Xian, China

Xian is an historic city in Shaanxi Province in China. It is one of the oldest cities in China, with more than 3,100 years of history. Because of the city's many historical monuments and a plethora of ancient ruins and tombs in the vicinity, tourism has been an important component of the local economy, and the Xi'an region is one of China's most popular tourist destinations.

The city has many important historical sites, and some are ongoing archaeological projects, such as the Mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang and his Terracotta Army. There are several burial mounds, tombs of the Zhou Dynasty kings located in the city. Xi'an also contains some 800 royal mausoleums and tombs from the Han Dynasty, with some of them yielding hundreds of sculpted clay soldiers, and remains of sacrificial temples from the Han era. The city has numerous Tang Dynasty pagodas and is noted for its history museum and its stele forest, which is housed in an 11th-century Confucian temple containing large stone tablets from various dynasties.

Things to See & Do

* City Wall of Xian
* Shaanxi Provincial Museum
* Terracotta Warriors and Horses
* Grand Mosque
* Forest of Steles

General information

Cruise Season - Jan - Dec
Currency - Chinese Yuan (CNY)
Language - Mandarin
Population - 3,530,000 approx
Land Area - 1,573 km²
Electricity - 2 perpendicular flat pins USA style or with a round pin below
Time - GMT plus eight hours
International Country Telephone Code - + 86

Port Location - Xian is accessible from the ports of Shanghai and Tianjin.

Travel Links - Xi'an Xianyang International Airport is located 40 km northwest of the city centre, in Xianyang. Flights are available to numerous cities within China, International flights are available to Bangkok, Hong Kong, Macau, Seoul as well as Nagoya, Fukuoka, Niigata, Tokyo and Hiroshima in Japan, and Singapore via Kunming. As Xi'an is located in the heartland of China, it takes no more than 2 hours to fly to most major Chinese cities.

Trains run to several domestic cities including: Beijing (11-13 hours), Chengdu (13-18 hours), Chongqing (14 hours), Guangzhou (24 hours), Kunming (36-53 hours), Lanzhou (8-10 hours), Lhasa (36 hours), Shanghai (16-20 hours), Urumqi (31-56 hours), Wuhan (14-18 hours), and Zhengzhou (2 hours).

The main long-distance bus station is located across from main railway station.

Bus service is available to: Huashan (2-3 hours), Lanzhou (8-10 hours), Luoyang (5-7 hours), Taiyuan (12 hours), and Zhengzhou (9-12 hours).

Important Visa Information
Australian and New Zealand passport holders staying on board or going ashore to visit any Chinese ports are required to obtain a single-entry Chinese visa (3 month validity) prior to travel. We recommend you include a copy of your itinerary with your application and confirm the expiration of the visa at the time of issue to ensure that it is valid for your stay in China. Visas cannot be issued upon the ship's arrival. Please note that any passengers not in possession of a Chinese visa may be denied boarding or incur a fine.