Thirteen dynasties made Chang’an the world’s biggest city; 2025 made Xi’an its comeback — 327 million visits, a terminal larger than three terminals combined, and the busiest China–Europe rail port on the continent.
Xi’an is where China’s tourism math bends: 327 million visits and ¥402.6 billion in spending in 2025, yet the growth is inbound — foreign arrivals up 91.6%, their spending up 92.8%. Terminal 5 (705,500 m², with the world’s first in-airport archaeology museum) opened in February 2025 to meet exactly that curve.
The transport stack is unusual because one layer is a port with no water: the Chang’an China–Europe express has run 25,000-plus trains since 2013, a quarter of the national total. Around it: Asia’s largest high-speed yard at Xi’an North, a 423-km metro that passed the London Underground, and coaches that now feed the rails instead of fighting them.
The studies below track each layer — what opened, who arrives, what they spend, and how the airport, rail, dry port and bus systems actually behave. Use the menu to move between the seven studies.
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