Huashan Discourse · Xi'an 5 Days 4 Nights In-Depth Tour (Mount Hua + Terracotta Army + Huaqing Palace + Xi'an Everlasting Sorrow Show + Tang Night City + Ming City Wall)

Bite into a roujiamo — crackling pastry, savoury braised pork — then follow it with a bowl of sour-and-spicy yangrou paomo to warm you through. Add a one-stop sweep of Shaanxi snacks at Yongxingfang and you have a fair picture of the north-west's generous, forthright character: a bowl of noodles, a piece of cake, each one a footnote to it.

Sheer cliffs rise straight into the sky and the steep mountain paths are cut along the cliff face, so every step is dramatic. Climb steadily and look out from the heights: range upon range spreads below while cloud rolls between the peaks, a deep sense of the mountain's majesty. At the summit you can take part in a local blessing ceremony and tie a prayer ribbon with a wish. Among the towering heights of Huashan you touch a thousand years of mountain reverence and take in the grandeur of one of China's great mountains.

Step across two thousand years to face the Terracotta Army, an underground formation of a thousand faces standing in silence. The pits are vast and imposing, each figure distinct in expression, features and dress. Standing close to this army that has slept for over two thousand years, the power of the Qin empire is immediate and the weight of history unmistakable — the bearing of a golden age glimpsed in a single look.

Put on Tang-dynasty dress and sample the nightlife of ancient Chang'an. Lanterns light up the Tang-style buildings and the old streets glow; Tang-style performances appear one after another, and wandering through it genuinely feels like returning to the Chang'an that drew the world to its court. Interactive acts such as the roly-poly lady and the Tang treasure box happen right at the roadside.

Watch the large-scale show Xi'an Everlasting Sorrow, unfolding a thousand years of Zhou, Qin, Han and Tang in scene after scene. Elaborate staging meets dramatic lighting, and the performers bring dynastic rise and fall and the glory of Chang'an vividly to life. Following the story across a thousand years, you feel the prosperity of the high Tang and read the depth of this ancient capital — a visual feast that lets you touch Chang'an's past and understand its romance and brilliance.

Gazing at the pagoda that has stood for a millennium, you seem to see the Chang'an of a thousand years ago. Its heavy, antique body stands quietly, eaves carved with the marks of time. Climb for a view over the old city; every brick tells the story of Xuanzang's pilgrimage west, keeping the imagination of the high Tang alive before your eyes.