14 Days in Xianyang

The museum sits in a Ming-era Confucian temple and holds the 3,000-plus painted terracotta soldiers from the Yangjiawan Han tombs; end the day along the Wei River lakefront - the 818-km Wei is the Yellow River's largest tributary.

1. xianyang museum
2. xianyang lake waterfront

West to Xingping - Maoling is Emperor Wu of Han's tomb (53 years of building), and the museum stands on general Huo Qubing's mound (died 117 BC) beside the Horse-Treading-Xiongnu stone; continue to the Mawei folk village, named for the 756 AD post station.

1. xianyang maoling
2. xianyang mawei village

Northwest to Qianling, where Tang Gaozong and Empress Wu Zetian are buried together - the spirit way passes 61 stone envoy statues, many headless, before the famed blank stele; it is about 60 km from downtown, so start by mid-morning.

1. xianyang qianling

A lakefront slow day - teahouses on the Wei, the old ferry site of the "Xianyang ancient crossing" among Guanzhong's eight classic views, and an early night.

1. xianyang lake waterfront

Both sit in Liquan County - Zhaoling, Tang Taizong's mountain tomb, is known through the Six Steeds reliefs (four in Xi'an's Stele Forest Museum, two in Philadelphia); walk the Zhaoling museum, then eat your way down Yuanjiacun's Guanzhong food lanes.

1. xianyang zhaoling
2. xianyang yuanjiacun

In Jingyang County, the gorge park follows a canal started in 246 BC that still waters the Guanzhong plain (a world irrigation-heritage site since 2016); nearby rises the 13-storey, 87.2-m Chongwen Pagoda, a Ming-era brick tower.

1. xianyang zhengguo canal
2. xianyang chongwen pagoda

Emperor Jing's tomb (he reigned 157-141 BC) offers glass-floored corridors over the outer burial pits and the small armless pottery figures; a first-batch national archaeological park (2010) with an on-site museum worth a slow afternoon.

1. xianyang hanyangling

Markets and a lazy noodle-and-roujiamo breakfast, an afternoon nap and laundry, and an early night before the second excursion block.

1. xianyang city markets

Honest neighbour day - Famen Temple lies in Fufeng County under Baoji, under two hours west by road; the underground crypt, reopened in 1987, yielded four finger-bone relics of the Buddha, now housed in the 148-m pagoda complex.

1. famen temple

A Xianyang county day - Sanyuan, about 40 km northeast, keeps one of Shaanxi's best-preserved City God temple complexes, a Ming ensemble begun in 1375; the old town's food streets make the lunch stop.

1. xianyang sanyuan city god temple

A deliberate contrast day - the tomb country around Xianyang pairs with Xi'an in-city sights such as the 13.7-km Ming city wall loop; return on the evening regional train.

1. xian

A second slow lakefront day - rewalk your favourite stretch, sort photos, and plan snacks for the last days.

1. xianyang lake waterfront

A final loop of the lake and one museum hour for anything missed, with a last Guanzhong dinner by the water.

1. xianyang lake waterfront
2. xianyang museum

A market breakfast and a last lakefront walk, then out via the nearby airport or Xianyang station.

1. xianyang city markets