When visiting Xi'an, one must surely make a trip to the Xi'an City Wall, right?
Upon visiting Xi'an, one cannot help but mention the Xi'an City Wall, the best-preserved ancient city wall in China, bar none. Built on the foundation of the Tang Dynasty imperial city, it was expanded in the early Ming Dynasty and has undergone numerous restorations during the Qing Dynasty, the Republic of China, and the post-establishment of the People's Republic of China. Today, it stands as a testament to over 600 years of history, exuding an aura of solemnity and grandeur. In fact, until the Republic of China era, the Xi'an City Wall served a crucial role in military defense. After the establishment of the People's Republic, the renovated wall regained its ancient charm and welcomed a new lease of life, becoming a popular tourist attraction for visitors from home and abroad to experience the ancient Chinese civilization.
The main city wall of Xi'an has four gates: the South Gate, known as Yongning Gate, symbolizing eternal peace; the North Gate, known as Anyuan Gate, signifying peace in the distant Western Regions; the West Gate, known as Anding Gate, and the East Gate, known as Changle Gate, both representing harmony. These four gates are the original gates of the ancient city wall. Since the Republic of China era, for the convenience of entering and exiting the ancient city, several new gates have been opened, and to date, there are 18 gates on the Xi'an City Wall.
It is recommended to ascend the city wall from the South Gate (also known as Yongning Gate). As ancient architecture often adheres to the principle of facing south, the South Gate is the most majestic and well-preserved gate, with its gatehouse, arrow tower, and main building all intact.
On my visit to the Xi'an City Wall, I started from the North Gate as I was staying nearby. Renting a bicycle allowed me to freely explore the wall, although the uneven surface made the ride somewhat bumpy. A complete circuit of the wall took approximately two hours.
1⃣️How many entrances are there to the Xi'an City Wall?
There are eight points of ascent to the Xi'an City Wall: East Gate (Changle Gate), South Gate (Yongning Gate), West Gate (Anding Gate), North Gate (Anyuan Gate), Peace Gate, Wenchang Gate, Hanguang Gate, and Shangde Gate. You can choose the nearest one to purchase a ticket and ascend the wall.
2⃣️Ticket price for the Xi'an City Wall:
54 yuan, half price for students
3⃣️Opening hours:
Open all year round from 08:00 to 22:00 (ticket sales and entry stop at 22:00, the opening hours of the ascent points vary, so plan your itinerary accordingly)
✅Recommended routes:
📗Route One - East Line: Yongning Gate ➡ Wenchang Gate ➡ Peace Gate ➡ Jianguo Gate ➡ Changle Gate
Start from Yongning Gate (South Gate), where most of the performances and activities on the Xi'an City Wall take place. It is also a popular spot for taking photos in Xi'an. Heading north, you can capture a great shot of the Bell Tower.
1. Wenchang Gate: The city wall at Wenchang Gate is home to the Kui Xing Tower. [Nearby attractions: Stele Forest]
2. Peace Gate: The Peace Gate is on the same north-south axis as the Big Wild Goose Pagoda and the train station. However, the distance is quite far, so the effect of photos taken with a mobile phone might be somewhat lacking.
3. Jianguo Gate: Jianguo Gate is the easternmost gate on the southern city wall. [Nearby attractions: Old Vegetable Market Cultural and Creative Block, Xi'an Incident Memorial]
4. Changle Gate: After passing the southeast corner of the city, you can reach Changle Gate. From here, you can also go to the Bell Tower and Drum Tower. [Nearby attractions: Wangji Temple, Eight Immortals Temple, Yongxing Fang]
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📗Route Two - West Line: Yongning Gate ➡ Zhuque Gate ➡ Hanguang Gate ➡ Southwest Corner ➡ Anding Gate ➡ Northwest Corner Ascent Point ➡ Guangren Temple
1. Descend from Anding Gate. [Nearby attractions: Moon Bridge, within walking distance to the Drum Tower and Bell Tower.]
2. There are many delicious foods inside Hanguang Gate, which is also the very popular Xiaonanmen Morning Market [In the afternoon, go to Sun Temple Gate, Xiangzi Temple]
3. If you descend from the Northwest Corner Ascent Point, you can go to Guangren Temple.
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#Xi'an
In order to punch in the card for a lifetime, I came to Xi'an City Wall again. Compared with more than ten years ago, the quaint feeling is the same. There are many more bicycles and many service stations. It feels very good. Such a long city wall is still clean and the bathroom environment is good.
Bring the dolls to the city wall of Xi'an, feel the ancient style and ancient charm, so wide, like a street, the children are running energetically, from time to time, there are staff to remind you to pay attention to safety, feel very good.
It’s not the first time I’ve come to Xi’an, but I’ve been back to the city wall every time and I like it very much. After the ticket is bought, you can swipe your ID card to enter and exit repeatedly within the same day. This is particularly good. This time we went to the sunset and sunset. After shopping, we went downstairs for dinner and brushed the city wall to see the night view of the city. There is no special flavor snack.
Today, the sky is beautiful, the sun is just right, and the morning is from Yongning Gate to the city wall. The scenery of the ancient city of Xi'an has a panoramic view. The blue bricks on the ancient city wall are in contrast to the buildings that rise from the ground in the distance. The changes in ancient and modern times, Xi'an is still beautiful and the scenery is good! In fact, it is a fenced city wall, more than 10 kilometers long, 54 tickets, go up to take a look, rent a bicycle, ride for more than an hour, due to time reasons, can not complete the whole tour, very good travel experience, it is recommended!
The lantern fair is very beautiful, all the elements of many cultural relics in history, it is very historical on the city wall, and it is very large, which is shocking. After eating the New Year's Eve dinner, I just went to go shopping. The wish tree also wrote
Very beautiful, with cultural heritage, strolling the city wall, as if returning to ancient Chang'an, the lights in front of you are brilliant, it seems that you can see the prosperity of Datang. Spring, summer, autumn and winter are suitable for coming here every season.
Xi'an city wall is the largest and most complete ancient city in China, and the ancient fortifications such as enemy buildings, horse noodles, and city walls make us seem to return to the ancient battlefield.
On the last day of the trip to Xi'an, the Jianguomen City Wall booked happened to be snowing in Xi'an on No. 24.2.21. The snow scene on the city wall was really beautiful. People took a leisurely walk in the snow. The children had a great time. I really hope to stay in this wonderful moment!