Xian
 

Only have one day in Xian. What would be a good area to stay if we are only there to see the warriors?

Kimmos, I traveled to China in '04 with Viking. Unfortunately, I do not remember seeing any accommodations near the warrior site. While in Xian, we spent our first night at the Howard Johnson Ginwa Plaza Hotel in the heart of the city. Please don't laugh..... this HoJo's was a lovely 5 star facility and was located just outside the city's south gate. I copied the following information from their website:
-City Wall 0.1 Mile / 0.1 Kilometer
-Bell Tower 0.6 Mile / 1 Kilometer
-Drum Tower 0.6 Mile / 1 Kilometer
-Great Mosque 0.6 Mile / 1 Kilometer
-Big Wild Goose Pagoda 3 Miles / 5 Kilometers
-Qin Emperor's Terracotta Warriors Museum 22 Miles / 35 Kilometers

The second night we stayed at the Hyatt Regency Xian which is located within the walled city and is listed online as being $40 less than the HoJos facility.

The problem that I'm afraid you will encounter is that it's going to be very expensive to cab it to either the airport or the warriors. The HoJo's link listed cab fare to the airport as being 250 RMB one way....that's over $80 US. My thought is that they may run bus tours out to the warriors site from the major downtown hotels? I'd suggest sending off an e-mail to inquire about your options from these two facilities.

Save room in your luggage for a warrior or two! You'll find many different styles and sizes available in the onsite shops as well as some sundried clay ones for under $2 a set on the streets. My husband purchased a museum set for himself, but picked up several sets of sundried clay ones for his friends. Two years later, the clay ones are still intact.....just FYI

Like Retired_teacher says, most better hotels are in city center. And you have to travel from city to the terracotta warriors somehow anyways, there's no reason to stay out there.

250 RMB = $31 USD

In Xi'an, my son and I stayed at the Sheraton. It was a very nice hotel with an incredibly friendly staff. I highly recommend it! We paid 600 RMB per night. Just check the Sheraton website for their information. They are very responsive to inquiries by e-mail. It is outside the city walls, but we didn't think that was a problem.

Some folks we met on the train stayed at the Lu Dao hotel near the train station. We saw them again at the warriors, and they told us that it was very clean and about a 2 star. I'm not sure what they paid, but you can check the lonely planet guide.
phone #0-131-8603-5637

We found Xi'an to be a wonderful addition to our trip. I don't think the warriors will take an entire day so I hope you will be able to fit in a few more things!

For transportation, we hired a private car from the Sheraton. I can't remember exactly what we paid, but I think it was about $85 USD for the whole day. (We tried to fit in as many places as possible!)

I think the hotel could probably find a taxi driver to take you to the warriors and wait for you there. When we went to the Great Wall, we paid our driver 500 RMB, and he was actually willing to stay with us for the day for that fee.

Have a great time!

Hi

My wife and I only spent one night in Xi'an and we stayed at the Xi’an hotel. We took a tour to see the warriors. I have posted a trip report with some more details and pictures on my homepage http://gardkarlsen.com/china_xian_hong_kong.htm . Maybe you can find some useful info there :-)

Regards
Gard
STavanger, Norway