The site is about 40 km east of the city, and getting there is genuinely easy — the difficulty is that the route is heavily targeted by people selling something else.
The official bus#
Tourist bus 5, route number 306, runs from the east square of Xi'an railway station (西安站东广场) to the museum. It is green, it is signed, and it is run by the public bus company rather than an agency. The journey takes about an hour depending on traffic.
Board at the marked stand in the east square, not from anyone approaching you on the concourse. The bus fills and leaves frequently through the morning.
Why the touts matter here more than elsewhere#
This is one of the few places in China where the scam is not a minor annoyance but a wasted day. People working the square sell cheap "Terracotta Army" tours that go somewhere else entirely — a replica exhibition, a jade or lacquer factory with a commission arrangement, or a lesser tomb site — and visitors do not always realise until they are standing in the wrong building.
The defence is simple: walk to the official bus stand and get on the green 306. Do not buy a ticket from a person holding a clipboard, and do not follow anyone offering a minibus.
By DiDi#
A DiDi takes about 50 minutes and removes the uncertainty, which is worth it if you are short on time or travelling as a group where the per-head cost evens out. Book it in the app rather than accepting a driver who approaches you, and have the destination on screen in Chinese characters.
What to know before you go#
Book ahead. Like the Forbidden City, the museum uses passport-linked timed entry with a daily cap. Turning up without a booking is not reliable.
Give it half a day at least. The site is three excavation pits plus a museum, spread over a large area, and the walk between them is not short. Pit 1 is the famous one and is best seen first, before the tour groups mass at the front railing.
The site is not in Xi'an. It sits near Lintong, which is why the bus takes an hour. Plan it as a half-day block rather than something to slot between two city sights, and pair it with Huaqing Palace if you want a full day out that direction.
Coming back#
The same 306 returns from the car park to the railway station, and it is the simplest way back. The last services are earlier than you might assume for a major attraction, so check the return timing when you arrive rather than after closing.
For the rest of the city — the wall, the Muslim Quarter, the Big Wild Goose Pagoda — see the Xi'an travel guide, and things to do in Xi'an for each sight's Chinese address and nearest metro station.