Xi'an

Xi'an needs 3 days: the Terracotta Army, with over 8,000 life-size warriors buried more than 2,000 years ago, on one, the City Wall, China's best-preserved medieval urban wall, ridable by bicycle, on another, and the Muslim Quarter with its street food night market on the third. March-May and September-November are best. It's mid-priced for China. It was China's capital under more dynasties than any other city -including that of Qin Shi Huang, the first unifying emperor- and the eastern starting point of the Silk Road, with the Terracotta Army, discovered by accident in 1974 by farmers digging a well, considered one of the greatest archaeological finds of the 20th century.