Xian Airport Layover Terracotta Army Tour (No Shopping Detours)

Tina was amazing. Good visit and good explanations.

Tina was great! Very knowledgeable, very excited to share, friendly, accommodating, and funny. If you want the tour that gives you what you want, you should pick this, absolutely wonderful and absolutely 100% great. Communication was early and often, you never guess what is going to happen, the company will let you know every step of the way and will look out for your best interest to include helping with your flights if you need it, which we did. Thank you for a once in a life time experience, it was great!!

We just had the most wonderful tour with Linda! Everything was perfect from beginning to end. She was so engaging with our whole family, including our two teenage kids (which is no easy feat). She also took us to the most delicious local restaurant for lunch. Linda’s English is proficient and she even helped us learn some Mandarin! The car was very nice and clean. I highly recommend Linda!

Tina was an excellent guide for our private tour to the Terra Cora Warriors. She was very knowledgeable and she showed us the important highlights, which was much appreciated given our short time and the crowds. Tina’s English is very good! The car was very comfortable and the driver was timely and safe. Communication from the tour agency by WhatsApp was excellent. We felt the tour was good value for 3 of us on a private 5 hour tour from Xi’an.

Tina gave us an excellent tour. We got the history of the terra-cotta Warriors as well as going to the Muslim Street for food.. We are at the Chinese beef burger just steamed dumplings, Young bang noodles and the cake and Chinese beef hamburger.. Tina gave us the history of the terracotta warrior and Muslim Street. I would highly recommend her.

Tina was amazing. We flew in and Tina and the driver picked us up at the airport. She had amazing enthusiasm from the minute she saw us. In the car ride , she gave us the history of the first emperor and the warriors we were headed to see. We stopped at a local restaurant on the way and had an absolutely amazing lunch. She recommended a few items including Biang biang noodles which are a local specialty. She purchased our tickets while we were eating and then we headed to see the warriors. She walked us through each pit and explained the history. Her love for the history and warriors was infectious. After we were done, we headed to the walled city and she gave us more history that we loved. We finished our day at Muslim street. That was a blast, we tried pomegranate juice, persimmon cake, Chinese hamburger and honey rice cake. It was a fabulous day and Tina was an absolute joy. We appreciated all of the knowledge she gave us and were leaving Xian so happy we came. Thanks Tina!!!😃

Great experience with fantastic guide, TINA, who is extremely knowledgeable and great to be around.

Tina was fantastic - she’s full of energy, enthusiasm, and knowledge. We were treated to a great day in Xi’an, including the Terracotta warriors, Pagoda, and the City Wall.

We saw the terracotta warriors, the Pegoda, the City wall and had a great lunch. Tina was amazing! She never stopped telling us about all the sights and did her best to fit everything in a short time frame. We flew in from Beijing just for the day. Tour was definitely made better by a friendly and motivated tour guide. Highly recommend!

Tina was my tour guide and she was fantastic her knowledge of xi’an’s History & the Terra Cotta Warriors was so informative. I would highly recommend her for any tour to see the Terra Cotta Warriors.

Fully enjoyed the Terracotta Warriors Tour with Tina. She was patient, knowledgeable and very efficient. She explained the important facts without losing the children’s’ interest. Tina was great!

Had the best day on the tour, easy to organise with Olivia communicating thoroughly throughout the whole process. Steven was a great guide and gave some many extra details that made it that much better.

We had a great time and experience at the place. Our guide Mrs Tina was very experienced and explained the history for us! The driver Mr Han was very helpful with his service. If visit next time we will ask for this team again for sure!!!!

Tina my tour guide was excellent. Very knowledgeable and good English speaker. Xi’an is a lovely city to visit and this is a great tour - long day from and to Beijing but worth it. Thanks Tina

Tina was a brilliant tour guide, very informative and knowledgeable. She took us to an amazing restaurant for lunch and we were able to see the warriors and get dropped off at the airport straight after.

