The China Diary: Day 4, Xi'an

Taking the bullet train from Beijing to Xi'an.

Xi'an is about 750 miles away from Beijing. It is a short 4.5 hour train ride from Beijing to Xi'an, the bullet train travels about 186 mph or over 300 km/h!

There are 3 different types of tickets for the bullet train (all in Yuen):

-Business Class: ¥254

-VIP Class: ¥153

-First Class: ¥129

-Second Class: ¥81

*Prices vary depending on where in Beijing you are getting on the train.

They have a drink and snack cart that comes several times during the train ride. Make sure you bring a ipad with movies already loaded, or a good book to read, there is no wifi on the train.

Xi'an City Wall, night tour

Because the train ride was long, and we arrived around 5pm, we decided to grab a quick bite to eat, then head to do a night walk along the Xi'an City Wall.

The wall is open until 10 PM. To walk the wall at night, you do have to pay for a ticket, it currently runs about ¥54. You can still bike at night, but I personally wouldn't recommend it. The wall is pretty bumpy and there are some holes, so it can be a little dangerous and uncomfortable.

Looking at the ramparts and lanterns and the inside of the city wall.

The view down the main street with the Bell Tower. The Bell Tower was the original marker of the Center of the City. There are avenues extending from it North, South, East and West led to the corresponding gates of the City Wall. The Bell Tower was used to tell the city time, chiming on the hour during the morning.

We had plans to bike the wall during the daytime another day, so we spent a beautiful evening strolling the wall, taking in all the beautiful sites that were lit up and enjoying some music.

The outer wall is lined by orange lights, and is hard to miss when walking or driving outside the city center. All the ramparts are beautifully lit and the entire wall is lined with red lanterns, the view of the wall is glowing. Xi'an becomes so beautiful and romantic at night.

More to come on the Xi'an City Wall. Have you visited Xi'an? Were you able to walk the city wall at night or see it shine brightly?