Fourteen kilometres,Ming brick,still standing.
The largest intact ancient city wall in China, our preferred way is on a bicycle, at dusk.
Built in 1370 on Tang-era foundations, the Xi'an City Wall is the largest and best-preserved wall in China, fourteen kilometres around the old town, twelve metres tall, eighteen metres wide at the base. You can walk it, but the way we run it is on a bicycle, in the last hour before sunset, when the brick goes warm-orange and the lanterns on the South Gate come on. We arrange the bike, the gate timing, and the descent.
The wall,
on a bike, at golden hour.
Up at the South Gate
Bikes waiting.
We pre-book the bikes at the South Gate ramp so they're ready when you arrive. Our guide handles the entry pass and the deposit; you take the saddle and ride.
Around the loop
Ninety minutes.
Fourteen kilometres at an unhurried pace is about ninety minutes. Mostly empty in late afternoon. Watchtowers every 120 metres; we'd stop you at three, North-East, North-West and the moat overlook at sunset.
Down for dinner
Into the old quarter.
Off the wall at the South Gate again, bikes returned, and ten minutes' walk into the Muslim Quarter for a hand-pulled noodle dinner. The wall is finished; the evening has barely begun.
Our home city,
named moves.
- Direct Xi'an City Wall management partnership. We pre-book bikes at the South Gate so you skip the queue entirely.
- Our Xi'an guides are residents, born in Shaanxi, trained on the wall. They know which watchtower frames the best dusk photo.
- We time the ride for golden hour, every time. Most tours run it midday, wrong light, wrong heat.
- After-ride dinner is at a named Muslim Quarter house, not a tour-bus canteen. We've sent guests there for eight years.
Ninety minutes on the wall,
the rest of the evening yours.
We schedule the wall in your second Xi'an afternoon, Terracotta Warriors in the morning, late lunch, the wall at 5:30, dinner in the Muslim Quarter by 8. The ride itself is easy; the wall is flat and wide enough for two abreast. We bring a second guide who rides the loop with you, in case the party splits pace.
The rest of
Shaanxi, all within reach.
The Terracotta Warriors
Forty minutes east. The warriors in the morning, the wall at dusk, our most-asked-for Xi'an day.
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Huaqing Palace
Thirty minutes east of the city. Tang imperial hot springs, same Xi'an stay, easy half day.
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Huashan
Ninety minutes east. The sacred mountain, pairs into a third Shaanxi day.
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Your Xi'an,
sketched,
by reply tomorrow.
Tell us a month and a party size. We'll send a Shaanxi draft, the wall booked for the dusk light, the warriors for the empty hour, Huaqing or Huashan added if you have a third day, and an all-inclusive price. No deposit, no obligation.
From US$360/day on a private 5-seater with driver.
Rolled into your journey quote.