Beijing & Xi'an in six days

Pace: Fast — one major site per half-day.

Why this order, and what to cut

Beijing first, because it is where you land, and because its booking windows are the tightest — if the Forbidden City is sold out for your dates you want to know that on day one, not day four. Xi'an second, because it is a single 4h30 train ride south and works as a two-day coda: one imperial site, one city wall, one food street.

Six days is the honest minimum for both. If you only have five, cut Beijing to three days and drop the Summer Palace — it is beautiful but it is a park, and you will have seen two days of imperial architecture by then.

If you have eight days, add Chengdu between them: Xi'an to Chengdu is 3–4 hours by train, and the food route below picks up from there.

Beijing — days 1 to 4

Day 1: Tiananmen, the Forbidden City, and the rooftop

Morning. Tiananmen Square is free but you pass a security check with your passport — carry the physical document, not a photo. The square opens before the palace; go early, because the queues at the Meridian Gate build from 08:30.

Forbidden City. The Palace Museum releases tickets seven days in advance through its official WeChat mini-program (故宫博物院). There is no walk-up ticket desk, no same-day sale, and it closes on Mondays. Tickets go within minutes in July, August and the first week of October.

Route through the palace. Enter at Meridian Gate, follow the central axis north through the Hall of Supreme Harmony, exit at the Gate of Divine Prowess (Shenwu Men). Two to three hours at walking pace. The Treasury and Clock Gallery cost extra and are worth one of them, not both.

Late afternoon. Cross the road to Jingshan Park (¥2) and climb the hill behind the palace. This is the panorama — the one where the golden roofs run to the horizon. It takes 15 minutes up and is the single best value in Beijing.

Evening. Wangfujing for snacks, or Nanluoguxiang if you want the hutong version. Both are tourist-facing; the food is fine, the prices are not local.

Day 2: the Great Wall

Pick one section. Trying to do two in a day means spending it in a car.

Day 3: Temple of Heaven, Summer Palace, duck

Early morning. Temple of Heaven (through ticket ~¥34). Arrive at 06:30–07:00 and you get the park at its best: retirees doing tai chi, calligraphy on the paving stones with water brushes, a full brass band under the corridor. The Hall of Prayer itself opens later; the park is the point.

Afternoon. Summer Palace (~¥30 entrance, ~¥60 through ticket). Take the boat across Kunming Lake if it is running, then walk the Long Corridor. It is a 40-minute metro ride from the centre, so do not sandwich it between two other things.

Evening. Peking duck. Siji Minfu (四季民福) is the locals' pick and the queue reflects it; Da Dong (大董) is the polished version; Quanjude (全聚德) is historic — founded 1864 — and priced accordingly. Book two to three days ahead for dinner, or go at 11:00 for lunch.

Day 4: hutongs, then the train

Morning in the hutongs: Shichahai (什刹海) for the lakeside version, Nanluoguxiang for the busy renovated one, 798 Art District if you want galleries instead of courtyards. Two hours is enough for any of them.

Then the train. See below for the station detail — Beijing has more than one, and they are far apart.

The train to Xi'an

High-speed services run from Beijing West (北京西) to Xi'an North (西安北) in about 4 hours 30 minutes. Second class sits around ¥515; first class around ¥825. Roughly hourly from early morning to evening.

Xi'an — days 5 and 6

Day 5: the Terracotta Warriors

They are 40km east of the city, and the visit is simpler than the tour sellers imply.

1. Get there. Metro Line 9 runs east from the city; the last leg to the site is by local bus from the terminus, and the transfer is signposted in English. A taxi from the Bell Tower is about ¥100–120 and takes an hour. Confirm the current bus number at your hotel — this last leg is the one thing that changes.
2. Buy the ticket (¥120) at the gate or in the official WeChat account. Passport required.
3. Hire a guide at the entrance (~¥150 for a group, English). This is the one place on the trip where the guide is not optional: without the excavation story, three pits of grey statues look like three pits of grey statues.
4. Order of visit. Pit 1 first for scale, Pit 3 for the command post, Pit 2 last for the unexcavated sections and the bronze chariots in the hall beside it. Allow three hours.

Evening. The City Wall after dark. Entrance ¥54, and the wall stays open late; the south gate (永宁门) is the photogenic entry. Cycling the 13.7km loop takes about 90 minutes at tourist pace — bike rental is around ¥45 for two hours, and the surface is uneven brick.

Day 6: pagoda, then the Muslim Quarter

Morning at the Big Wild Goose Pagoda (大雁塔) — the grounds are free, climbing the pagoda is a small extra, and the square in front has a musical fountain in the evening if you are still around. The Shaanxi Provincial Museum nearby is free but requires an online booking days ahead, and is worth swapping in if you care about Tang dynasty bronzes more than another tower.

Afternoon and evening in the Muslim Quarter (回民街), walking north from the Bell Tower. Roujiamo (肉夹馍), cold skin noodles (凉皮), persimmon cakes (柿饼) in winter. Then a note that locals will give you for free:

Where this route goes wrong

What it costs

Entry tickets for the whole route come to roughly ¥350–450 per person: Forbidden City ¥60, Jingshan ¥2, Wall ~¥40 plus cable car ~¥120, Temple of Heaven ¥34, Summer Palace ¥30–60, Terracotta ¥120, City Wall ¥54. Prices move; treat these as planning figures and confirm at the gate.

Book in this order

1. 8–10 weeks out: train Beijing West → Xi'an North, and the Xi'an hotel. Both are cheaper and better two months ahead.
2. 3 weeks out: Beijing hotel. Pick inside the 2nd Ring Road on a metro line — the city is enormous and "close to the centre" means very little.
3. 7 days out, at the release time: Forbidden City. This is the constraint the whole trip bends around.
4. 3 days out: Great Wall transport and the duck restaurant.
5. 1 day out: Terracotta Warriors ticket, offline maps, and the alipay test payment.