This trip is a once in a lifetime experience! Thanks to the exceptional help of our tour guide Tina we had a thoroughly enjoyable day, without her expertise and knowledge the guided tour would not have been as good as it was. We will remember this experience for the rest of our lives.

Linda was very knowledgeable in our tour in Xian of the terracotta warriors and the entire history of the site. She was very attentive in navigating us thru the busy summer season. 5 stars!!

First and foremost, Linda (our tour guide) and our driver were amazing. She looked after our every need. From answering questions to recommending somewhere to eat, she was exceptional. We had a great time at the Terracotta Army and loved everything about it. Can’t thank her enough! The transfer was luxurious and very spacious.

Our organised tour was amazing! Linda was so kind and give us all the information we could of wanted. A must see when in Xian!!! Linda took us to a restaurant after the tour for some authentic chinese food! Some of the best i’ve had, food was beautiful Thanks again Linda:)

Eddie and a driver picked us up from the Xian airport and took us for a tour of the Terracotta Army. Everything worked extremely efficiently and flawlessly. Eddie speaks excellent English and is highly knowledgeable about the warriors. Despite a very crowded site he whisked us through the entrances and exits, showed us the highlights and gave us a comprehensive appreciation of the history and significance of this amazing piece of history. Highly recommended!

We had a wonderful day with Tina Yang who was at the airport greeting us with a smile. She was ready to take us to which ever of the activities we wished. She took us to a local restaurant to eat prior to heading off to see the 3 pits of the Terra Cotta warriors. We saw the winter Palace of the king and the City Wall of Xi'an. She even came in to the airport to make sure were checked in.

Our family of four with two young daughters (aged 11, 8) had the most fantastic day in Xian with Rosa as out tour guide. We were very crunched for time in Xian and had planned to arrive at 08:30 in the morning via the sleeper train from Beijing and to fly out from Xian the same evening. Rosa picked us from the train station, helped us find vegetarian breakfast before heading out to see the Terracotta warriors. On the way there she gave us fantastic historical information taking the time to answer the numerous questions from our children! At the museum itself, Rosa guided us really well making sure we got the best views and understood the significance of the things we were seeing. She was patient with us as we ate lunch at the museum and flexed our tour to make sure we saw the best of everything. She then took us to Muslim street where to our amazement and our daughters' delight got fridge magnets (with our daughters' photo from the terracotta museum) delivered to her. She then accompanied us to the airport and stayed till we entered the security checkin to ensure we got on our flight in time. Rosa's thoughtfulness, care and organisation meant we had the most fantastic experience in Xian without a single hiccup. Thank you Rosa!

I was fortunate to have a free day in Xi'an and opted to book a private tour of the Terracotta Warriors along with airport transfers. My guide Nana was a bundle of joy and information. Very passionate and didn't get phased by the chilly weather. Not only did I get to see the warriors museum but we also spent some time walking the City Wall as well as a 'shuffle' down the Muslim Market - which was an interesting assault on the senses :) Overall - highly recommended :)

We were picked up from our hotel in Xi'an, visited both the Qin's Terracotta army Museum and the Hanyangling Museum and were dropped off when the tour ended at the airport. Linda, our guide, was very knowledgeable and professional! We had a great day, and would recommend this tour to anyone!

The setup before we left Australia was easy and Mason was very accomodating with any information we needed. The tour itself was awesome and our tour guide Lisa was exceptional. We had teenagers with us and the early morning start was difficult but definitely worth it to save us a days travel and overnight accomodation. thank you very much!

Very efficient tour to an amazing site. Rosa was friendly and helpful and knew the best places to move around the museum and take photos.She spoke good English and gave us a great understanding of the history of the site and could answer all our questions. Hotel pick up was on-time and well organised.

