Private Xi'an Tour: Terracotta Warriors, Hanyangling Museum, Cave Homes

I had an outstanding experience with Michael during the tour. He's an excellent communicator, everything was clear and as planned. The tour is well designed, giving many great experiences yet not rushed. This was the perfect day in XiAn outskirts.

Thanks Cathy, for the amazing tour of the Terracotta Warriors and the mosuluem 💫🌟 Cathy was so friendly, kind and very knowledgeable!! We loved every moment. Cathy taught us some Chinese, we went to a delicious restaurant for lunch and did tea tasting. Cathy’s attention to detail was amazing, she took lots of photos of us and gave us a traditional gift (pomegranate) when the tour ended. Cathy was funny and was so kind. Cathy sent us recommendations for food and places to visit. The driver was also great at navigating the traffic 👏 Thanks again Cathy, we hope to have you again as our tour guide when we return to Xi’an.

Excellent trip...guide was perfect, driver safe and courteous great value for money they went over and above helping us to fully enjoy our China experience

I had a wonderful private tour to Hanyangling Museum, terracotta army museum and cave house. The car was big enough for a family, although I did a solo trip. Jackie was my guide who picked me up from my hotel lobby. Jackie is funny, make sure you ask for him. He has lots of knowledge, his English is great. He's attentive, patient, friendly and very helpful. The tour and service exceeded my expectations. After the tour, Jackie explained how to get around using the subway. He didn't need to as the tour had ended and I was already dropped off at my hotel, but that's the type of person he is. Very kind hearted! I highly recommend this company and Jackie as your tour guide!

Communication was excellent. Our driver and tour guide met us at our Hotel and were amazing from the start. The vehicle was perfect for our tour. Jane our English speaking guide was fun and had us hanging on to every word as she went through the history of Xi'an. We had a great day and we feel so lucky to have booked this service.

Shine - our guide - truly shone. She is knowledgeable, patient and caring with the elderly in our group. Our itinerary was Terracotta Warriors, local cave house, lunch and Hanyanling tomb. It was a perfectly balanced tour. Despite the crowd at Terracotta Warriors, Shine always manages to find us a spot to view and give us insightful information. The local cave house was just a pit stop right outside the Terracotta Warriors. Lunch was at a restaurant frequented by locals, with excellent food. None of the tourist trap commission-bassd vibes Hanyanling was an underrated treasure. The museum was built in the early 2000s, with the latest technology to protect the relics while bringing the public closer (eye level) to them. Truly amazing.

What a great day with Michael! He was extremely informative, took us to all the sites plus some more. Our lunch was one of the best meals of the trip. Definitely would recommend and book again!

Our guide Jackie had so much knowledge and was very attentive to our needs. He came with additional information about the places.

We had a wonderful time on our tour with Michael. He was extremely knowledgeable and friendly. The lunch was delicious and all transportation was timely and safe. Could not recommend this tour enough.

Such a wonderful day spent with our guide Cathy, who introduced us in the world of chinese history. Very well organized, the tour allowed us to also be a part of a tea ceremony. Our guide even helped us get to the station, we had a train to catch. I highly recommand Cathy, you will have a great day of finding out old and new things about China, in a very good English and a friendly atmosphere!

An excellent tour to pack in a bunch of must see sights in Xi'an! You can't not do the Terracotta Warriors, so why not throw in a couple of other interesting sights while you are at it. Michael our guide was highly knowledgable, flexible and well organised, making our tour both interesting and enjoyable at the same time. The lunch part way through the tour was delicious too! We would highly recommend this tour!

What a spectacular day! The two main destinations are MUST see sights for any visit to Xi’an. We were blown away. Combining them into a one day tour worked fabulously and we did not feel rushed. Our guide Cathy Kong expertly navigated us through the attractions overcoming very long lines at the Terracotta Warriors museum. Her English was awesome - she majored in it at university. She was extremely helpful and had great energy. She helped us with our Chinese and recommended a show Legend of the Camel Bell and helped arrange tickets. Highly recommend her as a guide to ask for.

