Thirteen dynasties ruled from this valley, and Xi'an keeps the receipts: Tang temple courtyards, a Ming wall you can cycle, 3,000 engraved steles, and the compound where a 1936 kidnapping redirected the whole Chinese century.
Shaanxi's 370,000-object state collection runs Zhou ritual bronzes to Tang gold and silver, arranged chronologically across three halls. Open 08:30–18:00, closed Mondays; free entry needs a passport-linked booking made days ahead.
Three thousand engraved tablets stand in a Confucian temple complex dating to 1087, among them the Kaicheng Stone Classics and the 781 CE Nestorian Stele recording the arrival of Syriac Christianity in Tang Chang'an.
Raised in 707 CE for sutras the monk Yijing brought back by sea, this 43m brick pagoda lost its top two tiers in the 1487 earthquake and has stayed cracked since. The adjoining Xi'an Museum models the vanished Tang grid city.
Ming ramparts finished in 1370 ring the old city for 13.7km on a base 18m thick, the most complete city wall in China. Yongningmen's barbican and drawbridge sit on the line where envoys entered Tang Chang'an. Tickets ¥54.
Eight grey-brick courtyard houses at Qixianzhuang served as the Communist Party's Xi'an liaison station from 1936 to 1946. Zhou Enlai's office, the telegraph room and the bunk rooms used by recruits heading for Yan'an survive intact.
In this three-building 1930s compound on Jianguo Road, the Young Marshal planned the December 1936 seizure of Chiang Kai-shek that forced the Nationalists into a united front with the Communists against Japan.
Tang China's imperial seat covered 3.5 sq km, over four times the Forbidden City. Danfeng Gate's excavated foundations sit under a steel shelter, and a 1:15 scale model in the museum reconstructs the throne halls that burned in 904.
The 1384 Bell Tower marks the crossing of the four main avenues of the walled city; the Drum Tower stands 200m west carrying 24 drums named for the solar terms. Combined ticket ¥50, last entry around 20:30 in summer.
Xi'an's largest Taoist temple, founded in the Song and enlarged after Empress Dowager Cixi sheltered here while fleeing the 1900 Boxer siege of Beijing. Plaques she inscribed still hang above the main hall.
A restored Ming street of grey-tile shopfronts running from the South Gate to the Stone Steles, named for the Guanzhong Academy founded in 1609. Seal carvers, brush makers and rubbing dealers still trade from the same frontages.
Xuanzang founded this temple in 648 and had the pagoda raised in 652 to store the 657 Sanskrit texts he carried back from India over 17 years of travel. He ran his translation bureau in the courtyards beneath it.
Emperor Xuanzong governed from Xingqing Palace on this ground, where Li Bai wrote verses for Yang Guifei. The Chenxiang Pavilion was rebuilt in 1958 and the outline of the Huae Xianghui tower platform still edges the lake.