Two attractions justify a whole day each in China: the Great Wall at Mutianyu or Badaling, and the Terracotta Warriors outside Xi’an. Both use passport-linked real-name booking, both are busiest mid-morning, and both are better with an early start. Everything else in Beijing and Shanghai is a scheduling question rather than a booking problem.
- Book first: the Terracotta Warriors and the Great Wall section you want, before you fix hotel dates.
- Half or full day: the Great Wall is a full day from central Beijing, the Warriors a half-day from central Xi’an.
- Passport required: the passport you booked with is the ticket at both sites.
- Start early: coach groups arrive from late morning, and the light is better before 10:00.
Last verified: 29 October 2026 · Sources: Palace Museum booking (ticket.dpm.org.cn), China Railway 12306, National Immigration Administration
Which China attraction should you choose?
Choose by what you want to do with the day. The Great Wall is a walking day with a view; the Terracotta Warriors are an indoor archaeology day with three pits; the Forbidden City is a crowd-management exercise with the best architecture; Shanghai’s Bund is a free walk with no ticket at all. If you only have time for one, take the Great Wall.
| Attraction | Where | Book how far ahead | Passport | Best month | Guide |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Great Wall at Mutianyu | Huairou, north of Beijing | 3 to 7 days | Required | April, May, September, October | Great Wall guide |
| Terracotta Warriors | Lintong, east of Xi’an | As soon as dates are fixed | Required | March to May, September to October | Terracotta Warriors guide |
| Forbidden City | Central Beijing | 7 days, at 20:00 | Required | April, May, September, October | Beijing things to do |
| The Bund | Central Shanghai | Not needed | No | October, November | Shanghai things to do |
The pattern is that the two ancient sites need planning and the two city sights do not. Build the trip around the sites, then fill the gaps with the streets. The Forbidden City is covered in full inside the Beijing destination pages, including its seven-day ticket release and its Monday closure.
How long does each attraction take?
Allow a full day for the Great Wall once you count the drive from Beijing, a half-day for the Terracotta Warriors once you count the drive from Xi’an, and half a day for the Forbidden City if you walk the main axis and skip the side halls. Give the Bund an evening rather than a morning.
- Great Wall, Mutianyu: about 1h30 each way by road from central Beijing, plus 3 to 4 hours on the wall.
- Terracotta Warriors: about an hour each way, plus 2 to 3 hours for the pits and the museum halls.
- Forbidden City: 2 to 4 hours inside, and the exit puts you at the north gate, not back at the start.
- Bund: 2 to 3 hours on foot, best at dusk when the lights come on.
Do you need to book China’s attractions in advance?
Yes for the big two. The Terracotta Warriors and the Great Wall both run passport-linked real-name ticketing, and the Forbidden City releases tickets seven days ahead at 20:00 and closes on Mondays. Book on the official channel, not through a reseller whose markup buys you nothing at the gate.
The booking is tied to your passport number, and staff check the document at the entrance. That means the name on the booking and the name in the passport must match exactly, and a screenshot of a friend’s ticket will not work. If a site’s official page is unclear, use the channel it links to rather than a search result.
Two attractions in China are worth booking before you book anything else: the Great Wall section you actually want, and the Terracotta Warriors. Everything else is a scheduling question.
Which city should you base yourself in?
Beijing first, because it holds the Great Wall and the Forbidden City within one base and has the most flights in. Then Xi’an for the Warriors, then Shanghai to finish. Each city needs at least two nights for its headline sight, so three bases already fills a week.
If you cannot do all three, keep Beijing and Xi’an and drop Shanghai. Beijing without the wall wastes the trip’s best day, and Xi’an’s Warriors are the reason the city is on the route at all. Our Xi’an destination guide shows how two days fit around the pits.
Where do the attractions fit in an itinerary?
Put the Great Wall on your second Beijing day, not the first, so a flight delay does not cost you the booking. Put the Warriors on your first Xi’an morning and keep the afternoon free. That spacing survives one late train or one rainy day without breaking the trip.
The 7-day Beijing, Xi’an and Shanghai route uses exactly this sequencing, and the 10-day version adds a second Great Wall section and a Hangzhou day. For entry paperwork, start with the visa overview: the rules are national, and no attraction asks for anything beyond your passport.
Sources
- Palace Museum official ticket channel (checked 29 October 2026)
- China Railway 12306 – English booking and timetables (checked 29 October 2026)
- National Immigration Administration – visa-free policy (17 February 2026)
- UNESCO World Heritage – The Great Wall
Next step: read the Great Wall section comparison to pick Mutianyu, Badaling or Jinshanling, then confirm dates against the best-time-to-visit guide.
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