I erased all my emails and had to go back and find this one. Eddie is a very hard worker. He is very informative about the tour, he was very helpful. When I was leaving he actually got out of the car(which he didnt have to) came into the train station and help with the the language barrier, and got me on the correct train. Eddie you mad my trip very easy for me It was exactly what I wanted, and that was great...... Thank you Eddie.. P.S. You want great professional service -----> ASK FOR EDDIE Keep in touch

Really enjoyed this tour. We had peace of mind from the beginning as we contacted the company via WeChat to ask a few questions. The deposit was paid via PayPal for added peace of mind. They also pre-booked our tickets to the Terra-cotta warriors to ensure we didn’t miss out (there is a max number of tickets sold per day). Our tour guide James was friendly, knowledgeable and flexible. He realised we were more interested in history and culture, so he shared much more about XiAn than we expected to learn. He also recommended a restaurant and some local dishes which were delicious and well priced. Our driver MrChen was calm, and knew the roads well so we were never far away from where we needed to be. Highly recommend booking with these lovely people!

We had a great experience from start to finish. Firstly The warriors themselves are stunning and a trip should be made on a trip to Xian as it’s a must see sight. The company were very communicative after booking regarding pick up locations, times and name of our guide. Our guide Tina met us in our hotel at the agreed time. We travelled in a modern air conditioned vehicle and as well as the Terracotta warriors we could choose two other sites and a place for lunch. Tina was very friendly and had a great sense of humour. She was also very professional and knowledgeable with regards the history of the places we visited. Tina also took us to a great noodle bar which we both enjoyed very much. I would recommend this company and Tina

Background: We were holidaying in Chengdu when, at short notice I decided to visit Xi'an with my wife and daughter - both Chinese speaking, I am not. Having researched, largely through TripAdvisor, I concluded that we needed a bilingual guide for terracotta warriors as that was the main point of the trip. By short notice - I mean the following day! After looking extensively at the reviews I decided to book via terracottawarriorstour.com Why did I choose them? Because they had an overwhelmingly positive set of reviews from non-chinese speakers, and the small number of negative reviews ( everyone will have some...) seemed to be in circumstances that would be mitigated by the fact we have native Chinese in our party. Also, although my wife thought they are expensive (of course a local can always come up with cheaper option for anything using WeChat), I was reassured by the fact that their price list is published on the web site. And my wife's'wechat options' unsurprisingly had recommendations from Chinese people. I wanted a 'western viewpoint' Lastly, being in the professional services business myself, I know that paying a premium doesn't necessarily guarantee success but it typically improves the odds. The price differentials between tour guide options are miniscule compared with the overall cost of our holiday but could have a disproportionately large impact on our enjoyment. The Booking Experience: Very easy. I chose to communicate via WeChat but follow up conversations were by email. I actually did all the booking while we were on the train from Chengdu! We still hadn't decided how many days we would be in Xi'an or what hotel we'd stay in but Olivia ( you never know when doing stuff on the internet who you are actually dealing with! I decided to live with the image of a charming young waif - could have been her grandfather for all I know), anyway the operator was patient, flexible and responsive. By the time we had checked in our hotel at 5pm, I had the phone number of our guide, David, who would pick us up at 7.30 following morning The days proceedings: Sure enough, bang on 7.30 David met us and his driver took the 4 of us in a very comfortable SUV out to the warriors' site. There are enough reviews describing the detail of the museum. Suffice it to say, the whole experience was awesome. As I remarked to my Facebook friends: Imagine being in an aircraft hanger the size of Wembley football pitch. There are 10s of thousands of figures - they all look the same, but close up you see that, in fact, none of them are actually identical! And those were just the tourists!😂😂 As for the exhibition, Yes! Well worth getting up at 6.30. as it was the place was crowded. Another half hour and it would be packed with massive queues. Excellent English speaking guide. Car, logistics etc all very comfortable. Amazing history behind the 8,000 figures, horses, chariots, archers and infantrymen. Emperor Qin Shi Huang had them facing east since that's where he believed his enemies were. And the story of the farmer digging a well in 1974 who chanced across some broken pieces of pottery. Fascinating stuff and worth putting Xi'an on any China itinerary..." The Guide: I think the tour guide industry works here the same as in Dubai. Guides are licensed but quality may vary. So you might get a particular guide via several different agencies. By choosing terracottawarriorstour.com, my logic was that I had high chance of getting a good one. My strategy worked! David is a native of Xi'an with 20 years experience as a tour guide. It's his full time job. He knows his stuff - he answered every question with authority (including a couple I cheekily asked when I already knew the answer) and he was entertaining without being showy/salesy in any way. He was educated in international affairs and we had interesting discussions on a wide range of topics. He managed to keep English conversation going with me while also updating in Chinese for my family. David clearly had a routine to follow - he has clearly been to the museum many times, but was flexible in allowing us to dictate the pace and modify the agenda. I can't recommend him too highly. A perfect 10. Addendum: We had only booked for a half day. Having 2 Chinese in our party we didn't need a guide tobtakevus around the city sights. But what we did benefit from was his advice about how to spend the rest of the day. We asked where to eat local food - not in the tourist traps. "Where do you take your wife on your wedding anniversary?" "Pizza hut" was the cheeky reply. But he then followed up with a great recommendation of a local restaurant in the wanfujing shopping centre near our hotel. But THE BEST piece of advice was for us to see a particular show: "The Legend of the Camels Bell". We went. It's a 1 hour show. It is awesome. First suprise. The theatre is round and the set changes are effected by rotating the auditorium (all 3,000 seats). Quite disorientating at first - you think the stage is moving, but actually you are. The story is about the development of the silk road. It charts the fortunes of a group of families as they travel from the middle East to China. The tale lasts an hour with about 10 set changes. It's a spectacular dance show that Cecil B de Mille would be proud of, but the theatrical effects include a caravan of 20 live camels, 30 wolves who enter the auditorium and run down the isles before fighting on stage; a 15 meter high Buddha emerging from the ground, a 20m torrential waterfall, a 12m volcano - all wrapped up in spectacular costume and choreography. I think that about covers our day in Xi'an!

