My husband and I booked the Private Tour of Warriors Museum, Cave Dwelling & Hanyanling. (We paid our own entrance fees on this tour.) We had such a fabulous day with our tour guide, Michael Chang! He was knowledgable, welcoming, fun and his English was very easy to understand. There are numerous Terra Cotta Warrior tours in Xi'an but we picked this one because of the cave dwellings were also added into it. I thought it made the tour more unique and we were glad we booked it. We had plenty of time at the Terra Cotta Warrior Museum, and other 2 stops, plus lunch. We never once felt rushed. Michael offered to take lots of photos as well as give us time to take our own photos. As a side note, towards the end of visiting the Terra Cotta Warriors, there is an interactive photo opportunity with a fake warrior set. We almost passed on it but opted to take the photos and glad we did. It was fun and we got some cute photos. I think it was around 34 yuan ($5 US) per person. Whatever the price actually was, I know it didn't cost very much. Just make sure you have Chinese currency available if you'd like to do this. The person stationed to take photos with my cell phone camera did a very good job and every picture turned out great.
We had the option to stop for lunch at our own expense during the tour. We decided to take Michael up on the offer. The driver took us to a restaurant and Michael discussed the menu with us, then ordered for us and gave us time to eat.The food was some of the best food we had while in China. I highly recommend the noodles!. Trust Michael on the food selection!
Not only was Michael a great tour guide, but he really went out of our way to help us on several occasions. At the beginning of the tour, I lost my eye glasses at the museum. Without hesitation, he started trying to track them down and went to the security office to try and find them. (I did get them back.) We were also having issues with our hotel room and there was quite a language barrier, even with using an online translater. After our tour, Michael went into the hotel and spoke with the desk clerk and hotel staff about our room issues. Thanks to Michael, we had the issue resolved and were much happier! Michael really went above and beyond to do this for us!
I don't remember our driver's name, but we felt completely safe with him. He was a good driver and polite. The vehicle was new, very clean, comfy and did not smell like cigarette smoke. (Which was a first for us while traveling through China.) There was always bottled water for us and we never had to wait for the driver. He was always on time. Michael and our driver were a winning combination for this tour.
Honestly, Michael is probably the best tour guide we've ever had. We wished we could have taken him and the driver with us during the rest of our trip! This tour is highly recommended from us!
