Terracotta Warriors Essential Full Day Tour from Xi'an

Xian, China

Xi'an is home to the world-famous Terracotta Warriors Army and Horses, one of the most significant archeological excavations of the 20th century. This full-day tour offers you the opportunity to explore the site, where 7,000 of these life-sized figures were constructed to guard Emperor Qin Shihuang's tomb. You’ll also visit the Banpo site (home to artifacts of a Neolithic matriarchal community).

The Terracotta Army in Xi’an was created to guard Emperor Qin Shihuang's tomb and to protect him in the afterlife. It is estimated that there are more than 7,000 life-sized terracotta figures and horses buried in the mausoleum, and you can see this spectacular site on this full-day tour! The museum complex features extensive exhibits, artifacts and a movie of the rich history of the site.

After your visit to the Terracotta Warriors site, enjoy a traditional Chinese style lunch. Then, you'll head to the site of the Banpo ruins. Dating back about 6,000 years, Banpo was a typical Neolithic matriarchal community. At that time, the Banpo people used tools made primarily of wood and stone. Women, the crucial labor force, were responsible for making pottery, spinning, and raising the family while the men fished. These ruins of a Banpo village was discovered in 1953, when 45 houses, six pottery kilns, 200 storage pits, 250 adult's tombs and children's burial jars, and 10,000 tools and utensils were unearthed.

USD $109.00

Review by:   intleconllc,    June 2018
This was a very good tour. The guide, Lulu, was knowledgable and professional while also being able to convey a personal touch. It was a long day, and unfortunately, we fell a little behind schedule due to circumstances beyond Lulu's control. As a result, and due to the mutual agreement of all participants, we didn't see the Mausoleum of the first Qiu emperor as scheduled. The customer service provided by Hantang International Travel Service was outstanding, however. It rained during the day and my wife forgot her raincoat in the minivan. She didn't realize it until after we had returned to the hotel around 7:30 p.m. I sent an email to Hantang, and within a couple of hours they replied that they had found the jacket and would drop it at the hotel. She picked it up at the front desk the next morning. We thought she'd never see it again, but Hantang went above and beyond to leave us with a very good impression.

Review by:   Jessica L,    May 2018
Fantastic Must do Tour in Xian. Our Guide Lucia made our trip more memorable with valuable insights!

Review by:   Lee E,    April 2018
Great trip, but the lunch that is included is bad and includes a shopping stop. That being said, there is more than enough time to see the warriors and the tours themselves were pretty good.

Review by:   Brian P,    April 2018
I absolutely enjoyed the tour of the museum and the terracotta warriors. Max the tour leader was knowledgeable and ver humorous and happy and kept the group entertained. Prior to the hotel pick up I was contacted multiple times regarding pick up time and location._br/_ I had a great tour and i think everyone on the bus did also.

Review by:   bkilmarx,    March 2018
This was a great tour with a wonderful tour guide, Amy. She provided us with information about the two sites we visited, Banpo Museum and then the Terracotta Warriors excavation. This trip was well worth the price.

Review by:   aheathwood,    March 2018
This was a great tour and we had the best day thanks to Nana who was an awesome guide. The terracotta warriors are absolutely a must see and we thoroughly recommend this tour.

Review by:   Christine C,    March 2018
Great tour with Amy! She was informative and spoke excellent English. The stop at Banpo Village was fascinating, and a great way to start the day. The stop at the factory and gift shop was fine, but I hadnt realized it was such a big stop for the day it would have been better to clarify that as a major part of the tour description, and been clear that it was intended for shopping and souvenirs. I was expecting lunch at a local restaurant so the buffet set up clearly for tourists was a bit of a disappointment. The Terra-cotta Warrior museum was amazing -incredible history and Amy was an excellent guide. We spent about 3hrs there, and it was about right length of time. If you want to skip the shopping I think you could pick a tour that is a half day, or that includes some of Xians other hi-lights in the full day. Organization of tour and communications about pick up were clear and easy to follow. Company was prompt with pickup, and the size of the group 7 perfect. I was really happy with the tour, though would have like a little better clarification about the itinerary and lunch so that I knew what to expect. I will definitely use Viator again in the future.

