5-Day Xi'an Grand Tang Dynasty Classic Tour

Morning — Arrival at Xi'an Xianyang International Airport
Your guide and driver meet you in the arrivals hall with a name sign and take you by private vehicle to your hotel in the city centre. The early arrival means the whole day is still ahead of you, but a long-haul flight deserves some rest first.

Afternoon — Check-in and Rest
Settle into your 4- or 5-star hotel and recover from the journey. Your guide confirms the programme for the coming days and is on hand for anything you need.

Evening — The Muslim Quarter
Dinner is in the Muslim Quarter, a grid of lanes where Hui families have sold food since the Tang dynasty: hand-pulled biangbiang noodles, cumin lamb skewers, roujiamo and sweet persimmon cakes. Afterwards walk to the Bell and Drum Tower square, where the two Ming towers are floodlit against the modern city.

Meals
Breakfast, Dinner included.

Morning — The Terracotta Warriors and Horses Museum
Drive east to Lintong and stand at the edge of Pit 1, where more than six thousand life-sized soldiers face east in battle formation. Each face is different; the bronze weapons were still sharp when they came out of the ground. Your guide walks you through Pits 1, 2 and 3 and the Bronze Chariot hall, and explains how a workforce of artisans produced an army on an industrial scale in the third century BC.

Afternoon — Huaqing Palace
Continue to Huaqing Palace at the foot of Mount Li, where Emperor Xuanzong built thermal baths and pavilions for his consort Yang Guifei. The same courtyards later became the setting for the 1936 Xi'an Incident, so the site carries both the most famous love story and one of the decisive political moments of modern China.

Evening — The Grand Tang Mall
After dark, walk the Grand Tang Mall, a 2.1-kilometre pedestrian avenue of Tang-style architecture, light installations and street performance that recreates the night market of Chang'an at the height of the dynasty.

Meals
Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner included.

Morning — Xi'an Museum and the Small Wild Goose Pagoda
Explore the Xi'an Museum, whose collection runs from prehistory through the Zhou, Qin, Han and Tang; the star exhibit is the Tang tri-colour glazed horse. Then walk the grounds of the Small Wild Goose Pagoda, a Tang masterpiece that has been through dozens of recorded earthquakes and is still standing.

Afternoon — The Ancient City Wall
Ascend the Ming city wall, the most complete ancient fortification in China. Take the electric buggy or a bicycle, pass the gates and watchtowers, and read the city from 12 metres up.

Meals
Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner included.

Morning — The Giant Wild Goose Pagoda
Visit the Giant Wild Goose Pagoda, where the Tang monk Xuanzang stored and translated the Buddhist scriptures he carried back from India. Then walk the Tang Dynasty Lotus Garden, China's first royal garden dedicated to presenting Tang culture.

Afternoon — A Scholar's Tea Ceremony
Join an exclusive tea ceremony led by a classical scholar. Learn the Tang method of boiling tea, taste several premium leaves, and discuss Chang'an's place in the Silk Road world with someone who has spent a career on the subject.

Evening — Qinqiang Opera at the Yi Su Society
Attend Qinqiang opera at the historic Yi Su Society theatre. Known as the mother of Chinese opera, Qinqiang is unamplified and unadorned; its arias carry the flat, bold accent of Guanzhong.

Meals
Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner included.

Morning — The Stele Forest Museum
Explore the Stele Forest, a treasury of thousands of stone steles inscribed from the Han through the Qing dynasties, then stroll Academy Gate cultural street where brushes, antiques and traditional galleries line the historic avenue.

Afternoon — Lunch at Yongxingfang
Lunch at Yongxingfang, a modern food court built to showcase the intangible culinary heritage of Shaanxi — the place to try the 'Three Qin set' of Xi'an comfort food in one sitting. Afterwards your private transfer takes you to the airport.

Evening — Departure
Board your onward flight.

Meals
Breakfast, Lunch included.