Our guide did a great job providing commentary and making sure we experienced all of the most important areas. The van was very comfortable and the lunch was delicious!

This tour is a very good option to spend a full day in Xi'an. There are multiple attractions on the itinerary, including the amazing Terracotta Army, a taste of local life and culture (cave homes), and more. My guide was Michael and I thoroughly enjoyed spending the time with him. He spoke English very well and was able to provide a lot of interesting information to me. I can certainly recommend this trip to everyone!

I had an excellent day with Jackie on this amazing tour. He was very informative and able to speak to with ease as there was a driver. Jackie was very knowledgeable about the sites visited, and also about life in Xi'an . The Hangyaling museum was very interesting and very evocative and not at all busy. In contrast, the visit to the terracotta warriors was very crowded, but Jackie was extremely helpful in helping me negotiate the crowds and deal with tickets, gates etc. The lunch and cave house were also both enjoyable. Thank you Jackie for an excellent day!

Extremely fascinating and well organized tour. The explanations of our guide Michael were very interesting, he speaks very good English and is familiar with thousends of years of Chinese history. He's also a very nice person. The Terracotta Army is one of the most impressive things you can ever see and experience, but without Michael's explanations the experience would not have been half as deep. The museum is also worth seeing (and one of the few sightseeing spots in China where you don't have to fight your way through crowds). And the lunch with the freshly prepared noodles tasted good, too. We can only recommend this tour.

Michael was AMAZING! We started with the Hanyangling museum- a perfect opening for understanding the time period of the terra-cotta warriors. Frankly, I found them much more interesting (though not as awe-inspiringly amazing) than the warriors. There, you see everything in the tomb. Also, there was hardly anyone there, so we could easily take our time. Michael is a great storyteller and gave rich information on life at that time period. We went on to have a marvelous lunch. I have celiac disease and was amazed that Michael took such great care to find a place where I could eat gluten free food! I almost cried with happiness to be able to try the famous food from Xi’an! Something I wouldn’t have been able to do on my own. He even took the time after the tour to help me find more food I could eat. From there we went to the warriors, which are remarkable on their own, but once again Michael brought things to life. Stopping by a yangdong afterwards gave an interesting view into a unique and ancient lifestyle. Since leaving Xi’an I have passed several other yangdong and it was cool to have a sense of what they’re like inside. I highly recommend this tour, and Michael in particular for his care, his storytelling, his knowledge and his overall great company! His English is excellent- certainly one of the best guides I’ve had in China. Thank you Michael for the special day!

Jackie was great fun, with lots of information, even relating the dynasty eras to relative times in British history. He was easily understood, and has a good command of the English language. The vehicle had a dedicated driver, so Jackie could interact during the trip.

Loved this tour and this tour guide. I will definitely be booking Michael with Lily’s Tours again. His English was perfect and he was so friendly and accommodating. We had time at the end of the tour so he took us to see the Xi’an City Wall. He took us to lunch at a noodle restaurant in Xi’an and shared the love of his culture with us.

Everything was amazing tour guy was super nice and very knowledgeable and he brought us to this place to eat. Lunch was just delicious. Everything was secede my expectations. !! The sights was amazing. I really enjoy it.

What an experience! A fantastic tour with Michael as a truly knowledgeable art and history expert. The army is unbelievable, but so was the big noodle lunch and the stroll through the art quarter. Amazing, unforgettable tour, great guide, very well organized!

Lily’s Private Tours did a fantastic job organizing this tour! My friend and I had a wonderful time in Xian. Michael is a great tour guide. He is very accommodating and informative. Lily’s Private Tours is highly recommended.