Review by:   pratik.sayare,    February 2018
Rose is very nice and helpful guide. Proper instructions and details in advance were provided by her. Punctual on pick up time. She welcomed with such a friendly atmosphere, I had a fantastic start! The tour was extremely good, very flexible appreciate this! and for that, she deserves a special thanks. I had two great days there, which obviously also added up to the experience.

Review by:   Dianne R,    January 2018
it was surreal!

Review by:   John C,    January 2018
No doubt I'd recommend this. Small van. Cozy group of 5 and a fantastic tour guide, whose name I can't recall in Chinese, but went by Lucy. She speaks perfect English we discussed politics and history, she is thoughtful and funny. Made our day wonderful. The trip was organized and pleasant. Being American, I can moan this was good.

Review by:   kishlaya m,    December 2017
very worthy tour! Lucia was a great guide. they take you to Bampo site first which is 6000 years old, this place has great historic significance. followed by lunch and then to terra cotta army site. The site has 3 pits which are open to public. The pit 1 is marvellous as you see through the remains of a rich history legacy. must visit site in China to understand the essence of culture and history of china. overall the tour was very well organised with no issues at all.

Review by:   Joyce A,    December 2017
Made a visit to the Banpo Neolithic museum on the way to the Terracotta museum. Didn't expect this stop at all but it is extremely amazing to understand the neolithic age. My guide was good and she tried her best to explain in detailed in English even though she has only 1 year of guide experience.

Review by:   Cyril S,    October 2017
This was a full day tour that could have been done in half a day if we had not spent to much time shopping. This reinforced why we do not do very many tours. The Terracotta Warriors part of the tour was great and the guide was quite knowledgable on the topic. The Bampo-Neolithic site and museum were interesting. We would have preferred to spend more time in the museum with the group or on our own rather than in the shops. The lunch that was served was tasty.

Review by:   Jim S,    October 2017
excellent tour guide and wonderful experience...loved every minute of it

Review by:   Lia S,    October 2017
Truly amazing, well worth it.

Review by:   Leslie Yesenia A,    October 2017
Amazing tour guide Amy!!! Very knowledgeable and friendly. Even offered to help us with tips after the tour.

Review by:   MITALI S,    September 2017
This is another MUST SEE tour. Unfortunately, the day I went we were 20 people with a relatively young guide. She was sweet, but not the most knowledgeable. Her English was also quite difficult to understand. As I have said before historical tours really benefit from an engaging and knowledgeable guide. Also, the tour includes a stop at one of the Terracotta factories BEFORE one actually visits the museum AND another stop BEFORE at the store where they introduce you to the farmer who discovered the site and a lot of pressure it put on people to buy an autographed book or terracotta statues...all before you have actually visited the museum. I think that is a bad strategy. By the time we got to the real thing, many of the older tourists were already tired.

Review by:   Robyn P,    August 2017
Picked up at hotel by our lovely guide Amy. Joined by several other travellers and on our way to Bampo, the terracotta factory and on to the Terracotta Warriors. It was a very, very hot day but Amy was a great guide with good English skills. There was plenty of time to see the Terracotta Warriors without the trip being too long. Only disappointment for me was the Western style buffet lunch - I didn't travel to China to eat Western food. I would recommend this trip and hope you get Amy as your guide.

Review by:   Chanda Lee,    July 2017
Thank you! Had such a good time. The tour guide she was very friendly and knowledgable. I really enjoyed it!

Review by:   marknaka,    June 2017
There is nothing like this place. You have to go see these things._br/_ The tour itself:_br/_ The minibus A/C was on its last leg. I was in the back and sweating. Keep this in mind for the summer._br/_ The tour guide was nice and informative._br/_ The stop at the Terra-cotta factory was interesting. The lunch there was ok. The prices are inflated. People bought stuff here but then found out it's much cheaper at the terrcotta site and in other cities ._br/_ The hotel pickup and drop off are reliable.

Review by:   Brian M,    June 2017
The tour was very interesting and well organised. Our guide was presented with some challenges by the group - a small baby who became overheated and was a concern right from our first stop and one person who had to catch a 3:30 train so she had to arrange for him to get to the train station! It was hot and crowded but was worth all the walking. Take lots of water and wear loose comfortable clothes if it is a hot day! Personally, I would suggest they drop the final section to the emperor's tomb. It is just a hill and while the explanation was good, I could have done without the 20 minute walk and 10 minute bus ride just to see it! The company is good and I am looking forward to our visit to the Great Wall. I will book with them again.

