3 is small, the command post. Ten minutes.
• The bronze chariots museum is behind Pit 1 and is genuinely worth 30 minutes. Many people skip it and it is the best-preserved thing on site.

Add in the 15-minute walk from the ticket gate to the pits (there is a shuttle buggy for a small fee, worth it in summer), security, and the inevitable queue, and a sensible visit is three to four hours on site.

When to go

Arrive at opening, 08:30. The first ninety minutes are the only time Pit 1 is not a wall of phones. Tour buses from Xi'an tend to land between 10:00 and 11:30, and the site stays busy until about 15:00.

Afternoon is the second-best option, from 15:30 to the 17:00 last entry. The light is softer and the crowds are thinning.

Avoid Chinese public holidays entirely. On a National Day visit I once spent forty minutes moving along a railing twenty metres long.

The one thing most people get wrong

They book the warriors and then go straight back to Xi'an, exhausted, and eat dinner near their hotel. That wastes the day.

Lintong is not just the warriors. Ten minutes from the site is the Huaqing Palace, the hot spring complex where the Tang emperors bathed and where the Xi'an Incident played out in 1936. It is a pleasant two-hour stop with gardens, a small mountain, and a lot fewer people than the pits.

Combine the two, and the long drive east stops feeling like dead time.

My recommended day

• 07:00 Leave Xi'an North Station on an early train to Lintong.
• 08:30 Arrive at the Terracotta Army right as gates open. Head for Pit 1.
• 09:00 to 12:00 Work through Pit 1, Pit 2, Pit 3, and the bronze chariots. Take a break midway.
• 12:30 Lunch near the site. There are basic noodle places along the road. Nothing special, but fine.
• 13:30 Huaqing Palace for two hours.
• 16:00 Train back to Xi'an.
• 17:00 Back in the city. Shower, then go to the Muslim Quarter for dinner and the city wall at dusk.

That gets you the warriors, a Tang dynasty hot spring, a wall walk, and street food, all in one day without running.

Practical details

Tickets

Buy online in advance through the official WeChat mini-program or a reseller. The site sells out on peak days. Bring your passport, because it is checked against the ticket at the gate.

Guides and audio

The on-site audio guide in English is serviceable. A live guide is better for context and costs around 100 to 200 yuan for a group. Beware of unofficial touts at the car park; book through your hotel or a reputable operator instead.

What to bring

Water, a hat, and shoes you can stand in for four hours. There is very little shade in the compound. In winter the pits are unheated and genuinely cold, so dress warmer than you think you need to.

Photography

No flash, no tripods. A phone is fine and honestly adequate. If you carry a proper camera, a fast prime around 35mm works well for the compressed rows of figures.

An honest note on the experience

The warriors are one of those places that can feel anticlimactic if you arrive tired, rushed and pressed against fifty other people. The object itself is extraordinary. The logistics around it can flatten the feeling.

Give it the whole day, arrive early, and build in the second stop. That is the difference between ticking off a sight and actually remembering it.

Originally published on 71Asia Tours blog.