Ten Days, No Rush
十日精华
Two cities done properly rather than four done badly — Beijing and Xi'an, with the Great Wall and the Terracotta Army.
Photo: xiquinhosilva · CC BY 2.0 · resized
- Length
- 10 days
- Pace
- Relaxed
- Best season
- April–May, September–October
- Budget
- ¥5,500–7,500 per person
Ten days sounds like plenty and it is not, once you account for two travel days and jet lag. The single best decision you can make is to cut the city count rather than the days per city. Beijing and Xi'an between them hold most of what people picture when they picture China, and doing only those two means you never spend an afternoon dragging a suitcase across a station concourse.
Day by day
→Day by day
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Day 1
Beijing
Arrive, settle, Jingshan at sunset, hutong dinner.
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Day 2
Beijing
Forbidden City, morning slot. Afternoon free — Beihai Park or the Drum and Bell Towers.
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Day 3
Great Wall
Mutianyu, or Jinshanling if you want the wilder version and don't mind the 2h30 drive.
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Day 4
Beijing
Temple of Heaven at 07:00 for the park culture, Summer Palace after lunch.
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Day 5
Beijing
798 Art District, Lama Temple, or a cycling day through the hutongs. Peking duck to finish.
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Day 6
Beijing → Xi'an
Morning train. Afternoon on the city wall by bicycle, evening in the Muslim Quarter.
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Day 7
Xi'an
Terracotta Army, full morning. Afternoon at the Big Wild Goose Pagoda.
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Day 8
Xi'an
Shaanxi History Museum, then the Great Mosque and the back lanes of the Muslim Quarter.
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Day 9
Xi'an
Day trip to Mount Hua for the plank walk, or Hanyang Ling for the quieter Han tomb.
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Day 10
Depart
Fly home from Xi'an, or take the morning train back to Beijing.
Swaps and variations
- Substitute Shanghai for Xi'an if modern China interests you more than ancient
- Add Pingyao as an overnight between the two cities if you can stretch to 12 days
05On this route
The stops, in detail
UNESCO
The Forbidden City 紫禁城
980 buildings, 8,700 rooms, 24 emperors and five centuries in which almost no outsider was allowed through the gate.
UNESCO
The Great Wall 长城
Not one wall but twenty thousand kilometres of them — and the section you choose decides your entire day.
UNESCO
Temple of Heaven 天坛
The most perfect building in Beijing, and a park full of retirees doing tai chi, ballroom dancing and competitive kite-flying.
UNESCO
The Terracotta Army 兵马俑
Eight thousand life-size soldiers, every face different, found by farmers digging a well in 1974.
Xi'an Old City 西安古城
Cycle the most complete city wall in China, then eat your way through a Muslim quarter that has been here for 1,300 years.