Review by:   Chris H,    June 2017
It was my third time to see the warriors. Just great despite the crowds. Amazing stuff!

Review by:   dtcaulfield,    May 2017
We had a great guide who spoke very good English and provided us with important details about the history of the Warriors. Whilst there were many people present at the Warriors enclosure our guide was able to move us through in a manner that ensured we avoided the big groups.

Review by:   Trini,    April 2017
The Terracotta Warriors is a MUST-see. We were in awe. Hours after the tour, I was still glued to the internet trying to know much more about this awesome archeological find.

Review by:   Alice Hoi Ling M,    April 2017
Given I wanted to book my tour before flying out, I had booked this online but to my dismay it was a lot pricier than booking it locally. The tour was handy and showed all the main sites you and #39;d want to check at the terracotta exhibit so it is worth it but just beware of the cost.

Review by:   Ana D,    January 2017
Max was fantastic! She is a knowledge guide and made all the difference. In such a busy day during Chinese New Year, I was able to see it all and have fun! Thank you.

Review by:   gsenderlin,    January 2017
We had booked this tour through Han Tang International Services, but they 'off loaded' us to another tour company without the courtesy of telling us. This meant our pick up time was delayed by an hour and we were left waiting in the lobby. The hotel staff were kind enough to follow up with Han Tang for us. We felt Han Tang's organisational skills and customer service was very poor.

Review by:   Rich T,    December 2016
The Terracotta Warrior and Banpo Museums were incredible and must be seen. The guide was very informative, communicated well and kept the group engaged. The only complaint I would say was the numerous stops at souvenir shops for the aggressive sells. Otherwise it would have gotten 5 stars.

Review by:   Robin A,    September 2016
The group operating this tour was simultaneously attempting to operate at least 3 other tours thus combining people from different groups into a single mass, end result - shambles. Appears a detour to see how souvenir models of the warriors are made was mandatory and unnecessary in my opinion. The work done by Chinese and other archaeologists is amazing but we were rushed through one of this worlds wonders in order to facilitate a very ordinary meal at a local restaurant and a visit to Emperor Qin's tomb which turned out to be an artificial hill believed to hold amazing wonders but it has never been opened or explored - according to the guide it is just wonderful - it's just a small hill. Was totally unimpressed with the group's organisational ability and the rushed end result.

Review by:   Andrina O,    September 2016
Apparently, the owner of the tour company sat in with us for the day. Everything went smoothly until we were heading back to the city- he started an angry shouting match with another tour participant in front of the whole group. It was all in Mandarin but it was really obvious because of body language, the aggressive finger pointing and yelling. Another tour participant on our bus who spoke Mandarin translated to us, 9 English speakers that the owner was threatening the customer that he was arguing with.

Review by:   Jill F,    September 2016
Good tour incorporating Terracotta Warriors and good local lunch. Terracotta warriors were amazing to see, and would highly recommend this. Downsides to the tour was the numerous stops at shops to browse at local souvenirs.

Review by:   Barry F,    August 2016
Our tour guide was very informative and the time at the Terra Cotta Warrior site was very interesting. Due to crowds and some of us getting separated from the larger group we were not able to get to the Paleolithic Site. I would recommend starting the tour at 8am rather than 9am in order to take in both sites.

Review by:   Owais U H,    August 2016
Excellent tour with great insights from our tour guide.

Review by:   Joanne K,    August 2016
Worth every penny, this is a must, it's huge and spectacular, the only thing I didn't like was the lunch, it's a very busy place so you had to fight your way in to get photos, tour guide was very good, I can't remember her name but she had lots of information

Review by:   Carolyn A,    July 2016
An incredible experience!_br/_ A few issues with the pick-up the local tour company didn't phone us to let us know the pick-up time and were uncontactable when we tried to phone but otherwise great, really good guide._br/_ The lunch is terrible though, as others have commented!

Review by:   Rick W,    June 2016
Great tour with enough time to see what we wanted to see and get plenty of photos.

Review by:   Estefan C,    June 2016
This tour was amazing!

