Xi'an: getting to Terracotta Warriors
 

Does anyone know the best way to get to the Terracotta Warriors? Taxi vs. tour? How much a private taxi hire might be? Is the Banpo Neolithic Village or Qin Shihuang Tomb worth stopping at? I've read that taxis are more expensive in Xi'an compared to Beijing, can anyone confirm this?

Took a taxi from the airport to Terracotta Warriors. Don't remember the rate but you should negotiate. Make sure you give the driver explicit directions, he took us to a private "museum," on the way instead. There may be more options if you are already in Xian, check with your hotel.

We had our hotel (Shangri La) call the local CITS office and book us on an all-day tour that included the warriors.

My information is a few years old, but we took a regular taxi to the terracotta warriors for 250 yuan. At the time the Hyatt had quoted a rate of 500 yuan for a private car.

We also took a taxi for 300 RMB in April 2005. The taxi waited for us and brought us back. We got the taxi from in front of the hotel and the bellman wanted to have us take the hotel car, etc. I think we could have gotten a slightly better deal from flagging one down on the street.

We started with a one-way trip which the driver seemed to negotiate with the bellman for 280rmb. When we were about 1/2 way there, the driver called someone who spoke English on his cell phone who tried to negotiate with us for the return. We went to 350RMB and held firm. There are plenty of taxis hanging around out there at the warriors, if you need to tell the driver that you can get a ride back to town (to help with your negotiations).

I'm sorry, I just looked at my trip diary and found that we paid 250RMB total!

Our hotel booked a private driver in a beautifully clean and air conditioned car for a total of $300 yuan round trip. We could have gone to other sites besides the warriors that afternoon but we were tired so chose not to. I'm sure we could have negotiated a better price, but sometimes when you are hot and tired comfort is better anyway we split it 3 ways. We spent 20 yuan for a jalopy of a van from train station to the Bell Tower. I think it would normally cost about 12 yuan, but then again we just wanted out of that mad house of people and cars. I think we may have paid more than normal sometimes just out of convenience. Overall the taxi drivers were fair and helpful, but no English spoken at all.