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Xi'an City Walls

Top choice in Xi'an


Xi'an is one of the few cities in China where the imposing old city walls still stand. Built in 1370 during the Ming dynasty, the magnificent 12m-high walls are surrounded by a dry moat and form a rectangle with a perimeter of 14km. Most sections have been restored or rebuilt, and it is possible to walk the walls in their entirety in a leisurely four hours (or around two hours by bike, or at a slow jog).

You can cycle from the South, North, West and East gates, with rental costing ¥45 for 100 minutes (¥200 deposit), while the truly lazy can be whisked around in a golf cart for ¥200. Access ramps are located inside the major gates, with the exception of the South Gate, where the entrance is outside the walls; there's another entrance inside the walls beside the Forest of Stelae Museum. En route, you get to look out over modern-day Xi'an. From this vantage point it's clear that the city is a hotchpotch of the old and new, with the new vastly in the ascendancy. Every now and then a slice of old Xi'an, such as Guangren Temple, appears and you are rewarded with a bird's-eye view.

To get an idea of Xi'an's former grandeur, consider this: the Tang city walls originally enclosed 83 sq km, an area seven times larger than today's city centre.

Buses 4, 15 and 201 reach the West Gate; buses 9, 26 and 37 and Line 2 of the metro reach the North Gate; buses 11, 16 and 23 and Line 2 of the underground can get you to the South Gate; and buses 8, 22 and 33 go to the East Gate.