Three-Day Xi'an Trip with The Song of Everlasting Sorrow, the Terracotta Warriors and Huaqing Palace: The Cheapest Way to Combine Tickets

The Terracotta Warriors, Huaqing Palace and The Song of Everlasting Sorrow — many people want to take in all three on a single visit to Xi’an. The trouble is that they belong to different scenic areas and different ticket types, and buying wrong costs you not only extra money but an extra wasted trip. This article breaks it down along a three-day route and hands you the genuinely money-saving move: the Huaqing Palace scenic ticket is valid for two days.

1. How to Arrange the Three Days

A division that runs smoothly:

• Day one: city centre → Terracotta Warriors, the pits deserve a good half day, then back to the city to stay;
• Day two: Huaqing Palace in Lintong, tour the park and see the Tang imperial bathhouse ruins by day, then stay on for The Song of Everlasting Sorrow in the evening;
• Day three: fill in the city with the City Wall and the Muslim Quarter, or head home.

Arranging day two this way is no accident — Huaqing Palace and The Song of Everlasting Sorrow are in the same place, so day and night share one route and you save a round trip to Lintong.

2. What the Three Tickets Are

Get the tickets straight first, and do not mix them up:

Ticket type	What it is	Reference price	Note
Huaqing Palace scenic ticket	Entry to the park and its sights	About ¥108 for adults, about ¥60 for students and children	Valid for two days
The Song of Everlasting Sorrow performance ticket	The evening real-scene show	Central 369–409, East-West A 289–339, East-West B 249–299	Independent of the scenic ticket
Terracotta Warriors ticket	A different scenic area	Bought separately	Not interchangeable with either of the above

The row to highlight is the middle one: the performance ticket and the scenic ticket are two independent tickets. Buying a performance ticket does not mean you can enter the park and tour its sights by day — the show is the show and the park is the park; and the Terracotta Warriors is yet another scenic area, for which neither of these tickets can substitute.

3. How to Combine for the Biggest Saving

The saving all rests on the two-day validity:

• If you arrive in Lintong on the evening of day one and still want to tour Huaqing Palace on day two, then one scenic ticket covers both days and the cost of the daytime sights is immediately spread thinner;
• Buy The Song of Everlasting Sorrow performance ticket separately, choosing by zone and showtime; during coupon promotions there are instant discounts on the same zone and showtime, and the exact amount and validity period may still change, subject to what the scenic area announces on the day;
• The Terracotta Warriors is a separate scenic area, arranged on its own — do not try to cover it with a Huaqing Palace ticket;
• To squeeze further, choose the last show or the East-West zones for the performance; the per-person difference runs to tens or a hundred.

Another easily missed detail: the performance ticket can be refunded in full up to 12:00 on the day before the performance, and cannot be refunded or changed after that (subject to the rules confirmed at the time of purchase). Before the three-day itinerary is fully fixed, secure a refundable showtime first — that pays better than agonising afterwards.

4. How to Choose the Booking Channel

The tickets for three days have to be gathered from three places, and the entry experience differs a great deal:

• Official self-service channels: the ticket source is authentic, but hot showtimes sell out the moment they open, and seat selection, showtime verification and refunds are all yours to watch;
• This site’s third-party booking service: give the number of days, the headcount and the budget, and a dedicated person suggests seats and checks the showtime and zone while someone follows the order’s progress.

This article does not speak for any channel; it states one truth: with a combination that spans several sights and several dates, flipping between pages is the easiest way to buy twice or miss one — hand the whole requirement to a dedicated person to verify and it is steadier than grabbing blindly.

5. Stringing the Three Tickets into One Line

The hinge of this trip is “the scenic ticket is valid for two days” — use it for the daytime and the performance ticket for the evening. Give your number of days, headcount and budget to this site’s booking service, hand over the verification of the combination and the seats, and all you have to do is follow the route.