Ditto. Not really a big fan of Xi'an airport. Seems in the middle of nowhere to be honest. The main station is not especially charming either, but at least centrally located.

Xi'an airport IS in the middle of nowhere. Even by Chinese standards, it's located quite far from the city. Here's a hint for travelers with limited time: Assuming a flight arrival early enough in the day, it's often more time-effective to go directly from the Airport to the Warriors by the "back roads" rather than first go into the city. Then after the Warriors and anything else you want to see in that general area, head to town. Or on the reverse...for an evening flight out...see the Warriors in the afternoon then head directly to the airport. This assumes you have some sort of car transport that can hold your luggage while sightseeing.

Off the top of my head, Lanzhou, Lhasa, and Jiuzhaigou all put it to shame (in terms of distance from town). And, I read that there is a new airport in Tibet that is 3 hours away from the city it serves.

Personally, I wouldn't mind if XIY was 15 minutes further out if it was even remotely comfortable.

Only Hongqiao (SHA) and Kunming (KMG) come to mind as in the city airports...

IMO, you can't compare these situations with Xi'an! In mountainous terrain like a Lhasa, you put the airport where you can get the closest reasonably flat surface for the runway...and sometimes that's far away from where the city happens to be. Jiuzhaigou didn't even have a commercial airport until relatively recently--that facility is one of the many converted ex-military where location was a done deal. Considering that most visitors previously had no access options except a long 9-10 hour bus ride, the airport isn't that far. I agree Xi'an, considering it is a major industrial and tourist city, should be ashamed of its crappy airport.

Shenyang's airport is not in-the-city but is quite convenient to town as well--I can usually make it airport-center city in 20-25 minutes.

I'd like to add Haikou (HAK) to your list.

Ironically, my first flight to HAK originated in XIY in 1995. Back then, the trip between the city and the airport passed mostly through farmland, but this is not the case today.

I also predict that Nanyuan (NAY) will qualify as a city airport within the next 5 years. Currently, the PLA has a stranglehold over it, so only KN serves it, but given the facts that: 1) PEK is nearing maximum capacity; and 2) Beijing's development is migrating toward the south at a rapid pace -- I believe a top down order to avail to other carriers access is in the works.

In short, in order to keep up with current growth rates, the Beijing and PRC governments have 3 options:

1) build additional runways at PEK
2) develop new airports
3) commercialize military airports

I expect all 3 will happen, but since #3 is the easiest short term solution, I bet it will occur first. And, NAY is the lowest hanging fruit.

XIY is only 17km from the city of Xianyang, after which the airport is named. Granted, Xianyang is not as interesting as Xi'an today, but it was the first capital of China (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xianyang).

JJN (Jinjiang) wins the prize for me. The city centre is 20 minutes walk.

And it's a much nicer terminal than XIY!

JJN and HAK I haven't flown to.

This is a old thread but I was looking for advice on the sleeper train from Beijing to Xi'an. I was going to take the overnight train out and then fly from Xi-an to somewhere else on my way out. How far in advance do I need to book? I would be doing it at the very end of June/or the first few days of July? I will spend three nights in Beijing first and would want to catch the train the night of the fourth day. Does this allow enough time for booking the soft sleeper at the train station or I need to book further ahead?

Really should book now for those tickets. You can do this on ctrip's English website and pay with a foreign credit card. The service charge is 20RMB/ticket. You get a confirmation number, then pick up the actual ticket at the station with your passport. Make sure the name on your passport and the name you input on the ctrip form match precisely.

+13RMB service fee plus they charge you the price of a lower sleeper even if you get an upper sleeper. Comes to 50RMB extra charge.
I had not tried their site for a while and it continues to be terrible for trains. I tried two different browsers and could not get beyond page one of results (and overnight trains are on page 2...... I finally found it by putting Z19, a train number. Not very user friendly. I had similar issues when I did a comparative analysis of various agents a few months ago. At least it is not longer freezing all the time.
Back to the original question, booking a Beijing-Xi'An overnight train just a few days before departure is a risky plan.

So should I use ctrip website or is there a better alternative? My ex is chinese and I will be seeing her tomorrow, so I could ask her to translate a website if it is in chinese. I would still need to be able to pay with a US credit card though, because she has been here awhile and I doubt she has active chinese accounts at the moment although I could ask her.

They charge as if you're getting a lower sleeper, but if you don't they refund the difference to your credit card. Also, no charge for using a foreign credit card if you book with their app.

The official website for ticket booking is in Chinese, needs a Chinese bank card and a Chinese phone number.

Old thread but I would avoid the train and just fly. Last time I flew out in the am, did the tour and flew back to Beijing that night. Easy peasy and a short flight. Yes the airport is not in the city but an arranged tour would pick you up and drop you off.

Honestly, the warriors are very cool but you would not spend hours there. I added a quick city tour and some lunch and did not feel I was hurried or missed anything.