Such a relaxed tour and Rosa knew all the tricks to make things easy. Our driver, John, was super friendly and safe. Rosa was knowledgeable and very funny and engaging. Five stars all around!

It was a good tour of Xian starting w the terra-cotta warriors and you get to choose two other sites. Probably if you are a larger group greater value for money. All in all Stephen was pleasant and a great guide

If you are looking for a great guide experience in Xi’an, look no farther than Tina. She will give you an amazing experience through all the major sites and is wonderful to chat with. Her English is very good. She even picked a wonderful place for lunch.

We did a 7 day tour to China, flying from Manchester to Beijing with Hainan airlines. Our visit was primarily to see my daughter who was studying in China. We had a great couple of days in Beijing and saw the Great Wall. We used the trains to travel between the cities. We managed to squeeze in a 24 hour visit to Xi'an, to go all that way and not see the Terracotta Warriors would have been a waste. The city is the ancient capital of the area, it has large city walls which you can cycle around in a couple of hours. At night the walls and Pagodas are lit up and it is magical to see, particularly around the South Gate. There are bars & restaurants near the south gate too. We booked a tour guide to take us to see the Warriors, David Zhang, you can reach him at: davidxatour@163.com David arrived promptly with a van and driver at our hotel, starting at 11.00am we left the city to drive the 40 minutes to the Terracotta Warriors site. En route he pointed out many things of interest, his english was great. We added in a shopping outlet & factory shop, as well. We also visited the enormous Temple Site of Huaqing Palace, with its hot springs and bath pools. The Terracotta Museum, is a massive site, we visited on 5th December, it was cool and damp, but not crowded. In high season there can be 100,000 visitors in one day. There were only 2000 or so when we visited. The main toilet block, is in the open air & smelly. David took us to some much better toilets in the museum itself. We met the farmer who discovered the the buried army when he was digging a well. David arranged lunch in a local restaurant, food was good and very clean. He was knowledgeable about the artifacts throughout the museum and paced everything to suit us. Overall it was a great day and meticulously planned by David. He then drove us to the airport for our evening flight back to Beijing, to then fly home. It was a busy 7 days, but worth fitting in as much as possible.

