Xi'an

Is Xi'an safe?

Yes, for crime. Xi'an police say criminal cases fell 12.7% in 2025 to the lowest level in ten years, and China's homicide rateHomicide rateThe number of people killed on purpose each year for every 100,000 residents. It is the most comparable crime figure between countries.More in the glossary is about 0.4 per 100,000 people, among the lowest in the world. In Gallup's survey, 94% of people in China say they feel safe walking alone at night.

The real risks for a visitor are the air in winter, a day trip sold by the wrong person, and the traffic. Xi'an averaged 39.5 µg/m³ of fine particlesPM2.5Tiny airborne particles 2.5 micrometres across or smaller. They reach deep into the lungs and are the air pollutant most linked to early death.More in the glossary in 2025, the dirtiest air of any major tourist city in China we cover. We score Xi'an 78, below Beijing (82) and Shanghai (84), almost entirely because of that.

The Terracotta Army scam

The scam that catches most visitors to Xi'an is the fake day tour. In 2016 China National Radio reporters followed touts from the square at Xi'an railway station onto a "day tour" that stopped at a replica tomb and a museum of wax figures on the road to the Terracotta Army, with tickets that were not official. The local tourism bureau said it could not regulate unlicensed vehicles. Similar offers of cheap seats on buses that look official are still the thing to watch for at the station.

To get there safely:

• Take the city-run public tourist bus from the railway station, and queue for it rather than following anyone who approaches you.
• Book a guide or car through your hotel or a licensed agency if you want one.
• Buy entry tickets on the museum's official channels, not from people outside the gate.
• Refuse anyone who says your bus is "going the wrong way" and offers a private car.

Elsewhere, theft is uncommon. The Muslim Quarter around Beiyuanmen and the streets near the Bell and Drum Towers are packed in the evening, so keep phones and wallets in front pockets. The UK Foreign Office warns of the "tea tasting" scam, where friendly strangers lead you to a tea house or bar that then demands a huge bill, and of counterfeit 100-yuan notes, including from ATMs.

Winter smog in the Wei River valley

Xi'an sits in a basin between the Loess Plateau and the Qinling Mountains, and in winter heating smoke gets trapped there. China's Ministry of Ecology and Environment measured an annual PM2.5PM2.5Tiny airborne particles 2.5 micrometres across or smaller. They reach deep into the lungs and are the air pollutant most linked to early death.More in the glossary average of 39.5 µg/m³ in 2025, eight times the WHO guideline of 5 and well above Beijing's 27.0. December alone averaged 82.3, nearly twice the level of Hangzhou that month. The city's statistics bureau counted 274 days of good or fair air, which leaves about three months of polluted days, mostly in winter.

For most healthy visitors on a short trip this is unpleasant rather than dangerous. If you have asthma, a heart or lung condition, or are travelling with small children, plan the trip for April to June or September and October, check the air quality index each morning, and carry N95 or KN95 masks.

Hospitals in Xi'an are large and modern, but English is limited and you pay up front. The FCDOFCDO travel adviceThe UK government's travel advice for each country, which can advise against all travel or all but essential travel to specific areas.More in the glossary keeps a list of English-speaking doctors in China. Drink bottled or boiled water.

Getting around: e-bikes and traffic

Xi'an does not publish a road death rate, so we score it against the nearest official comparisons: 4.5 deaths per 100,000 people in Beijing and 3.3 in Shanghai in 2024, according to Hong Kong's Transport Department. City police say road deaths fell in 2025. Nationally, WHO estimatesWHO road-death estimateThe World Health Organization's estimate of road traffic deaths per 100,000 people in a country, adjusted for deaths that police statistics miss.More in the glossary the real toll at about 17.5 per 100,000, about four times the official count.

The daily hazard is the electric scooter. Delivery riders use pavements, ride against the traffic and run red lights without a sound. Cars can turn right on red. Inside the walls the streets are wide and the crossings long, so use the underpasses at big junctions. The metro is clean, cheap and safe, and covers the airport, the main railway stations and the walled centre.

Floods and heat in summer

Summer storms are the main natural hazard. On 11 August 2023, a flash flood and mudslide hit Weiziping village in Chang'an district, in the Qinling foothills south of the city; 21 people died and 6 were missing. If you plan to hike in the Qinling Mountains or visit Huashan in July or August, check the weather warnings and stay out of river valleys during heavy rain.

Summers are hot, so the city wall and the Terracotta pits are best visited early in the morning. Earthquake risk exists: the city felt the 2008 Sichuan earthquake at intensity VI, according to the US Geological Survey, and the FCDOFCDO travel adviceThe UK government's travel advice for each country, which can advise against all travel or all but essential travel to specific areas.More in the glossary notes that China is an active seismic zone.

How we scored it

Violent crime (93) and walking at night (93) are as strong as in Beijing and Shanghai, on police figures and Gallup's national survey. Health and environment (48) is the weakest factor, because annual PM2.5PM2.5Tiny airborne particles 2.5 micrometres across or smaller. They reach deep into the lungs and are the air pollutant most linked to early death.More in the glossary is above 35 µg/m³, followed by traffic (68), which has no city figure, and natural hazards (67) for summer flash floods. Exit bans and detention risk apply to all of mainland China and are covered on our China page, not in the city score.