7-Day Guanzhong Roots & Heritage Cultural Immersion Tour

Morning — Arrival and Rest
Your flight lands at Xi'an Xianyang International Airport. Your guide and driver meet you and take you to your hotel to check in and rest after the journey.

Afternoon — The Great Mosque of Xi'an
Step into the Muslim Quarter and on to the Great Mosque, founded in the Tang dynasty and rebuilt in its present form under the Ming. It is Chinese architecture in every detail — timber halls, moon gates, a pagoda-shaped minaret — yet it is a working mosque where more than a thousand worshippers pray each day.

Evening — Dumpling Dinner
Dinner is a dumpling banquet at Defachang, a Xi'an institution since 1936, where the filling and the shape change with every course.

Meals
Breakfast, Dinner included.

Morning — Terracotta Replica Workshop
Start at the replica workshop near the museum, where skilled craftsmen demonstrate the full sequence: moulding, assembling, firing and restoring. Watch the modern process and the ancient one reflected in each other before you travel on to Lintong to see the real Terracotta Warriors — in Pit No. 1 more than eight thousand life-sized figures stand in formation, every face unique.

Afternoon — Huaqing Palace
Move on to Huaqing Palace, the imperial hot-spring retreat at the foot of Mount Li. It is both the setting of Emperor Xuanzong and Yang Guifei's romance and, in 1936, the site of the Xi'an Incident that reshaped modern Chinese politics.

Evening — 'Song of Everlasting Sorrow'
Return to Huaqing for the outdoor historical musical staged against the mountain and its thermal pools, which brings the Tang emperor and his consort back for one hour under the open sky. The performance is seasonal; when it is not running it is replaced by an indoor Tang production in the city.

Meals
Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner included.

Morning — Hanyangling Underground Museum
Walk the glass-floored corridors of the Hanyangling underground museum, suspended above the tomb of Emperor Jingdi of the Han, and look down on the ranks of pottery figures buried to serve him.

Afternoon — Daming Palace National Heritage Park
Visit Daming Palace, the seat of the Tang empire for more than two centuries. Stand on the platform of Hanyuan Hall, the main throne hall, where emperors held court and received envoys from across Asia.

Evening — At Leisure
Return to the hotel for a rest, a cup of wellness tea and an early night.

Meals
Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner included.

Morning — Qianling Mausoleum
Start your day at Qianling Mausoleum, the joint tomb of Emperor Gaozong of Tang and Empress Wu Zetian, the only woman to rule China as emperor in her own right. Qianling is the only Tang imperial tomb that has never been robbed, and it follows the natural shape of Liangshan Hill, approached along a grand stone statue avenue lined with carved horses, officials and statues of foreign envoys. Your guide will point out the wordless stele raised for Wu Zetian, and the museum on site houses artifacts excavated from the satellite tombs, giving a deeper understanding of Tang art and court customs.

Afternoon — Zhangjiashan Cave Dwellings and Yuanjia Village
In the afternoon, head to Zhangjiashan Village, known for its traditional cave dwellings cut into the loess hills. Visitors can explore the village, meet local residents and learn about the region's traditional lifestyle and architecture, and the surrounding natural landscape gives the place a peaceful atmosphere. Next, visit Yuanjia Village, a charming ancient village preserved and developed as a popular destination, with traditional architecture, narrow alleyways and a variety of local shops and restaurants. Cultural performances and handicraft workshops add to the experience, and the village is especially proud of its traditional foods, prepared in the old way.

Evening — Flexible Evening
The evening is yours to enjoy at your leisure after a day of imperial history and village life.

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

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.

Evening — The Grand Tang Mall
As night falls, the Grand Tang Dynasty Everbright City lights up: a 2.1-kilometre boulevard of red lanterns, bronze statuary and performance, a theatrical recreation of Tang Chang'an.

Meals
Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner included.

Morning — The Forest of Steles
Return to the Stele Forest with time to read the stones properly: the Kaicheng classics cut into 114 tablets, the Nestorian stele that recorded a Persian bishopric in Chang'an, and the running script of emperors. Your guide unpicks how calligraphy became the currency of scholarship.

Afternoon — A Lecture on Guanzhong Clan Culture
A scholar of regional history lectures on the clan lineages of the Guanzhong plain: ancestral halls, genealogy books, the rules that governed land and marriage for centuries, and how overseas Chinese families trace their way back to villages like the ones you have walked through this week.

Evening — Farewell Banquet
A banquet of Shaanxi classics closes the journey. Between courses the guide hands each traveller a rubbing of their Chinese surname in stone-script, cut from the Beilin's reproduction studio.

Meals
Breakfast, Dinner included.

Morning — At Leisure
A relaxed morning for final shopping or a last walk in the old city. Your guide can suggest where to find calligraphy, jade, terracotta replicas and Shaanxi speciality foods.

Afternoon — Transfer to the Airport
Your private vehicle collects you from the hotel and takes you to Xi'an Xianyang International Airport.

Evening — Departure
Board your onward flight, carrying the taste of Guanzhong and the memory of an underground army that waited two thousand years to be found.

Meals
Breakfast included.