Luoyang 5-Day Tour: Xi'an Terracotta Army & Huaqing Palace

We board at Luoyang Longmen in the morning and reach Xian North in an hour and a half. Lunch is paomo, torn by hand into pea-sized pieces so it soaks properly. After checking in we go up the wall at the South Gate in the evening, the top wide enough for vehicles, hire bicycles and ride west as the sun drops behind the gate tower eaves.

Attraction introduction: The Xian city wall was extended in the early Ming on the foundations of the Tang imperial city, running 13.74 kilometres and remaining the largest and best preserved ancient city wall in China. The rampart is over twelve metres wide, with bastions projecting every hundred and twenty metres so defenders could fire along the face.

Tips: Nothing shades the wall top. Guests generally find the evening wind cold after October. In practice we ride in the hour before sunset, good light and thin crowds, still off the wall before closing. Bicycles are priced by single or tandem with a deposit refunded on inspection, so check the bike when returning it.

We leave at eight for Lintong and are inside Pit One before nine, standing at the eastern railing where six hundred figures stand in column, no two faces alike. Lunch outside the site, then the bronze chariot hall in Lishan Garden, and back to Huaqing Palace for the bathing pools, with the Song of Everlasting Sorrow show optional in the evening.

Attraction introduction: The pits were uncovered in 1974 when farmers dug a well. Pit One runs two hundred and thirty metres east to west, laid out as a real battle line with vanguard, main body and flank guards. The bronze chariots in Lishan Garden came from the west side of the tomb mound, built at half scale, their canopies under half a centimetre thick.

Tips: Pit One is crowded. Guests generally find the east end best for the whole formation before stepping aside for detail. In practice we put Lishan Garden at midday, exactly when Pit One is busiest. The Huaqing pools are excavated stonework and off limits, so stay behind the rail.

Northwest to Qianxian in the morning, ninety minutes, the twin peaks of Liangshan visible from far off. We walk the spirit road, stone horses and officials lining the way to the mountain foot, the wordless stele standing plain and blank beside it. Lunch is guokui stuffed with chilli in Qianxian, then south to Famen Temple in Fufeng for the relics from the crypt.

Attraction introduction: Qianling holds Emperor Gaozong of Tang and Empress Wu Zetian, built into Liangshan with columns of winged horses, stone officials and sixty-one foreign envoys along the approach, many now headless. The wordless stele stands about six metres with eight chi dragons on its crown and no inscription on the face.

Tips: The spirit road is packed earth and stone steps taking twenty minutes. Guests generally find flat shoes necessary. In practice we arrive at nine while light rakes in from the east and the stone figures throw long shadows. Liangshan is windy, so secure your hat; Famen sits lower and calmer.

Morning at the Beilin museum, where the original steles of Yan Zhenqing and Liu Gongquan stand with characters worn hollow by centuries of rubbings. Lunch is biangbiang noodles on Shuyuanmen. The afternoon is free, either the Shaanxi History Museum with advance booking or the Muslim Quarter. In the evening we go to the Tang night street, where the lights come on and half the crowd is in Tang dress.

Attraction introduction: Beilin began in the Northern Song to preserve the Kaicheng stone classics of the Tang, and later dynasties kept moving inscriptions here until it held more than four thousand steles, the largest stone library in China. The night street is a pedestrian avenue of Tang-style buildings, its lighting and street performance running continuously after dark.

Tips: Lighting inside Beilin is dim. Guests generally find a small torch or higher screen brightness needed to read the colophons. In practice the history museum stays optional: with a booking we go, without one we simply spend longer among the steles. The night street is dense, so carry bags in front.

A morning walk on Shuyuanmen, stalls of brushes, rice paper and seal stones, an old man carving characters to order. Two roujiamo for lunch, the braised pork fat soaking into the flatbread. In the afternoon we board at Xian North and are back at Luoyang Longmen ninety minutes later.

Attraction introduction: Shuyuanmen takes its name from the Guanzhong Academy of the Ming, a short street of stationery and second-hand book shops. The academy was the highest seat of learning in Shaanxi through the Ming and Qing, its lecture hall and examination sheds still standing. Seal carvers here mostly work Qingtian and Shoushan stone.

Tips: Prices for calligraphy vary wildly. Guests generally find it worth asking whether a piece is hand-written, since prints and originals differ tenfold. In practice we keep only a morning here with no scheduled shop, and bargaining is yours to do. The return train is booked after two so nothing is rushed.