The Terracotta Warriors and Horses Museum in Xi’an is one of China's most significant heritage sites. While 15 years ago, visiting required taking a bus, the opening of the extensive metro system has made things much easier. However, there are several ways to get to the Terracotta Army, and a few things you should keep in mind.
Do I Need a Ticket for the Terracotta Army in Advance?
As with many historic landmarks in China today, it’s highly advisable to get your ticket a few days in advance. Apps like Trip.com, Ctrip and GetYourGuide offer the service, but often at a high price. To save money, it’s a much better to check for the payment options for China's big heritage sites on WeChat/Weixin or the museums' websites.
(Booking options on the website)
In China, most official institutions, including museums, operate a WeChat Channel. For the Terracotta Warriors and Horses Museum, search with the following characters: 秦始皇帝陵博物院. Then, navigate through the options to find the ticket booking section.
(QR code to the Terracotta Warrior's WeChat Channel)
Taking screenshots and using Google Translate can be extremely helpful. To get access to Google in China, you need a VPN. Currently, LetsVPN and Astrill are the best options. Alternatively, you can visit the official homepage of the museum, but here you will need to create an account first.
Once you’ve accessed the right section on WeChat, you can select a date and add your details. The next step is to pay via WeChat with your credit card linked to it. After purchase, you receive a short confirmation in Chinese. There's no need to print a ticket. Your passport is enough. As long as you show up on the correct, you can scan your passport at the entrance for admission.
WeChat is currently available for foreigners in China and is relatively easy to use. If you're traveling within the country, I recommend setting up your account in advance and connecting your payment method. Once in China, you can verify your passport and you’re ready to go.
When we arrived at the Terracotta Warriors and Horses Museum, there weren’t too many visitors, and it seemed possible to buy your ticket on-site at the ticket office. There are counters and vending machines for purchases. However, during peak season, it might be safer to reserve online before.
The price on WeChat is quite cheap. We paid 120 RMB per person (as of 2024, around 15 Euros), which seems to be a great deal for visiting such an impressive heritage site. Using an OTA platform, you would have to spend a lot more money.
How to Get to the Terracotta Army from Xi’an?
The Terracotta Warriors and Horses Museum is located outside of Xi’an, in a town called Lintong. Expect a 1.5 to 2-hour journey by public transport, around 45 minutes by taxi.
✅ Step 1: Take the Metro to Fangzhicheng Station
Use metro line 1 from downtown Xi'an to reach Fangzhicheng station in the East of the city. Coming from the Xi’an Railway Station, first, take line 4 to the center, then switch to line 1.
✅ Step 2: Transfer to Line 9 to Get from Fangzhicheng to Huanqing Pool Station
From Fangzhicheng, switch to line 9, which brings you to Huanqing Pool Station. Here you can transfer to the shuttle bus to the Terracotta Army.
✅ Step 3: Take the Bus from Huanqing to the Museum
You can choose between Lintong Bus 602 and Lintong Bus 613 at a ticket price of roughly 2 Euros (2024). Alternatively, you can use bus 306 in Fangzhicheng, which only leaves once an hour.
✅ Alternative: Taxi Ride with DiDi
If traveling in a group, I highly recommend using DiDi (China's version of Uber). Travelling by taxi will save you a lot of time, getting to the museum in 40–50 minutes. Prices range between 160–220 RMB (20-28 Euros), which is reasonable if split among multiple people.
Do I Need a Guide or Audio Guide for the Terracotta Warriors?
The Terracotta Warriors and Horses Museum is massive, and a guide is helpful. However, we were warned not to hire the first person at the entrance – in our case someone claiming to be the only guide capable of speaking English at the site. After scanning your ticket and entering, you will encounter several more people offering their services.
A private guide costs around 30 Euros (late 2024), which felt a bit expensive for just two people. However, splitting the cost with a group of four or five makes it much more worthwhile.
Using an Audio Guide Instead:
We decided on the audio guide instead, because it was cheaper but required a deposit—almost as high as the price of hiring a guide. We paid the deposit via WeChat, and unfortunately, it took weeks to get refunded. Paying in cash might be a better option.
The audio guide works with geolocation, automatically playing narration when you reach a specific spot. In theory, this sounds great—but in reality, it didn’t work well. Sometimes, it stopped abruptly or started too late, meaning we had already left the location being described. The same issue occurred when we visited the Forbidden City in Beijing.
Which Route to Follow at the Terracotta Warriors and Horses Museum?
From the entrance to the main exhibition, it's about a 10-minute walk. If you are too tired, you can use the shuttle to the next gate.
Once inside, you’ll find three pits. The natural route is:
✅ Pit 1 → The most spectacular, with rows of fully restored warriors.
✅ Pit 3 → Smaller but historically important.
✅ Pit 2 → Less impressive but provides insight into the excavation process.
Pit 1 is the highlight. It is, where most of the sculptures were found and restored. You can see them lined up and observe, how they are put back into one piece from the fragments.
Because this pit is so popular, it is also very crowded. Especially, the tourist groups make it sometimes hard to get a glance at the field of terracotta soldiers.
Too avoid large crowds, visit on a weekday and avoid public holidays. Mornings are generally less busy.
