XI'AN · DATANG EVERBRIGHT CITY ROUTE

Datang Everbright City Route

South of the Big Wild Goose Pagoda runs a night pedestrian street lined with Tang-style pavilions and lights. As the sun drops, the smoke of stalls rises and grilled squid, grilled cold noodle, hot-and-sour noodles, and candied hawthorn fill the street. Less a road of storied sweets than of late-night food eaten in the bustle. Beneath the scenery of an old capital, you walk with something hot in hand.

🚇 5 min walk from Big Wild Goose Pagoda Station (Lines 3 & 4)🚶 ~105 min on foot🍽 6 dishes

Tang-style lights and night stalls

Datang Everbright City is a night scene of pavilions modeled on Tang-dynasty Chang'an and a broad pedestrian street. As the sun sets and the lights come on, stalls line the way and smoke and scent mix into the crowd. Where the Muslim Quarter and Yongxingfang turn on local tradition, here the bustle of the night market itself takes the lead. The charcoal smell of grilled squid, the sauce of griddled cold noodle, the red rows of candied hawthorn. Foods seen in night markets nationwide line up against Tang-style buildings. More than the weight of history, what comes forward is the ease of grazing under the night air and lights. The crowds are large, so move with the flow and stop where a stall catches you.

How to eat a night market

Night-market food comes in small plates, strong in taste and quick to make. So rather than filling up at one shop, order little and often and change flavors as you walk. Warm the mouth first with grilled things like squid or cold noodle, steady yourself with a soup like hot-and-sour noodles, and close with the sweetness of candied hawthorn or osmanthus cake. Spicy dishes come one after another, so slipping in a cold drink like Bingfeng sets the palate right and keeps you walking. Some stalls take only cash, others only mobile payment. Choose shops that grill to order rather than holding food, and you eat it hot. Prices are small but add up as you order, so decide what you want in advance to waver less.

How to walk this route

Get off at Big Wild Goose Pagoda Station and, with Da Ci'en Temple and the pagoda to the north, enter the southward pedestrian street of Datang Everbright City. Arrive before dusk and you catch the market rising from the moment the lights come on. Warm your first bite with grilled squid, head down the street with candied hawthorn in hand, and settle at a small shop with hot-and-sour noodles. Share a grilled cold noodle on the move, set the palate with Bingfeng soda, and close with osmanthus cake beside the temple. A music fountain plays at the central square at night and draws crowds, so check the times and stop by if you like. About two hours in all, though weekends and holidays are very crowded. Mind your valuables and walk slowly through the space between light and smoke.

Route map

Giant Wild Goose Pagoda → Datang Everbright City → Da Ci'en Temple → fountain square　·　numbers match the dishes below

The dishes on this route (6)

Tap through to each shop and dish

魚1SeafoodNight Market Grilled Squid Cart×Grilled Squid SkewerSplit squid is threaded on a long skewer and grilled, pressed against an iron plate or grate. The surface shrinks and curls, and brushed layers of chili sauce and cumin send char and spice across the night square. A last scatter of white sesame and chili powder finishes it. It bites springy, heat and the squid's sweetness taking turns. Eat it hot on the skewer. Under the Tang-style lanterns, the cart's smoke marks the line, a good first bite of the night.Nearest Datang Pedestrian StreetPrice 12–22 CNY 甘2SweetsCandied Hawthorn Vendor×Candied Hawthorn on a StickHawthorns are threaded on a stick, dipped through melted rock sugar, and cooled until the glaze sets thin and clear. In the night air the sugar hardens enough to crack, snapping as you bite while the sour of the hawthorn spreads at once. Sweet glaze and sour fruit alternate and come apart in the mouth. Lately strawberry and tangerine versions appear too. The carts that sell them upright glow red under the lights.Nearest Datang Pedestrian StreetPrice 8–15 CNY 麺3NoodlesSuan La Fen Shop×Hot and Sour Sweet Potato NoodlesClear, thick sweet-potato-starch noodles are boiled and sunk into a red broth of vinegar, chili oil, garlic, and crushed peanut. Cilantro, fried soybeans, and scallion finish it. The noodles are slippery and heavy, springing to the bite. Sourness leads, heat follows, and the toasted peanut settles at the bottom. The broth runs hot, sinking into the night's chill. It splashes as you slurp, so settle at the stall's edge to eat.Nearest Near Ci'en RoadPrice 10–16 CNY 麺4NoodlesGrilled Cold Noodle Griddle×Grilled Cold NoodleA thin sheet of cold noodle is spread on a hot griddle, an egg cracked over it and set into the noodle as one. Flipped, it is brushed with sweet bean sauce and chili sauce, laid with scallion, cilantro, and sometimes sausage, then rolled up. The surface chars a little and turns fragrant while the inside stays soft and chewy. The sweet-spicy sauce and the richness of egg cling together, eaten from one end bite by bite. The scrape of the spatula and the smell of sauce mark the night stall. Eat it hot as you walk.Nearest Datang Pedestrian StreetPrice 8–14 CNY 酒5DrinkBingfeng Soda Kiosk×Bingfeng Orange SodaA tangerine-colored sweet soda, a local drink Xi'an has loved for decades. Opened chilled on the spot, fine bubbles rise. The sweetness is clear but does not linger, rinsing the mouth after spicy food. Locals pair it with liangpi and rou jia mo as a kind of Shaanxi set. It suits walking the night square bottle in hand, the glass catching the lights.Nearest Datang Pedestrian StreetPrice 3–6 CNY 甘6SweetsOsmanthus Cake Stand×Osmanthus CakeRice flour and sugar are steamed and set with osmanthus blossoms mixed in, a white square cake. Cut, its face scatters tiny flower grains and lifts a sweet scent. It crumbles softly in the mouth, and after the faint sweetness of rice the osmanthus rises through the nose. Eaten cold or at room temperature, it suits closing out a spicy night. Quiet rather than showy, eaten beneath the Tang-style streets it recalls the sweets of an old capital. Cut small, one piece at a time.Nearest Near Da Ci'en TemplePrice 6–12 CNY

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