Recommended One-Day Self-Driving Tour Spots Around Xi’an

Speaking of Xi’an, it is truly an ancient city steeped in history. Many friends will travel to Xi’an to visit and tour, but if you don’t have much time, how should you choose sightseeing spots for a one-day self-driving tour? Today, I’m going to recommend some one-day self-driving tour spots around Xi’an. Let’s take a look!

Recommended Route

Muslim Street + Xi’an City Wall + Xi’an Beilin Museum + Shaanxi History Museum + Big Wild Goose Pagoda + Big Wild Goose Pagoda North Square

Introduction to Attractions

Muslim Street

Muslim Street is not just a single street, but a collective term for multiple streets in the Hui Muslim gathering area in the center of Xi’an. It is composed of streets such as Beiyuanmen, Beiguangji Street, Xiyangshi, and Dapixuan. This is a gathering place for Xi’an snacks, and you can get your breakfast here. As a Hui Muslim area with a history of hundreds of years, you can still feel a strong Muslim atmosphere here.

Xi’an City Wall

The Xi’an City Wall, the oldest and best-preserved ancient city wall in the world, carries on the historical and cultural lineage of the ancient capital of Chang’an and, with its unique charm, displays its grandeur, magnificence, and vastness to the world, showcasing the ancient capital’s profoundness, wisdom, and inclusiveness. The Xi’an City Wall is 13.74 kilometers long and includes a moat, drawbridge, gate towers, arrow towers, city towers, corner towers, enemy towers, crenellations, embrasures, and other military facilities.

Xi’an Beilin Museum

The Beilin Museum was originally known as the Shaanxi Provincial Museum, built in 1944. It was built on the basis of the “Xi’an Beilin” with a history of over 900 years, using the ancient architectural complex of the Xi’an Confucian Temple to expand into an art museum that primarily collects, researches, and exhibits steles, epitaphs, and stone carvings from different dynasties. The museum area consists of three parts: the Confucian Temple, Beilin, and Stone Carving Art Room, covering an area of 31,900 square meters. It currently houses over 11,000 cultural relics, 11 exhibition halls, and a display area of 4,900 square meters.

Shaanxi History Museum

The Shaanxi History Museum is the first large-scale, modern, national-level museum in China. The museum’s building is a Tang-style architectural complex with a “central hall and four corner towers,” with a main and secondary order, staggered heights, a majestic and solemn atmosphere, integrating national traditions, local characteristics, and the spirit of the times. The museum houses over 370,000 artifacts, ranging from simple stone tools used in the initial stages of ancient humans to various objects from daily life before 1840, spanning over a million years. The artifacts are not only numerous and diverse, but also of high quality and broad value. Among them, the Shang and Zhou bronze wares are exquisite, the terracotta figures from various dynasties are diverse, the Han and Tang gold and silver wares are unique nationwide, and the Tang tomb murals are unparalleled in the world. It can be said to be a treasure trove of exquisite and splendid collections.

Big Wild Goose Pagoda

The Big Wild Goose Pagoda is the earliest and largest existing Tang Dynasty square pavilion-style brick pagoda. It is a typical example of the Buddhist stupa, an architectural form of ancient Indian Buddhist temples, introduced to the Central Plains along with Buddhism and integrated into Chinese culture. It is a landmark building that embodies the wisdom of ancient Chinese laborers. Standing atop the pagoda, you can look out over the cityscape of ancient Chang’an.

Big Wild Goose Pagoda North Square

The Big Wild Goose Pagoda North Square is located at the foot of the Big Wild Goose Pagoda and is one of the largest Tang Dynasty culture themed squares in China. The square is composed of a central musical fountain and the “Opera Grand View Garden” and “Folklore Grand View Garden” on both sides. The most attractive part of the square is the “Musical Fountain” located on the central axis. During performances, the fountain has many different styles, especially at night, under the background lighting, it appears even more colorful.