My husband and I used this tour company to make the most out of the one day we had set aside to see The Terracotta Warriors. At first I was hesitant as we'd never used TripAdvisor to book something like this but I am so glad we did. Our tour guide, Rosa, was incredibly knowledgeable in every aspect of the tour and also the friendliest most genuine person we met our entire trip. All of our questions were answered and we learned many interesting facts that we'd have missed otherwise. I believe booking this tour is the absolute best way to see the Terracotta Warriors. If you're lucky maybe you will get to meet Rosa too!

I emailed terracotta tours and dealt with Mason Zheng who has been very helpful and prompt with his email responses. We a group of 4 adults had an extra day free in Shanghai so we organised a private day tour to Xian to see the terracotta warriors. Before the tour Mason emailed me to let us know our guides name. We had Rosa Wang. She was such a lovely and kind lady. She meet us at the airport and took us to our private car. We got stopped by the local police on the way, the local police confiscated the car and Rosa very quickly organised another car and driver. This did not disrupt our tour/day at all. Rosa took us to pit 2, then 3 then left pit 1 till last. I am so glad she did it in this order, as she saved the best till last. We also asked Rosa to take us to a local restaurant for lunch. She took us to a place that served fantastic noodles and only the locals ate there. Cost 15RMB per bowl. We then went to the Xian city wall, and ended the day at Muslim street where there was local markets and local street food, which we enjoyed very much, Then we headed back to the airport for our flight back to Shanghai. I highly recommend this company. And many thanks to Mason and Rosa to help make our experience much more enjoyable.

What a fantastic tour! Eddie immediately found us at the airport just as we exited security. Such a nice guy- very knowledgeable and attentive! He made the day so easy and so fun! He knew all the best spots to get the best views / photos & he answered all of our many questions. Lunch was great as well- a perfect compliment to the day. And we really enjoyed touring the Xian city wall and bazaar. Our driver, Liu-Hao was great - he navigated lots of traffic with ease- highly recommend them!

My mom and I had a wonderful time on our short visit thanks to Sunny. Everything was well thought out and executed from the on time airport pick-up to her help getting checked in for our departing flight. She patiently answered all of our many questions while helping us get a grasp on the thousands of years of history in the area. The terra cotta warriors were a wonder to see, as expected. We were pleasantly very surprised at how interesting and enjoyable to city wall portion of the tour was. We really appreciated that Sunny helped us find local, tasty dishes that fit what we liked to eat (the organic Chinese cauliflower was a real hit as was the eggplant and green bean dish). She encouraged us to order a little more than we normally would in order to try a good cross section of local food. At the market, she pointed out lots of unique foods. It made all the difference to have her explanation. She ordered the fresh pressed pomegranate juice for us which was amazing! I definitely recommend this tour with Sunny! She’ll make sure your group moves at its own pace while learning so many fascinating facts about the area.

What a wonderful, interesting, and overwhelming event from history! Rosa did such a great job explaining the history and background, and focused our time on the relevant artifacts and exhibits.

Our tour guide was Maggie Gao we give Her 5 stars . Very kind and friendly with us all day Gave good information all the tour We highly recommend Her is you visit Xi an and the Terracotta warriors

This must rank as one of the best experiences we have ever had.... The only advice I would give is to avoid golden week holiday... It's just mayhem! But well worth it, cannot recommend this tour highly enough...

