Full Day Historical Tour of Xi'an with Terracotta Army Visit

After researching the Terra Cotta Warriors, I was debating whether to try to go on my own or with a tour, and was *so thankful* that I went with City Discovery. Pick-up was exactly on time and transportation directly to the museum was incredibly comfortable. A couple on the tour had tried to go by public bus the day before and once they saw the line, headed straight back to their hotel to book the tour! Our guide, Chelsea, was super informative and had a hilarious way of referring to herself in the third person. I didn’t think I’d enjoy the stop at the ceramic factory before going to the warriors, but it ended up being very good because we learned how to differentiate the warriors by their hairst<x>yles and garments. It’s pretty noisy and crowded inside the actual pits, so the quiet of the factory was much appreciated. Lunch was tremendous. So many courses came out to the table, it reminded me of an Asian wedding! Despite it being the super-busy “Golden Week”, we had ample time to see all the excavation pits and Chelsea pointed out some highlights before each new area. Because it was so crowded, we ran out of time and had to skip the Banpo Village (which I would’ve preferred to Emperor Qin’s Mausoleum, actually). The Mausoleum’s story is fascinating but there’s not much to see at the actual site. All in all, as someone who doesn’t usually like organized tours, I was so glad to have booked this one, especially when touring a bucketlist site like the Terra Cotta Warriors which you really want to do right. It just made everything so much easier and with the help of a guide, I saw and understood so much more than I would’ve on my own. Highly recommended!