Booking a private tour with Lily was the best decision I have taken in a long time! We have lived in China for more that 13 years so we don't usually see the necessity to take this kind of tours but it was our first time in Xi'an and we were in the mood for an hassle free journey. The Terracotta Warriors Museum was packed (we went on a Sunday) and having a guide made it easier to navigate. Michael was excellent at finding shortcuts, pointing out details that we would have missed and filling us in the convoluted soap-opera-like Qin dynasty politics. It was a great day and we highly recommend Michael as a guide because he is not only knowledgeable but also friendly and flexible.

We had a wonderful 2 days with our guide Michael. He took all the work out of navigating Xi'an - including our meals! Highlights were of course seeing the Terracotta warriors and riding the bikes around the city wall. Besides the easy logistics, there was value added with Michael sharing his interest in the food scene in Xi'an!!! We loved trying all the specialty local food! He really made us feel we were supported even in the evenings while we were on our own. Michael is really professional and flexible. Looking back, we probably only needed his assistance for one day, but it was nice not to have to think about anything in China!

Our guide Wendy spent a ton of time explaining everything about the tomb and it's importance and what exactly we were seeing. Really the best way to spend the time we had there.

Went with my wife and a friend. Our tour guide was Jackie, and he showed up right on time at our hotel. He also called the night before to make sure we had made it to Xi’an as planned. His English was very good and he was genuinely delighted to learn things about us and about the US (he jotted things down on his phone as we talked). Our first stop was a tomb and museum for a Han Dynasty emperor. Pretty interesting. Then we had a great noodle lunch at a local restaurant (I’ve had noodles several places in China and the Xi’an noodles were my favorite). Then on to the Terra Cotta Warrior museum. This was amazing and lived up to its reputation as a “must see”. After that, we visited a cave home for a few minutes and headed back to Xi’an. It was a great day and I highly recommend Jackie as a guide.

Take a guided tour to see the 8000+ Terracotta Warriors archeological dig with your own eyes and get a sense of the daily discovery an archeologist goes through at the Xi’an site! Our tour guide, Shine, was there to reveal those hidden gems of information and relationships behind all the history because honestly, there is just way too much information and history to uncover just at the Terracotta Warriors Exhibit alone! To her character, Shine speaks English quite well! She enunciates clearly and is easy to understand! And she walks’ the talk’! Additionally, Shine’s knowledge of the City allowed her to drop hints of side-trip tips like the local Food Market. She also knew specialty foods most Westerners seek and where they are located and at decent prices! Tour/Lunch: Terracotta Warriors Exhibits, Local Farmer’s Summer Cave Dwelling, Lunch, and the combined sites of the First Emperor’s and Empress’s - Mausoleum “Mounds,” in close proximity with the Han Ying Ling Mausoleum-Museum Exhibits of the Fourth Han Emperor. As a bonus, we were able to buy fresh Pomegranate at the Farmer’s site and it’s a refreshing snack after a morning’s long trek! Our tour was intentionally booked after the October 1st National Holiday! Traffic was light and crowds were thin. Weather was slightly cool and damp to start with but the afternoon turned out just perfect. Overall it was an absolute delight to get to see the history up close and personal with Shine! Thank You so much! We are still excited to share our experiences with our friends about you and your wonderful persona!

We had an awesome experience on this tour. Shine was very professional and knowledgable and answered all of our questions and more throughout the car rides and the tour stops. We had a perfect amount of time at the Terracotta Warriors, and Shine was super helpful navigating the crowds and making sure we had a good view. Lunch was delicious (noodles and dumplings), and the brief stop at the cave home fascinating. We loved the visit to Jingdi’s Tomb, which is a hidden gem- it’s similar to the Terracotta Warriors but with a smaller size and different style, which Shine explained to us. Thanks for a great day!

This tour was great - included the two things we really wanted to see (the terracotta army and the Hanyangling Museum) and we also got a great lunch and a visit to a local farmer's "cave house" which was an interesting insight into how people live outside the big cities. Michael is a great guide, he speaks very good English and is very knowledgable about the history and background of the archeological sites. The car was very comfortable with a good driver and plenty of water available. All in all an excellent tour, I highly recommend this if you're visiting Xi'an - you'll have a great time!

