1 Day Subway Tour to Terracotta Army and Huaqing Pool, No Shopping

Today, let’s take a subway tour to Terracotta Army Museum and Huaqing Pool in the east suburb of Xi'an. For this trip, we will travel by public transport, which is very convenient and economical. As this itinerary is customizable, we can also arrange a private car with driver for an additional fee.

Downtown Hotel Pick-up
In the morning, your private English-speaking guide will meet you at your hotel lobby and then escort you on a subway to the Terracotta Army Museum. To get there, we will first take Subway Line 9 to Huaqingchi station and then transfer to the tourist bus No. 613 for two stops. We kindly suggest you book a hotel which is close to a subway station. It will help save transfer time so that you could have more time at attractions.

Stop 1: Visit Terracotta Army Museum and Newly-Launched Exhibition
Over the course of the two-to-three-hour tour, the knowledgeable guide will deliver an informative commentary of the Terracotta Army to you.

The site has a staggering scale, covering 461,000 square meters (46.1 hectares) in total. After a 15-minute walk straight ahead from the entrance, you will reach the Pit No.1, the largest and the first burial pit excavated in the mausoleum of Emperor Qin Shi Huang, who founded the first feudal dynasty in Chinese history, the Qin Dynasty (221 - 207 BC). Thousands of life-sized pottery soldiers and dozens of bronze chariots are arrayed in a battle formation. Out of Pit No.1, walk a few steps east to reach Pit No. 2, which houses almost all types of terracotta warriors, such as kneeling archers and cavalries. Examine curious Chinese characters engraved on terracotta figures, which have been proven to be the name of each responsible artisan and the place where the crafting took place. The smallest Pit No.3 is believed to be the command center of the Terracotta Army. One of the strongest evidence of this is the remains of a chariot with four horses in front and four soldiers who may be in the service of a commander in the back. After visiting the three pits, let’s see the new exhibition recently launched. There, 230 representative artifacts are on show, among which a third are being made public for the first time. Let’s uncover the mystery of the extravagant and powerful Qin era by viewing those rare relics such as the only terracotta warrior with green-painted face, small gold and silver items and lifelike bronze waterfowls. There are also some complementary experiences such as digital interaction to help you dive deeper into the history of Qin Dynasty.

Lunch Break
You will have some time for a self-paid lunch. There are many restaurants outside the museum, but most of them are touristy restaurants with low service. Clean Western or Chinese fast-food restaurants may be better choices. 

You can go to the nearby WeiJia LiangPi, one of China’s most well-known local fast food chain restaurants. The brand was established early in Xi’an, and after more than 20 years of development, now there are 400-plus branches across China. For local food explorers, try its Cold Noodles (Liang Pi) or Chinese hamburger (Rou Jia Mo) to give your taste buds a unique treat! Each person may spend an average of CNY 25 / USD 3.5 here. Why not refresh yourself later with some pure additive-free pomegranate juice? There are dedicated stalls at the nearby food street and each cup is about CNY 15 / USD 2. You would love it as it is made from locally grown pomegranates, which rank first in China.

Stop 2: Visit Huaqing Pool
Then, you will be guided to take tourist bus No. 613 to get to the Huaqing Pool. Aka Huaqing Palace, it is famous as an ancient palace for royal families to take hot spring baths from the Western Zhou Dynasty (1100 - 771 BC) to the Tang Dynasty (618-907). Backed by Mount Li and facing the Wei River, it was also one of the four imperial gardens in China, with highlights being five main hot spring pools and some preserved in red-walled Tang-style halls. Around the Nine Dragon Lake, you will see many corridors or ancient architecture, interspersed with willows among the greenery, like the Frost Flying Hall, which was the bedroom palace of the Emperor Xuanzong, the seventh emperor of Tang Dynasty. As there is perpetual flowing natural hot spring which is clean and soft, the ancient emperors asked to build those pools for relaxation. Follow your guide to see them one by one and learn about some interesting stories. The Lotus Pool, named for its appearance, was the private bathing pool of Xuanzong. Besides, it is the Concubine Pool, which was built by Xuanzong for his beloved concubine Yang Yuhuan. A well-known tragic love story involved goes that, after Xuanzong’s marriage to Yang, he indulged himself in love and wine, which led to the corruption of the government and finally Yang’s suicide to pacify his people’s anger. The largest Star Pool belonged to Tang’s second emperor, and there is no shelter around it, so the emperor can only bathe at night while enjoying stars. The other two are the Prince Pool and Official Pool, which were used for the people as indicated by their name. Now, there is no hot spring water in the pools, but you can find it with constant temperature of 45 ℃ in some other sites in the scenic spot. Luxurious decorations by the pools have disintegrated to ashes over time, but our guide will try best to bring you to the scenes thousands of years ago through fascinating historical stories.

Get Back to Downtown Xi'an
After the tour, your guide will accompany you to take the Subway Line 9 from Huaqingchi station to Fangzhicheng station, and then transfer to Line 1 back to the city. Rest assured the guide will continue to escort you to your hotel by subway or bus.