Beijing vs Xi'an: Plan Your Cultural Days

Pick Beijing for the Forbidden City, the Great Wall and the Temple of Heaven; pick Xi’an if the Terracotta Warriors are the reason for the trip, with the city wall and the Shaanxi History Museum for a second day. A first trip can take both: in our China itinerary, G351 runs from Beijing West to Xi’an North in 4h10, and the D43 night train saves a day.

What each city asks of you

The two cities cost you different things. Beijing wants days, because its best sights are spread out and each is its own outing. Xi’an wants one early start for the Warriors and then lets you walk.

Getting between them is the easy part. G351 leaves Beijing West at 07:55 and reaches Xi’an North at 12:05 for ¥587 in second class; the D43 sleeper takes 11h54 and costs ¥300 for a second-class berth, and the Beijing to Xi’an train guide has the rest. If you have only two weeks, put Beijing first and Xi’an second, so the night train carries you into the second city’s morning.

Beijing: the palace, the garden and the Wall

Beijing’s days fill up quickly. The palace takes one, the Summer Palace a second and the Great Wall a third, out of town.

The palace is the day that needs the most foresight. The Palace Museum sells no tickets on the day of your visit: each date goes on sale at 20:00 Beijing time seven days before, and you book with your passport number. Admission is ¥60 from 1 April to 31 October and ¥40 from 1 November to 31 March, and the palace is closed on Mondays except national holidays. That Monday closure shapes a Beijing week: it’s the day for the Great Wall, not the palace; the Summer Palace park opens on Mondays, but its four inner venues close that day except on major holidays. The booking and passport rules for the palace are in the Forbidden City ticket guide. The Summer Palace sells a park ticket and a combined one that adds the inner venues, and its prices are in the Summer Palace ticket guide; pick the combined ticket only if there’s an interior on your list. For the Wall, Mutianyu or Badaling compares two sections you can reach from the city.

The Summer Palace is priced by season too. The operator’s October 2026 prices put ordinary adult main admission at ¥30 and the combined ticket at ¥60 from 1 April to 31 October, and ¥20 and ¥50 from 1 November to 31 March; boats are extra. The garden walk itself takes about half a day, so that second day still has room for something else.

The Wall is the part of Beijing with no counterpart in Xi’an. It’s also the day that most depends on which section you pick, and the choice is mostly about getting there: Badaling has its own high-speed station, while Mutianyu is reached by road. The Mutianyu or Badaling guide sets out the trade.

If three days is all Beijing gets, Beijing in 3 days lays them out around the ticket rules and the Monday closures. The wider Beijing city guide covers where to sleep.

Xi’an: a Warriors day and a wall day

The Terracotta Warriors ticket is ¥120 (about US$18, £13.50 or €16) and covers both the pits and Lishan Garden; the Terracotta Warriors ticket guide has the two-site visit and the passport rules. The warriors are a day out of the city, not a museum appointment in the centre, so they decide the rest of your Xi’an schedule.

The city wall belongs on the other day. Full admission is ¥54 (about US$8.05, £6.10 or €7.20), and bicycle hire is extra. Xi’an in 2 days with the Terracotta Warriors puts the wall, the towers and the Muslim Quarter into that city day, and the Xi’an city guide gives each its wider setting.

The Shaanxi History Museum’s five-day release

The Shaanxi History Museum can change your dates. For the main venue, tickets are released five days ahead at 17:00: the operator’s example links a release on 1 July to a visit on 6 July. Basic admission is free but needs a reservation, and the Qinhan venue is a separate museum in Xixian New Area, outside central Xi’an, so read the venue on your booking.

From 15 March to 14 November 2026 the main venue opened on Mondays too. Look at the museum’s notice before planning a Monday in winter, and work backwards: pick the date you can reserve, then book the hotel nights around it. If the reservation you want isn’t available, the wall and a walk through the Muslim Quarter make an easy fallback.

Where Mondays fall

Mondays decide more of the week than the cities do. In Beijing the Palace Museum is closed on Mondays except national holidays, so a week that includes one Monday needs a plan for it: both Great Wall sections stay open seven days a week, which makes the Wall the natural Monday. In Xi’an, the Shaanxi History Museum’s main venue opened on Mondays from 15 March to 14 November 2026; for a Monday after that, look at the museum’s notice before you assume. Put the date-bound bookings first, the palace and the museum, and let the Wall, the Summer Palace and the city wall fill the days around them.

A first week with both

A first week with both cities has a natural shape. Spend three days in Beijing, with the palace on a day other than Monday, the Summer Palace on the second and the Wall on the third. Take the D43 sleeper that evening, leaving Beijing West at 20:29; it reaches Xi’an at 08:23, so you wake up in the next city with the first morning free. Give the next two days to Xi’an, swapping the order if you arrive early: the city on the first day, since you won’t be fresh enough for the Warriors, and the Terracotta Warriors on the second. The two-day Xi’an plan lays out that second pair, and the China itinerary shows where the week sits in a longer route.

If the night train doesn’t appeal, G351 turns the move into a morning. It leaves at 07:55 and arrives at 12:05, which leaves the afternoon for the wall or the Muslim Quarter. G351 arrives at Xi’an North, well outside the old city, so allow time for the metro before you count the afternoon; D43 arrives at Xi’an station, not Xi’an North.

Which suits you

• First trip, ten days or more: take both, Beijing first, with the night train between them.
• Only one city, and history is the draw: Beijing gives you three different days; Xi’an gives you one outstanding one and a city you can see on foot.
• Short on days: Xi’an, if the Warriors are the point; Beijing, if you want the palace and the Wall within three days.