This tour is a must! It was one of the highlights of our trip! Michael was very knowledgeable, accommodating, and fun. He took us to a local restaurant for lunch and helped us order, which was fabulous!! I would highly recommend this tour!

We had a very enjoyable experience and Michael is superb as a historical tour guide because this guy really knows his stuff. His knowledge of ancient Chinese history is immense and this added a lot of value to our tomb tour, as he can bring a lot of what we see come to live. I can’t type fast enough to take notes of what he downloaded on us on my phone! With the July school holidays, there is a big crowd but Michael is really helpful in terms of helping us to navigate around throughout the tour so as to minimise us running into the large crowd. The lunch place with the ‘Biang biang’ noodles was superb, tasty and not so salty, and apparently, one of top 10 noodles place in Xian. Overall, we had a really enjoyable experience, we did not feel rush and felt that timing was flexible catering to our needs. Highly recommend this tour and Michael as a guide! Thank you very much to Michael and the driver !

This is a fact filled tour of all the historical information regarding the Terracotta Warriors! We loved the long noodle lunch. Thank you, Michael!

We toured the terra-cotta warriors and Hanyangling Museum, also with a stop to a local cave home and lunch at a restaurant. Wonderful day throughout. Michael was our guide, and he was charming, knowledgeable, and a great host. Everything went quite smoothly. Highly recommended.

Jackie was our friendly guide for the day. He is extremely knowledgeable and happily shared a lot of great information about the Terracotta Warriors, Hanyangling Museum and Xi'an in general. His enthusiasm and energy maintained throughout the day. Both he and the driver kept us safe, on time and ensured our tour was very much enjoyed and one to remember! This tour was great in that we not only got to visit the 'must see' Terracotta Warriors, but also the Hanyangling Museum, which we highly recommend. The Hanyangling Museum is presented in a modern facility and, as you walk over the glass bottom floor of the museum, you can see into the pits below, with pottery warriors, chariots, horses and other animals. This was made more enjoyable as there were barely any other tourists at the time we visited.

We have fun and enjoyed the trip. Cathy was very knowledgeable. She shared a lot of Xi'an history to us. Highly recommended to choose Lily's private tour.

Our tour guide Jackie was a breathe of fresh air and entertaining while providing us with a detailed history of the sights we visited throughout the tour. We would highly recommend Jackie to anyone looking to take this tour in Xi'an as I am sure you would enjoy it as much as we did.

As a solo female traveler living in China but from the USA. This was such a great tour. From working with Lily customizing my trip due to the limited 2-day timeframe I wanted to maximize my time in Xian. I was picked up from the railway station, to and from the hotel, and back to the railway station. Not only was my 2 days maximized but they literally started right after getting off the railway station. This trip was jam-packed with nearly all the highlights of Xian. Micheal was GREAT!! He is very knowledgable about the tours and speaks very good English and has a great personality! The food tour was amazing and even got to see some other things off the beaten path you wouldn't get to see in big bus tours. The dynasty show was very beautiful from the costumes, performance, etc. The only downfall was the food at the dynasty show. It fell short from what its all hyped up to be. I wasn't too impressed with it, but again the show made up for it. The driver was great as well as he waited patiently in the heat as we went around everywhere. This is a great team and so worth the extra money. I will definitely use Lily's Tours again. Thanks again everyone XieXie

We had the private tour with Lily - the owner. We were picked up right on time at our hotel @ 9:00 am - our driver was excellent. Lily was our private tour guide - and on route to the Terracotta Warriors site, gave us a great overview of her city, Xi'an. Her local knowledge was second to none. On arrival at the Terracotta Warriors site, she was a wealth of knowledge - and really made a big difference for us as we were being given the history of this site which the world has to see! And throughout the entire visit, she was always caring and ensuring we were given the proper time to discover and appreciate this special place. And she then took us for lunch at one of the local restaurant to experience Xi'an food per the Xi'an locals. Excellent... and as she found out that we were only spending 2 days in Xi'an, she went out of her way to take us to experience the old city in Xi'an. We highly, highly, highly recommend this tour by Lily's private tour - the personal touch and attention to us were second to none. Cannot go wrong with Lily - we plan to come back next May to do The Silk Road with Lily's private tour.

