Classic High-end 5-day Xi'an Tours (VIP Privileges)

Arrival — Welcome to Xi'an
On arrival in Xi'an, your guide and driver will welcome you at the airport with a name sign, then transfer you by private vehicle to your hotel. Your guide will assist with check-in and give a brief orientation to the city.

Afternoon — Xi'an City Wall，Calligraphy and Painting Class
The 14th-century Ming Dynasty City Wall stretches 13.7 kilometers and is one of the world's best-preserved fortifications. Its 12-meter-high ramparts, watchtowers, and arrow slits showcase ancient military ingenuity. Rent a bike to traverse its entirety, passing the South Gate's ceremonial drum performances and the willow trees along the moat.

At a local studio, learn calligraphy and Chinese painting under a master calligrapher's guidance, writing Tang poetry with traditional wolf-hair brushes. Practice characteristic strokes on rice paper, then create a personalized seal carved with your Chinese name.

Late Afternoon — Yongxingfang Food Street
This Tang-style food alley brims with Shaanxi delicacies such as Zichang pancakes (buckwheat crepes stuffed with shredded potatoes), Hulu chicken (crispy fried whole chicken), and Fuzhuan tea (aged fermented brick tea). Try the popular Smash Bowl Wine ritual — toss a clay bowl after drinking for good luck.

Evening — Dinner and Hotel Transfer

After dinner, you will be transferred to your hotel for a restful night.

Accommodation
Overnight at your hotel in Xi'an.

Morning — Terracotta Army Museum
Discover Emperor Qin Shi Huang's 2,200-year-old necropolis, where some 8,000 life-sized clay soldiers stand guard. Pit 1's infantry and chariots reveal the Qin military hierarchy, while Pit 2's kneeling archers display fine details of ancient armor, and the Bronze Chariot Hall houses gold-and-silver relics that symbolized imperial journeys into the afterlife. Your guide will explain how the figures were crafted and arranged, and how the site was found by farmers digging a well in 1974.

Lunch — Daqin Liyan Restaurant
Savor Qin-era dishes at Daqin Liyan Restaurant: liangpi (hand-ripped wheat noodles with chili and vinegar), Qin Royal Soup (slow-cooked lamb with goji berries) and Honey-Millet Cake infused with osmanthus. The rustic decor features replica bronze ding vessels and terracotta figurines.

Afternoon — Huaqing Palace
This Tang Dynasty hot spring retreat hosted Emperor Xuanzong and his concubine Yang Guifei. Wander lotus-filled courtyards, dip your hands in the 43°C Lotus Pool and view frescoes depicting their tragic romance, and stop at the on-site Imperial Source Museum to see jade bath tools and poetry tablets. The palace sits at the foot of Mount Li, where the hot springs have been prized for well over a thousand years.

Dinner — Yuyangong Imperial Banquet
Dine at the Yuyangong restaurant at the entrance of the Huaqing Palace.

Evening — Song of Everlasting Sorrow Show
This outdoor spectacle combines water screens, drone-lit mountains and floating stages to dramatize the love story of Xuanzong and Yang. Dancers in silk costumes perform under the stars to live guqin and pipa music, turning the palace grounds into a stage.

Meals — Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
All three meals are included on this day.

Morning — Muslim Quarter and Great Mosque
Explore Beiyuanmen Street's bustling stalls, which sell specialties such as Yangrou Paomo (lamb stew with crumbled flatbread) and Persian rose pastries. The Great Mosque, first established in the 7th century, blends Chinese pavilions with Arabic calligraphy — notice the moon tablet inscribed with Quranic verses and the cedarwood Phoenix Pavilion. It is one of the largest and best-preserved early mosques in China.

Lunch — Defachang Dumpling Restaurant
Enjoy a lunch of handcrafted dumplings at Defachang, a long-established Xi'an restaurant known for its wide variety of dumpling fillings.

Afternoon — Shaanxi History Museum
The Shaanxi History Museum houses over 370,000 artifacts spanning the Zhou to the Qing dynasties. Highlights include tri-colored glazed camels, Qin Dynasty terracotta warriors, and Silk Road Sogdian gold coins, while the Tang Dynasty Treasures room displays masterpieces of gold and silver ware from the era.

Late Afternoon — Chang'an Twelve Hours Theme Park
At Chang'an Twelve Hours, dress in rented hanfu (Tang-style robes) to wander replica markets, teahouses, and lantern-lit alleys. Watch street performances such as The Night Banquet dance and Acrobatic Tea Art, where performers pour boiling water into cups from a height.

Evening — Datang Everbright City
Stroll this illuminated pedestrian street, which features holographic shows and street performers dressed as Tang scholars. Don't miss the towering Giant Tang Lady Statue in her flowing silk robes.

Morning — Famen Temple
Famen Temple is a Tang Dynasty temple that houses Buddhism's most sacred relic, a finger bone of Sakyamuni, in its underground palace. Marvel at the octagonal Zhenwu Pagoda and a 1,400-year-old bodhi tree, and explore the museum's gold-plated sutra cases and Empress Wu Zetian's embroidered robes. Your guide will explain the temple's long role as one of China's most important Buddhist pilgrimage sites.

Lunch — Famen Temple Vegetarian Feast
Savor a Buddhist meal of lotus root soup with wolfberries, mushroom-stuffed buns that mimic meat textures, and walnut tofu drizzled with honey, served in a tranquil courtyard.

Afternoon — Qianling Mausoleum
The Qianling Mausoleum is the joint tomb of Emperor Gaozong and Empress Wu Zetian, set against the hill known as the Sleeping Beauty. Its Sacred Way is lined with stone lions and mythical qilin beasts, and the tomb is famous for 61 headless stone statues representing foreign envoys and the enigmatic Wordless Stele. Your guide will share the stories behind these monuments as you explore.

Evening — Yuanjia Village
Yuanjia Village is a Ming-style folk village that offers hands-on activities: grind flour at a watermill, press oil from sesame seeds, and taste Biángbiáng noodles tossed with chili and garlic. You can also visit craft workshops making shadow puppets and wheat-straw paintings.

Dinner — Yuanjia Village Food Street
Feast on communal dishes such as liquor-braised pork belly, buckwheat cold noodles with black vinegar, and crispy persimmon cakes, dining under red lanterns while listening to Shaanxi opera from nearby teahouses.

Morning — Xi'an Museum and Small Wild Goose Pagoda
Housed near the Small Wild Goose Pagoda, the Xi'an Museum focuses on the city's lesser-known history, with exhibits that include Tang Dynasty epitaphs detailing the lives of scholars, Silk Road maps annotated with caravan routes, and a replica of the scripture-laden backpack carried by the monk Xuanzang. Next door you can climb the 43-meter Tang-era Small Wild Goose Pagoda, which has survived some seventy earthquakes thanks to its honeycomb brick structure and forms part of the UNESCO-listed Silk Roads site. The adjacent Jianfu Temple Bell Tower houses an 8,000-kilogram Ming Dynasty bell that was struck during morning rituals.

Lunch — Farewell Lunch
A farewell lunch is arranged before your afternoon departure.

Afternoon — Departure
Your guide and driver will provide a private transfer to Xi'an Airport or the Xi'an North Railway Station for your onward journey, assisting with luggage and seeing you off at the departure point.

Meals — Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
All three meals are included on this day.