Hi,

To be honest, I am not good at picking those star hotels (every time I went to Xi’an, I stayed in my friend’s house), however, in my opinion, Bell Tower Hotel Xian is the best choice. First of all, it locates in the heart of city, next to Bell Tower and Drum Tower, both of which are almost the symbol of the city, besides, around the hotel, there are two famous shopping centre, especially Century Ginwa shopping centre, is just at the foot of the hotel. Second of all, it’s very convenient for you to go those historical sightseeings, there you can easily find coaches and buses to anywhere.

For food:

Trust me, you must go to Dapiyuan (locals call it Muslim Street, as all the restaurants are operated by Muslim). It is quite near from Bell Tower Hotel – within 1 minute walking distance – through the Drum Tower, you can see there are hundreds of restaurants and local stores, there you can taste traditional Muslim food and buy some local artworks as well, don’t worry about the language problem, some waiters/waitresses know some English and in some restaurants English menus are available. There are lots of foreigners come from all the countries, it wont be a problem at all even through you go into a restaurants alone. Although there are some other famous restaurants in Xi’an, this street is my favourite, actually I had all the dinners and launches there. It’s better to go there after 7pm, the Bell Tower is very nice in the night and Muslin Street is crowded and busy, it’s fun eating there. (you can see this page: http://www.blogcn.com/User/dadi/blog/4321569.html, the pictures shown are Bell Tower and Muslin Street in the night.)

For sightseeings:

Terracotta Warriors and other historical sites are out of city area, although they are not far away, 44km to Terracotta Warriors site for example, you can ask the information desk in the hotel if they provide a kind of one day tour or something like that, or at least they can tell where you can buy the tour tickets. It takes one day to visit thoese sites. In the city area, I recommend the Tang Paradise, you can call it a garden or a park, all the buildings in it are Tang-Dynasty-styled. There are lots of shows in the day as well, overall, you can experience what it is like in Tang Dynasty. In the evening, about 7:30pm, there will hold an amazing movie – water is the screen – images made by laser are reflected on the water wall, it is really worth waiting.

At last, what I would like to say is I never have lived in Bell Tower Hotel, the reason why I recommend it is that the hotel locates in a pretty good position, and it holds a locally good fame as well, I asked some friends if they had any ideas about the hotels in the centre of city, most of them said Bell Tower Hotel is good, however, it’s your call, you decide :)

I find some website for you, I think it would be much helpful if you have a look.

Xi’an trip, including information of views, eating, hotels and everything in Xi’an (recommend), http://www.xatrip.com/english.htm

The website of Bell Tower Hotel, http://www.belltowerhtl.com/e_index.asp

Some pictures I took in Bell Tower, the Tang Paradise, The Big Wild Goose Pagoda and Shaanxi History Museum: http://www.flickr.com/photos/gotowest/page11/

OK, I hope it will be helpful to your trip, I am out to London for two days, I would like to help if you have some questions when I am back.

Cheers

Wei