Dodo was an excellent guide for an archeological trip back 2,200 years. The 3 large pits and the buildings over them were truly amazing. They clearly showed all aspects of restoration, from baseline pieces to finished warriors. There were more than a dozen workers putting various figures back together. This was the most memorable thing we saw in China, and was well worth the flight to Xi’an and the 90 min car ride each way. For history lovers, this tour is a must.

We were lucky enough to have Cathy on this tour who gave us a great overview of history, culture, and language not only during our tour but between during our commutes. We learned about the significance of the soldiers, what led to their creation, as well as little known facts about their upkeep which I hadn’t learned from many documentaries prior. The tomb and cave dwellings were a piece of history we had never leaned about before and unfriendly interesting- we will definitely use Cathy again when we return!

We had a great time on our tour in Xi’an. Jackie was extremely knowledgeable in everything we did. We had a tight schedule and he kept us on task. Even after we parted for the day, he was continually checking on us to make sure we made it ok to our next location. We had a great time!

We did a 2 day private tour of Xi'an and the surrounding areas. The first day, our guide Lily took us to the terracotta warriors, to meet the man who discovered them, a cave dwelling and the old city wall. We had an amazing lunch, with lots of options for me as a vegetarian, and the rest of the family of meat eaters. The biang biang noodles are the best! Lily was so kind and considerate to our family and my daughter (who was carsick on the way out of town). She went out of her way to ensure that we were well taken care of. She is extremely knowledgeable about all of the sites and took her time answering all of our questions. I felt like I had known her for years, since my parents had taken a tour with her back in 2016 and she remembered so many details about conversations with my mother! The tour felt so personalized. The second day, we had a guide named Michael meet us at the hotel and take us to an underground tomb outside of the city. That was the highlight for me - what a cool experience! He then took us the Wild Goose Pagoda, where we enjoyed a delicious lunch. We then went to the cultural street which was fascinating, the drum tower and bell tower, and the Muslim street where we went to the great Mosque and ate delicious street food among the crowds. Michael was so friendly and full of fun facts and historical knowledge. I got a really good understanding of Chinese history from his explanations.He too remembered a group of my friends that had toured with the company a few years ago - which makes me believe that each tour is special/ memorable to this company. The driver should also be mentioned. He drove smoothly, safely and never once weaved in and out of traffic/slammed the brakes etc. He was polite, kind and professional. The company provided a car seat so that I did not have to drag mine through the airport. They also provided water and working seat belts in a clean, comfortable van with AC. Overall, I am so happy that our family decided to take a private tour with this company. We have lived in China for 5 years, and this tour exceeded our expectations beyond what we could have imagined! Both guides allowed us to tour at our own pace and accommodated anything we needed along the way. They took care of our daughter like she was their own. The company came highly recommended to us from friends and family. We felt that we were traveling with old friends and not hired guides. Lily and Michael were exceptional! I would not hesitate to recommend them to anyone looking for a hassle free, exciting and busy trip! You will not regret it!

Our tour guide, Jackie, was absolutely brilliant. The private guide was the best thing that we could have done for our weekend trip to Xi'an. He was insightful, informative, and a communicative. The sights themselves were amazing, and the added touch that he brought to the experience was the icing on the cake. I highly recommend this to anyone.

Shine, our guide, was excellent and it was great to see historical places with her. the car and driver were good. good details about history........................................................................................................................................................................

