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If you haven’t pre-booked one of our city excursions, today is your own to explore. During your stay in Beijing you’ll certainly want to visit both the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square these are within walking distance of the Red Wall Hotel, and adjacent to each other, so this couldn’t be more convenient!

You’ll need to check out of your room by 12 noon today but the hotel offers a Left Luggage service for a small fee. Your time is free until your train departs. Hotel Reception can pre-order you a taxi – it’s wise to allow one hour to get through Beijing’s traffic and a second hour to complete security (metal detectors are now in force and there can be queues to use them) and find your train and platform. Own transfer to the station where you will board the Xi’an bound train.

Early morning arrival in Xi’an. Take a taxi from the station to the 3* HNAl Hotel. The facilities available at this hotel include Bureau-de-Change, restaurants, café, and Business Centre (with internet). Balance of day is your own for
independent sightseeing, and there is plenty to see! To avoid duplicating tomorrow’s included activities, we suggest heading for the medieval Old City, located within the colossal fortified walls.

You can take a walk around the walls themselves (allow about 1.5 hours, they’re very extensive), and then head to the Bell Tower and Drum Tower – the very centre of the Old City. Behind the Drum Tower is the Old Bazaar area, full of market stands offering fake “antiques”, silk and porcelain goods and other fabulous shopping bargains. At the centre of the Bazaar area is the historic City Mosque with its quiet walled gardens.

You might also want to try the City Museum? (Please note your onward train tickets will be delivered to the hotel during your stay.)

Full day excursion programme which includes the Terracotta Army exhibition (you will join an English language trip on which other visitors to Xi’an will also participate, in a minibus-sized small group). The first stop is the archaeological excavation site of Banpo Village, where an ancient settlement has been unearthed. Last stop before lunch is a souvenir store which makes (rather over-priced) replicas of the Terracotta Warriors. A nice Chinese-style lunch is provided in a restaurant along the way (with yet another souvenir shop on the ground floor). Finally you come to the Warriors site – uncovered when farmers were digging a well in the 1970s. There are three separate pits currently visitable, although more pits lie yet unopened.

There’s also a 360-degree short movie about the history of the Burial Site and its original occupant, after which there is just time for one more… souvenir shop. You’ll be dropped off back at your hotel after the two hour drive back to the city. All admission tickets and lunch are included on this full day tour, although you may want to tip the guide separately.

The operation of the Terracotta Warriors site is geared to a massive throughput of visitors per day, but it’s the only way in which you can visit the centre – so just brace yourself for a bit of jostling in advance. Hint – almost all the “souvenirs” on offer in the shops today can be bargained for at lower prices in the Bazaar in the Old City.

You’ll need to check out of your room by 12 noon today but the hotel offers a Left Luggage service for a small fee. Your time is free until your train departs. Hotel Reception can pre-order you a taxi to the station. Where you will board the Shanghai bound train.

The food and beverage service on this train is quite basic, and you might prefer to take the example of most Chinese travellers, and bring your own picnic items. Hot water urns (to make tea, coffee, noodles etc) are free to use in all the wagons, but no tea bags, coffee etc are sold on board, and you’ll also need your own mug etc.

Morning arrival in the vibrant city of Shanghai. We offer hotel accommodation in the city please see our extra services for prices.