Visiting the Terracotta Army in China

This article was written by Ross Fraser; a customer of Netflights.com. If you would like to write about a travel experience on the Netflights blog, please get in touch.

If you go to China there are a handful of tourist “need to see” places – Tiananmen Square, The Forbidden City and the Great Wall all rank up there – as does the Terracotta Army.

I went to China in October to spend time catching up with friends in Beijing and Hong Kong. I then had a week to spend on my own exploring, so decided to head inland to Xian to see the Terracotta army.

For anyone who doesn’t know, the army was built for the purpose of standing guard over the soul of Qin Shi Huang and has done for 2000 years. It was discovered by peasants drilling a well in 1974 and is now one of the world’s most famous archaeological finds.

Where is it?

The Terracotta army is in the province of Shannxi which is the heart of the original Qin dynasty. The site of the army is located outside the city of Xian (the terminal point of the Silk Road).

Getting to Xian

There are two safe ways (in my opinion) to get around China; the easiest is flying. Xian is an extremely well serviced route. Flights from Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing and across China fly in and out of Xian all the time.

There are a range of airlines that provide internal flights across China, however unlike the UK where prices are rock bottom… internal flights appear to be quite expensive and become more expensive the closer to the date you want to fly. So if you are flying make sure you book well in advance.

One flying tip – if you are flying to Xian from Hong Kong you will find that the price can be expensive. (I am assuming only because you are leaving China to enter Hong Kong). When I was booking a single from Xian to Hong Kong it was £250. To bring the cost down I flew instead to Shenzhen which is the city next to the Hong Kong – China border. The price was only £100. However it is a double edged sword as the money you save, you lose in time by having to take 30ish stops across the Shenzhen subway to the Hong Kong border control. Then it is around one hour going through the border and then an hour on the Hong Kong MTR back to Hong Kong Island. So all in all, add about 3-4 hours to your journey. (You do however pass thought Shenzhen port which is possibly the biggest shopping mall for fakes in the world).

The other safe and extremely cheap way to get about China is by train. The drawback is that it’s very slow! I took the train from Beijing to Xian – it took around 12 hours and was a sleeper train but cost only £10. Depending on your train route and time you might end up on a sleeper train which I did, which is literally just open bunks and you share the space with other people.

I think trains are something you either want to do or don’t. It is a hassle; even buying a ticket is a mission as you currently cannot buy them online. I went to Beijing train station and had to wait in a massive ticket office where about 2000 people were waiting to buy a ticket. Train stations in China are huge and you can’t just walk in up to the platform you need to scan all your baggage in like an airport, so leave plenty of time! The other thing is virtually no-one speaks English and everything is signed in Mandarin so you really don’t have a clue. You can buy your ticket from a English speaking ticket counter, but be prepared to queue and people will push in!

Taking a train in China does feel slightly daunting at first, especially on your own and the long journey can be a bit boring. However it is a great experience and if you are willing to do it, you can get around for a fraction of the cost of flying.

It is worth noting that China is in the process of building bullet train lines to join up key cities. I took one from Shanghai to Beijing (this is roughly the same distance as Beijing to Xian) but the journey time is only 5 hours. Bullet trains are more expensive than regular train services (my ticket was £55 for a single) but the trains are serviced like aeroplanes and you are in comfort and they are still cheaper than flying.

Xian

If you are coming into Xian by train the station is at the old city wall, which is the same place you get the bus to the Terracotta army. If you are coming by air you can get the airport bus to Xian (around 50 mins and cost approx £2.50) and then you can get the bus (10p) or metro (20p) to the train station stop.

Xian is a large city, the original settlement is in the centre and enclosed by city walls (which still stand). The city is a popular tourist pull – however there are nicer places to go in China so I would probably allow for a day or so stopping there as you will see most stuff quickly.

The main sights in the city that I saw were -

1. The Big Goose Pagoda – You can reach this by bus; take the 610 bus (10p) from the Bell tower to get there (about 20 mins journey).

2. Bell tower and Drum tower – In the centre of the city the bell tower is the exact middle of the city and the drum tower is about 400 yards away. You can get a dual entry ticket to see both which was about £4 in total.

3. Muslim Quarter – This is next to the Drum tower and home to the city’s Hui community. There are interesting shops and food stalls making it a place to “soak up the atmosphere!”

Sleeping

Search for Xian accommodation online and you will find 1001 hotels there – all the big chain hotels are in the city so you can stay in luxury or modest dwellings, whatever suits. I stayed in a hostel in the centre called the Xiangzimen Youth Hostel, it was about £20 for a twin for the night so dirt cheap and the staff were really nice and helpful, with excellent English!

The Terracotta Army

Public buses leave from the station car park and pass the Terracotta army entrance. If you can’t be bothered with the hassle of getting to it on your own you will find every hotel can point you in the direction of a tour company that will take you there (I think it was about £30 for the day tour, but again prices vary as there were different tour operators).

If you like doing things on your own (which I do) head to the train station and get on any of the green buses. The journey takes about an hour and costs approx 70p. The bus is just a commuter bus so the best thing to do is tell the bus driver you want to stop at the Terracotta army, they will then tell you when to get off as it is not obvious and you won’t know to stop. Most people don’t speak English – but they will know what the Terracotta army is when you mention it. Once you get off the bus it takes about 15 minutes of further walking to get to the entrance to the museum.

Entry is £11 and the area you cover is quite large – you will be harassed multiple times by people saying they will be your English speaking guide, the cost worked out about £10 for a tour guide. Confusingly the official ticket office is not near the entrance to the site. You will find people selling tickets at the gate, however I didn’t know if they were official ticket sellers so just make sure you buy yours from the ticket office.

Once you’re in, there are three pits and a museum building.

Pit 3 contains around 70 warriors and horses and is thought to be the army headquarters due to the number of high ranking ‘officers’.

Pit 2 has around 1300 warriors and horses – you can see the different types of warriors in more detail in this pit as you can get closer to them. There are archers, cavalrymen, mid-ranking officers and generals in this pit.

Pit 1 this is the largest and housed in a gigantic building the size of an aircraft hangar. 2000 warriors are on display but there are around 6000 in the hanger.

All in all it is an amazing experience; you will never see anything like it. I was mesmerised by the place. Whilst Xian and getting to the site are nothing beautiful, this will more than make up for it. Once you are done you can get a bus back to Xian easily from outside the entrance.

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Category: Asia & Middle East, China, China