Terrakottaarmee

Just been there last week and I can tell you: it is nice to look at, but you should only plan a visit of about 3 hours! Getting there is quite simple: Just take the 365 bus (tourist bus #5) from Xi'an railway station. The ride takes about an hour and costs 7 yuan. It leaves every ten minutes or so. The entire site is massive, although the park surrounding the three pits (where the soldiers are on exhibition and still new ones are being excavated) is totally underused. Pit #1 is a must-see as this is the site where most of the soldiers have been found (and where that ominous farmer dug his well in 1974). Pits #2&3 are small and there's actually not much to see... The exhibition hall is informative but not a must. And the souvenir shop is totally overpriced - you can get a figure cheaper close by or in Xi'an (only pay 10 yuan for one piece!!!)

Ah, another UNESCO World Heritage Site to cross off the list.

Absolutely Shit.

Not really. Fascinating stuff, I’m sure I don’t need to tell you. The scale of it is massive, you really have to see for yourself. You will also come to notice that only a fraction of the soldiers have been excavated thus far. The process is a long and painstaking one which the Chinese are, quite sensibly, taking their time over. The quality of some of the sculptures is outstanding and they do indeed all have different features. It’s a shame the paintwork has worn away though - hopefully the ones yet to be excavated will have their paintwork successfully preserved. The museum setting has been tastfully constructed and the surrounding park is wonderfully, if not massively underused.

To get there independently you can arrange with a taxi driver to take you, wait for you, and take you back. We paid a guy 300 kuai although he would only wait 2 hours, which is just a little too short I think. 3 hours would have been nice to really spend time looking at everything, 4 would have given us more time to relax. I can’t remember the entrance fee… perhaps about 100 kuai per person?