I'm sure its all been said but this truly is one of the wonders of the world. A tour guide to get you around is a must we had a private tour down from Shanghai with airport transfers. Picked up from the hotel picked up in Xian good private tour and back to Shanghai where we were collected and taken back to hotel. Great day fabulous experience this is a must do trip you will learn so much about what has been discovered and what is yet to be done its just amazing.

A must see if you're in China. We went July 27-28. It was too hot and oh so many people. I'd advise strongly to go when it's cooler and outside of the school holidays. That aside, this was an amazing experience and I highly recommend you do it with a guide in a small group (say 7-15 people). This way you get to ask lots of questions. Big groups mean less interaction with the guide.

We booked a trip to Xian to see the terracotta warriors. Our flights and all our tickets were booked for us. Our guide was Nana Wu. She met us at the airport, and she accompanied us in the private car provided, and told us information about the history of the city and the story behind the terracotta warriors, which was very interesting. When we arrived, we were taken inside, and were able to chat with her while we were taking pictures of the warriors, and she was able to answer all questions in very good English. It wasn't overly busy, so we got good views. One very exciting thing we were able to do, was meet the farmer who actually discovered the warriors on his land in 1974, and purchase a copy of his book. It was great to meet a real piece of living history. We were taken to lunch at a restaurant which showed us a traditional Chinese tea ceremony, and opportunity to buy the tea. Afterwards, we were driven to see a museum housing the unearthed remains of a 6000 year old village, and from there, to see the Xian city walls. Finally, we were driven to a very busy market area, where the Muslim population live, and could buy foods from the many stalls. Overall, it was an excellent trip, and Nana was great company. It was so much easier being driven than taking public transport everywhere, and I felt like we saw a lot in just one day. I’d recommend this trip to anyone, especially if you are short of time.

We did Xian and the warriors as part of a longer tour, and the warriors reconstruction pits were amazing, China has spent more time restoring the rubble pit than an insane dictator spent building them to defend him in the after life.... Xian, on the other hand is a spectacular City to visit. A must do when in China, and the local specialty of Biang Biang noodles is a 'to die for' dish.

<p>Hello! We had a great tour to see the Terracotta Warriers with Nana who spoke excellent english! She was the perfect guide. Phoned night before to check, had a great knowledge of the history and took us to a great restaurant for lunch. Would recommend.</p>

We stayed in Beijing and decided to fly to Xian. We were met at the gate by our tour guide Nana Wu. From the moment we met it felt as if we were meeting family. Nana Wu was super informative and gave us background about the city of Xian, especially the Tera Cotta Warriors. As our tour was private it was also very flexible. Nana Wu accommodated all of our requests. Our driver was equally amazing as he navigated through streets that would make New Yorkers cringe. My wife and I were 100% satisfied. Thanks Nana Derrick Gwin Bernice Alayon

We booked at the reception of Waldorf hotel on the Bund in Shanghai. Tour was organized by Grey Line. Pick up at hotel, transfer to airport, check-in, all was well planned. Hotel provided breakfast-to-go. Nice flight with pick up again at airport in Xi'an. There was a very old car with chauffer and English speaking guide waiting for us. Lunch (included) was edible nothing more. After the visit of terracotta warriors, pick up and transfer to the airport of Xi'an. Guide accompanied us until check-in, and pick up at airport of Shanghai with brand new Audi. Expensive tour but no regrets since it is worth the money if you stay only in Shanghai and not in Bejing.

This tour was absolutely perfect! Our party of 6 truly enjoyed the private coach ride, and the agenda for the day was ideal. Linda, our tour guide, was excellent. She was very informative and engaging. She was with us every step of the way, and yet allowed us some private time to enjoy the sights. Linda always answered all our questions, whether related to the sites or just about the general culture. The Terracotta Warriors were impressive to say the least. Afterward, we had a wonderful lunch, and Linda was very helpful to us. She helped us order some amazing items we would have never thought of. Afterward, we visited the fort and finished off the day at the Muslim Snack Street. Oh my was that delicious. It was definitely an enjoyable and informative day, thank you Linda!