Xi’an is a gorgeous walled city and we loved it! There’s everything you want to find in the core city inside the wall.
On the first day, we took a bus all the way to the Terracotta Warriors museum, which is a complicated area to reach as the bus will drop you at the parking lot and from there to the real museum there’s a very confusing street (with food stalls and shops) that seems to lead you to the Mausoleum and Terracotta army itself, but it leads to the exit area, so just turn right as soon as you see the foodie street. The museum was probably crowded, but to be honest, we couldn’t tell because the whole area is enormous. We could tell we felt quite squeezed in the frontal area of the biggest pit, but the rest was just fine. It will take you from 4 to 6 hours to travel there from the city and to see it all.

We also saw the city at sunset, which we can tell is the best time of the day, especially for the wall and the classic architecture buildings, which will turn their lights on. Another nice plan to enjoy the city is to go into the wall and rent a bicycle to ride around the wall. We couldn’t do it so we walked around the wall, which was beautiful (54¥ entrance ticket). In the morning we went to the Shaanxi History Museum, where you can get in for free if you queue for an hour or so (they give away 4000 tickets per day).