Compared to pit 1, pit 2 and 3 are less impressive, but you can learn something about how the sculptures were originally placed inside the mausoleum and what the different hairstyles of the soldiers mean.
For more information, the museum is, of course, by far the best place. After walking through all three pits, you might be a bit tired once you reach the museum complex. At the time of our visit in autumn 2024, there weren't a lot of resting areas or food supplies in there. This might change shortly.
Food, drinks, attractions, and so on are a bit further away from the pits. You just leave the area and head towards the original mausoleum hill, which we, after a whole day of walking around, skipped.
(Exit to the Food Courts)
Before leaving completely, you need to drop your audioguide. Once you pass the exit gate, you will encounter plenty of attractions, a big virtual exhibition hall, restaurants, and street sellers.
How About Food at the Terracotta Warriors and Horses Museum?
There are just a few food options in front of the entrance to the Terracotta Warriors and Horses Museum, inside there is nearly nothing. If you are very hungry, you better bring your own food.
The main food court is located behind the exit outside of the museum complex. Here, Xi'an has created a big culinary culinary and leisure park offering barbecue, jiaozi dumplings, and hearty noodle soup.
(Biángbiángmiàn seller at the Terracotta Warriors museum, Source: Shankar S., Flickr, CC BY 2.0)
One symbol, you will spot almost everywhere here and in the Muslim quarter of Xi'an is: 𰻝𰻝面 - biángbiángmiàn. The unusually complex character of biáng has 58 strokes and describes thick belt-like noodles inside a beef broth. Honestly, their shape makes it a bit hard to eat with chopsticks, but it's worth a try.
(Different versions of the character biáng)
When to Visit the Terracotta Warriors and Horses Museum?
Your visit depends on your ticket’s time slot, but generally, you should keep in mind that the museum area is quite large and if you want to see everything, you will need quite a lot of time.
Usually, the gates open at 08:30 a.m. and stay open until 06:30 p.m. in summer and 06:00 p.m. in winter (mid-November to mid-March). For the complete experience, it's best to arrive between 08:30 and 11:00 a.m.
- Opening hours:
- Summer (March–November): 08:30 AM – 06:30 PM
- Winter (November–March): 08:30 AM – 06:00 PM
- Best time to visit: Between 08:30 AM – 11:00 AM
How to Get Back from the Terracotta Army to Xi’an?
Getting back by local bus isn’t the easiest option. When exiting the museum and theme park, you will first walk into taxi drivers and official shuttle services, which are relatively expensive. To save money, you can take a local bus, which stops a bit further away on the Qinyongguan Highway.
To get there:
- Turn right onto Qinling N Road after exiting the museum complex.
- Walk until you reach the next crossroad.
- Turn right again, and you should find the bus stop ahead in the direction you're walking.
Taking Bus 602 will get you from Lintong to Huaqing. Here you have access to Xi’an’s metro system. If you’re early enough, you might want to explore the local palace or take the cable car up to Mount Li (Lishan) for sunset.
Can I Combine my Visit with Huaqing Palace and Mount Li (Lishan)?
On your way back from the Terracotta Warriors and Horses Museum, you will most likely transfer to the subway at Huanqing Pool Station. Here, you'll find several other attractions, including a cable car ride up to Mount Li (Lishan).
The fare costs 60 RMB round trip (35 RMB one way). For the whole Huaqing Pool Scenic Area, you will have to pay an entrance fee of 120 RMB, which includes a few other attractions. In the evening, you can expect a nice sunset, but make sure that there's also an option to get back down again by checking the current cable car schedule.
✅ Cable car fare: 60 RMB round trip (~35 RMB one way).
✅ Huaqing Pool Scenic Area entrance fee: 120 RMB, covering multiple attractions.
(Source: Alva Chien, Flickr, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
Up on Mount Li, there are a few noteworthy attractions, including the Sunset Pavillon, the Remonstrance Pavilion, and the Laojun Palace. With the Huaqing Ticket, you can also visit the Huaqing Palace at the foot of the hill. What’s impressive to see here are the beautiful Gardens with fruit trees and the artificial lakes, created during the Tang Dynasty (618-907).
(Source: Yyk at Chinese Wikipedia. - Transferred from zh.wikipedia to Commons by Shizhao using CommonsHelper, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=11079511)
A recommendation is to pick only one attraction after the Terracotta Warriors and Horses Museum. Having lunch nearby and enjoying the sunset afterward from Mount Li or attending the cultural performances at Huaqing Palace are the more relaxing options.
What Are the Terracotta Warriors and Horses?
Alongside the Forbidden City in Beijing, the Terracotta Warriors and Horses Museum is one of the most important heritage site in China. Located in the heart of Shaanxi region, it was only discovered in 1974 by local farmers.
What they unearthed remains a global archaeological sensation: the burial site of China’s first emperor, Qin Shi Huang, who was laid to rest here between 210 and 209 BCE. Originally, most of the terracotta figures were painted, and in the museum, you can see reconstructions showing how lifelike the warriors must have looked over 2,000 years ago.
Up until today, over 8,000 warrior statues and nearly 700 horses have been excavated. The restoration and excavation efforts are still ongoing, and in some pits you can even see the archeologists at work.