Our trip to Xi'an was made more enjoyable as we had a great guide in the person of Jackie. As one conversant with the history and culture of Xi’an, he was able to offer comprehensive explanations of the sites and the city. Moreover, his careful selection of dishes at lunch ensured that we had a good sampling of Xi'an cuisine. He went out of his way to secure for us seats at the Tang Dynasty show at last minute’s notice which was a real treat! He also brought us for a walk through the Scholar’s Quarters so that we could have a feel of the Chinese art and culture even though this was not part of the itinerary. For anyone going to Xi’an, I would definitely use his services.

It has been my dream to visit the Terracotta warriors in Xi'an and hence, when I got the opportunity, I was determined to go with an excellent guide to see them. Michael came very highly recommended from a friend and he was really good! He had a lot of knowledge of and passion for the history of China and put everything into context to help us understand why the terracotta warriors were such a stunning achievement. While the cave dwelling visit was ok (although tasting fresh persimmon fruit was great!), the Hangliyang museum was also very interesting to give you an idea of the opulence of Chinese emperors back in the day. He also took us to a truly excellent place for lunch where we tried metre long biang biang noodles. Overall highly recommend this tour if you want a knowledgeable guide and are a true history buff!

My husband and I booked the Private Tour of Warriors Museum, Cave Dwelling & Hanyanling. (We paid our own entrance fees on this tour.) We had such a fabulous day with our tour guide, Michael Chang! He was knowledgable, welcoming, fun and his English was very easy to understand. There are numerous Terra Cotta Warrior tours in Xi'an but we picked this one because of the cave dwellings were also added into it. I thought it made the tour more unique and we were glad we booked it. We had plenty of time at the Terra Cotta Warrior Museum, and other 2 stops, plus lunch. We never once felt rushed. Michael offered to take lots of photos as well as give us time to take our own photos. As a side note, towards the end of visiting the Terra Cotta Warriors, there is an interactive photo opportunity with a fake warrior set. We almost passed on it but opted to take the photos and glad we did. It was fun and we got some cute photos. I think it was around 34 yuan ($5 US) per person. Whatever the price actually was, I know it didn't cost very much. Just make sure you have Chinese currency available if you'd like to do this. The person stationed to take photos with my cell phone camera did a very good job and every picture turned out great. We had the option to stop for lunch at our own expense during the tour. We decided to take Michael up on the offer. The driver took us to a restaurant and Michael discussed the menu with us, then ordered for us and gave us time to eat.The food was some of the best food we had while in China. I highly recommend the noodles!. Trust Michael on the food selection! Not only was Michael a great tour guide, but he really went out of our way to help us on several occasions. At the beginning of the tour, I lost my eye glasses at the museum. Without hesitation, he started trying to track them down and went to the security office to try and find them. (I did get them back.) We were also having issues with our hotel room and there was quite a language barrier, even with using an online translater. After our tour, Michael went into the hotel and spoke with the desk clerk and hotel staff about our room issues. Thanks to Michael, we had the issue resolved and were much happier! Michael really went above and beyond to do this for us! I don't remember our driver's name, but we felt completely safe with him. He was a good driver and polite. The vehicle was new, very clean, comfy and did not smell like cigarette smoke. (Which was a first for us while traveling through China.) There was always bottled water for us and we never had to wait for the driver. He was always on time. Michael and our driver were a winning combination for this tour. Honestly, Michael is probably the best tour guide we've ever had. We wished we could have taken him and the driver with us during the rest of our trip! This tour is highly recommended from us!

Kathy was our guide, she speaks good English and was very knowledgeable about the history. Due to the kids' interest, we altered the itinerary and she was very flexible and accommodating which was wonderful. She also took us to a local restaurant for lunch, it was a nice experience as well. Overall we are very pleased with the service provided and will recommend their offerings.

Wow! Had such a lovely day. Our guide, Michael, was so very helpful and knowledgeable. Would definitely recommend. Thank you!