Day 4: Xian , Wednesday 24th September 2025
24°, cloudy, clearing to fine
NZ$1 = Y4
Y1=NZ$0.25
Up at 7am, down for breakfast then got ready, left at 8:30am. We walked south on Nanda St to the City Wall/ South Gate ( Yongningmen ), and went through the underpass to get into the traffic island on the north side of the South Gate that is created by the road splitting either side of the original gate.
We tried to buy tickets using the QR code on the info sign but we couldn’t get it to translate to English so we went to the ticket office, and bought tickets ( Y56 each ) for the City Wall ( this ticket allows access up onto the wall ), then joined the queue with a group of school kids ( who were very keen to say hello in English ) and a group of elderly who seemed very confused by the process ( we were often amused by the ‘locals’ who looked more confused about things than we were, even though they could read the signs that we couldn’t ). We went through the main gate portal into the courtyard of the gate ( where there was a stage set up for a daily show ), then up the steps onto the wall at 9am.
The aerial photo below shows the South Gate, with the ticket/ entry to the north of the wall itself, with the gate courtyard to the south of the wall, enclosed by an extension of the wall.
The top of the wall felt like an elevated street, with a paved walkway that is about 12m wide, and raised 12m ( 3 storeys ) above the ground, and the City Walls extend for 13kms around the old city centre. There are 4 Main Gates through the wall ( and a few other smaller gates ) located in the ‘middle’ of the North, East, South and West sections of wall, although the west and east gates are not in the exact middle. At the corners of the wall were towers ( except the SW corner ) and every few hundred metres there were smaller towers built on the wall. Most of these towers were not open but some were used as shops and others were toilet blocks.
Once on top of the wall we walked along from the gate westward to the bike rental, hired 2 bikes ( single speed bikes set up for locals with shorter legs than us…so not a overly comfortable riding position but not too bad ). We paid Y190 to hire the 2 bikes for 3 hours, which included Y100 deposit.
We rode off west, and cycled our way around the wall with lots of stops on the way. It was really interesting to see the different parts of the old city as we cycled around with some parts being old and traditional and others going through a rebuild with modern housing. On the outside of the wall is an area of parkland and a moat all the way around, and there was always activity in this area ( mainly tai che and dance classes, but also families having picnics, etc and lots of people walking through the gardens).
We cycled along to the SW corner, which didn't have a tower as they had not rebuilt it, then turned north and headed to the West Gate ( Andingmen ) which is not too far along the west wall ( the gates are not at the centres of the walls but instead line up with the Bell Tower ( see the map at the bottom of this blog )). There was a lot of activity at this gate with dozens of ‘ladies being photographed’ both up on the wall, around the towers and down in the courtyard. They were all getting in each others way and having to wait for one to finish shooting to get into the prime spots. We stayed here for about 20 minutes just watching the goings on, and sneaking a few photos of the ladies. Next we headed to the NW corner where there was a Buddhist Thai style temple inside wall and a corner tower, then east along the long North Wall, past the North Gate ( which seemed quite quiet ), past the Xian Railway Station ( which is immediately north of the wall ), took some photos of the south side of the station ( we photographed the north side yesterday ) and then carried on.
By now the joy of riding a bike that was too small on rough cobbles in the heat of the day had started to wear off, but we had to carry on. And to make it less enjoyable once we had turned and headed south on the east wall we encountered groups of tourists walking on the wall ; up to now the walkway had been very quiet and empty. It appears that that East Gate ( Changle Gate ) is where most of the bus tours go to get their clients onto the wall, so the area around this gate was very busy. Once we had negotiated our way through the confused and oblivious tourists we soon reached the SE corner ( with a tower ) and headed back towards the South Gate. Again this section of the wall is longer than the east and west walls so it took a while to get back to the centre of the South Wall to where the South Gate was located, but we realised that somewhere on our cycling loop of the wall we had gained some height as the ride from the SE corner to the South Gate was largely downhill!
As we neared the South Gate we found more tourists, and more souvenir stalls etc, and we eventually had to get off and walk the bikes back to the bike return station ( this area was too busy to allow people to ride through so it was a no cycling zone ). We had picked up the bikes from the western side of the South Gate but there were other locations to pickup / drop off the bikes around the wall and we could return them on the east side of the South Gate and walk back to the gate from there. We dropped off the bikes, confirmed the refund of the deposit ( we scanned the Alipay app and the refund was processed back to our account ), then we walked the couple of hundred metres back to the gate, down the steps again and back out to the place where we had bought the tickets at 11:45am. So 13km of riding in about 2 1/2 hours.
We walked down through the underpass to get to the street and through the wall, then south to the nearest Metro ( Yongningmen ) then south 3 stops on the 2 line and east 1 stop on the 3 line to Dayanta metro stop. Out of the station at the north end of the large park area, walked through a small shopping area and grabbed some lunch at 12:30pm in a little alley with lots of restaurants ( 2 pork meat pockets ( sometimes called Chinese Hamburgers ) , and 2 bowls of rice water , Y60 ). It was starting to feel very warm so we were happy to sit in the shade.
After lunch we walked south through the park to Daci’en Tample which was a 20 minute walk, Y10 ea to get in at 1:15pm . The entrance to the temple is at the south end so we walked north through the temple, a very nice temple with a resident cat, to get tickets for Big Wild Goose Pagoda ( Y25ea ), and then climbed 7 floors of the pagoda. The climb was slow due to the narrow stairs and the heat ,which meant a few rests on the way up. Nice views from the top. Headed back down, back out through the temple and then out into the park. Conveniently located across from the temple was a shopping mall so we headed inside and got sundaes at the Dairy Queen ( Y50 for 2 ), and sat and relaxed.
Quick walk around the mall then left at 2:30, walked back through the park, past the waterless fountain ( not sure if only worked for part of the day or just wasn’t working at all ) and back to metro at 3pm. Back to Zhonglou stop on the 3 line then 2 line and back to the hotel to rest at 3:30pm
Headed out at 6pm for dinner, walked up to the Muslim Quarter/Huiman Street, found a restaurant ( 2 big bowls of noodles and a bottle of soft drink Y60 ) and watched the world go by/buy from our window seat behind the kitchen ( the cooking was all done on the edge of the street, nothing like putting on a show ), then walked the streets looking at shops, down an alley which turned out to be a market, ( Liz bought socks, 3 pair Y60 ) and AC bought a sundae dessert that came with a small tin cup for Y20. Walked around for a while then back to the hotel at 7:45pm. Busy day.
Zoomable Map ( pin is located on the Bell Tower )