Discover Xi'an
Xi'an City Wall
西安城墙
A complete 13.7 km Ming-dynasty rampart still rings the old city, wide enough on top to cycle the whole circuit. It is the best-preserved city wall in China and the most enjoyable way to get your bearings on arrival.
The story
What makes this place special
This is the Ming wall, begun in 1370 under the Hongwu emperor and finished in about eight years - the southern watchtower dates to 1378. It was built on top of and partly out of earlier Sui and Tang fortifications and an existing Tang palace wall, which is why the western and southern stretches follow older lines. It is 12m high, 15-18m thick at the base and still 12-14m across on top, with a perimeter of 13.74km enclosing 11.52km², ramparts every 120m, and a moat 18m wide and 6m deep. It is worth knowing it encloses only a fraction of Tang Chang'an, which was several times larger - the Ming city shrank inside the ruins of the Tang one.
What you’ll discover
You go up at one of the gates and walk, cycle or ride a cart along a flat brick road on top of the wall, wide enough for several cars abreast, with crenellations on the outer side and a continuous view down into old courtyard roofs and out over the moat park. Every 120m there is a projecting rampart, and the four main gates - South (Yongningmen), North (Anyuanmen), East (Changlemen), West (Andingmen) - each have a gate complex of outer archery tower and inner tower that you walk through. The South Gate is the restored, ceremonial one with the drum-and-flag performances; the stretches between gates are plain and empty.
A little local insight
Good to know before you go
- Hire a bicycle. The full circuit is 13.74km and takes around 100 minutes to ride steadily, against four to five hours to walk it. Tandems are available. Bikes are rented and returned at the gates, and you must return to the gate you hired from unless you pay the drop-off charge.
- Go up at the South Gate but ride east first. The stretch east and north is the quiet, atmospheric side; west from the South Gate is where every group walks their obligatory 300m.
- The brick surface is bumpy and the joints are wide - a long ride is uncomfortable, and in a strong north wind the exposed top is far colder than the street below. Gloves in winter are not optional.
- The best thing visible from the wall is not the wall. The north-east and east sections look straight down into un-redeveloped courtyard housing and the bowling-alley-sized moat park, which is the only place in Xi'an you can see the old city fabric from above.
- Night is the better visit for atmosphere - the wall and the gate towers are floodlit, bike rental runs into the evening, and the air is cooler - but the view inward goes dark, so do a daylight section too if you want the rooftops.
- Check which gates are open to go up before you plan a one-way ride; not all access points operate all day, and the circuit has occasionally been broken by repair works.
When to come
Late afternoon into dusk, so you ride in daylight and come down with the floodlights on. Spring and autumn; the top is a shadeless brick oven in July and August and genuinely cold and windswept from December to February.
Getting around
The top surface itself is flat and open, so once you are up there a wheelchair can move along it - but the bumpy, wide-jointed brickwork makes it hard work to push, and the electric carts that circle the wall are not designed for a wheelchair. Getting up is the barrier: the gates are reached by long flights of stone steps and by steep ramps built for horses, and lift provision is limited and varies by gate - confirm at the South Gate before buying. A bad knee can manage the ramps slowly and should then hire a cart rather than walk. There are no handrails on much of the parapet side, which matters with children or unsteady footing.
Worth knowing before you go
Check which gate you plan to exit from before renting a bike - all four rental stations accept returns, but opening hours vary by gate and a late circuit can leave you locked in at the wrong end.
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