Review by:   U Chang E,    June 2016
We had purchased a Xi and #39;an Tour from you ; product code: 2042XASIX_01. Tour date June 24. Booking Reference BR-571887355.

Review by:   Rachel M,    June 2016
Absolutely brilliant!

Review by:   Lesley B,    June 2016
Tour was really good and they idea was great and spoke very good English and very informative. It was good to be in a small group, only 3 of us. We did not go to the Bao ruins though..... and lunch was awful! I have never had lunch of steamed rice and Friday onions before!

Review by:   CLARE H,    June 2016
Very crowded for picture taking but worth the visit. We enjoyed our trip to see this famous site. Lunch was HORRIBLE!! The lunch was cold, unflavored, and did not include sodas or drinks. We shared this with our tour guide. Everyone on our tour bus was appalled that the lunch selection was as bad as the service.

Review by:   MICHAEL D,    May 2016
Of all the tours in China this was the one we were looking forward to the most! And it didn't disappoint!_br/_ We were picked up from our hotel at 9am, taken to a terracotta warrior factory - where I must say the sell wasn't as pushy as other factory tours. We then visited Banpo, an ancient village settlement followed by lunch. Then onto the Terracotta Warriors....breathtaking! More than enough time to visit and explore, our guide was very knowledgeable and was able to answer any questions that we had._br/_ When we visit China again Xi'an is a definite must for a second visit.

Review by:   Alejandra Janet C,    May 2016
very nice

Review by:   Stephen M,    May 2016
Nana was a great guide, the only comment we would make is regarding the order of the day, start with the Warriors and the digs finish with the shop.

Review by:   Barrie C,    May 2016
Tour content was very good including the courier. We were, however, quite disturbed by the manner of the driver whose aggresive driving certainly unnerved us

Review by:   Aaron W,    May 2016
The best of the tours we took. Our tour guide was great she really explained everything to us and really looked for questions and feedback. Unlike the other tours we took this guide even gave us time to explore and even buy water or a snack when needed. The only reason this wasn't rated higher is because you're forced to shop which is dumb. I know that not one person in my tour group bought anything we all just stood around waiting to leave. Also, while this says it's a full day tour keep in mind it takes about two hours one way to get there so four hours of your day is spent traveling and that doesn't include pick ups and drop offs. So this is really a half day tour of the actual tour site.

Review by:   William S,    April 2016
Excellent! The tour covered a lot of ground, but it was conducted at a comfortable pace.

Review by:   Brian F,    April 2016
Excellent

Review by:   Angie Koh,    April 2016
Our guides., Michael and Chelsea were friendly, informative and helpful. Though Michael speaks with accented English, we were able to understand him. However, Chelsea is more articulate. They were on time to pick us up from our hotel. There was 3 other male tourist 1 Italian and 2 Germans with me and my 2 friends, from Malaysia._br/_ Overall, the tour seemed rushing to us, from places to places. At the Terracotta factory, we were not give enough time to browse and shop for other products. We did not get to see the other display items on sale except for the area where the Terracotta warriors are. Maybe because the other 3 male tourists are not keen to shop. We were not encouraged to stop and browse the shops along the way from the Terracotta Warriors museum site to Emperor QinShihHuang's Mausoleum. _br/_ Lunch is provided on this tour. Though the dishes are plentiful, most of it were bland. The fried chicken dish was pitiful. Upon inspection, it was just chicken necks, skins and a piece of wings. We even had to pay for our own drinks. It is not included in the lunch._br/_ When Chelsea asked if we are interested to see the Tang Dynasty Music and Dance show and dinner, we jumped at the chance. We were grateful that the van waited for us to finish the dance show to take us back to the hotel. However, the dinner before the show was a great disappointment. We were served 12 pieces of dim sum, each piece the size of a thumb. Though we were given a bowl of chives dumpling soup 11 pieces inside and 4 ice-cube size fruits. Even the drinks served were limited to one glass. We feel that for CNY100, this dinner is not worth it. Suggestion would be to just watch the dance performance._br/_ We did enjoyed the dance performance. The costumes were extravagant and music beautiful. Dancers were professionals and good._br/_ Over, this tour was good. Thank you to Viator.com and the local tour operator.

Review by:   VINAY J,    April 2016
this tor was very good . The tour guide was very good . He was very communicative and with clear English. We enjoyed our time