Xian travel tips
The following is some travel tips for visiting Xi’an, according to the order of pre-tour, in-tour and post-tour.
Pre-tour
Before the tour, visitors should pay attention to the following things:
- Make a plan, as concrete as possible. There are so many attractions in Xi’an, so it is obvious that the choice is important. If it is impossible to make a plan, it is better to ask a travel agency for help, which is professional enough to tailor your trip.
- Avoid excessive luggage. The price of daily necessities in Xi’an is not expensive, so it is convenient to buy in destination.
- Find a good way to get to the destination, by normal train, high-speed train or plane. The plane is fast but it usually is affected by bad weather. The normal train is the slowest but there are hard and soft sleepers. It is good for night trip. The high-speed train is the compromise of the two and long-trip adds sleepers recently.
- In train station, there are someone who will help you in your luggage. Be careful, they have to be paid and the price is negotiated. But if you can not speak Chinese or do not need the service, just say “no”.
- Outside the station and the airport, there are so many private cars without the sign of a taxi. Avoid taking those cars, because they charge more. It is better to find a travel agency before the tour and they have private driver to meet you on time.
- If the choice is public transportation, try to get on the right vehicle and look the route up beforehand.
In-tour
- It is convenient to visit the attractions in Xi’an city by taxi. But when referring to the attractions around Xi’an, other choices are recommended. The best choice is to find a travel agency. They usually provide a guide, a driver and also arrange meals. If needed, they can help in ticket-buying and hotel-reserving in proper price.
- It is dry in Xi’an. It is necessary to drink more water and moisture your skin. In sunny days, sunshade is needed and open attractions should be avoided in hot days, especially in summer.
- A guide is needed because most attractions in Xi’an have their historical background. It is meaningless to see. They have to be tasted. And the English introductions in the attraction are mostly not good compared to its Chinese counterpart although it is useful for Beijing to Xian tour.
- The foods in attractions are more expensive and the tastes are usually not good. If the meal needs to be eaten in the attraction, it is recommended to bring by visitors themselves.
- When coming across artifacts wanting to buy, bargin is a must. When it is told that the artifact is from some tomb or relics, most of the time it is fake. Do not be cheated.
Post-tour
- Leave some time for local flavors, which is an important part of the tour. There are so many places in Xi’an famous for delicious food. The Muslim Quarter is one of them.
