Getting to Xi’an Qinling Wildlife Park

As it was a long 1 hour plus journey to reach the Qinling Wildlife Park, I decided to hire a 7-seater taxi to seat more comfortably, instead of squeezing into the center seat of the sedan. The DiDi taxi arrived quite fast and it was a smooth journey.

Purchase tickets for the tram ride and Safari bus ride

We bought the tickets beforehand from the 美团 (Mei Tuan) app as we were worried it might be crowded and buying tickets on-site will take a while. As it turned out, visiting on Monday was good as there were less people. In fact, only a handful of visitors were buying the entrance tickets so we need not have bought our tickets in advance. We headed to another counter for the sale of the tram and safari bus tickets and bought a combo ticket for each of us.

The tram ride ticket will allow us to take unlimited rides to various stops in the park and we need to keep the paper ticket safe to show the staff when we board.

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Let me share what I felt was worth visiting in this park in order:

Worth Doing in Xi’an Qinling Wildlife Park:

1. Safari Bus Ride – Feeding Wild Animals

This was the primary reason why I came to this park. Now the memory of us feeding a Siberian tiger stays with us forever, especially for my 10 year old who loves animals.

We were each given a metal skewer with raw meat stuck on it. On the bus is a small hole for us to insert the metal skewer through to feed the animals. As I did not have much information about this beforehand, after my girl finished feeding the tiger, I gave her mine too while I took photographs. What I should have done is to wait until we were driven to the next few areas where in each subsequent areas, there were bears, lions and wolves.

My child was quite disappointed as she did not have anymore skewers left to feed the rest of the animals since the four of us used up ours right at the beginning. Thus, we observed others feeding a female lion while those behind us facing the other side of the bus fed brown bears. Thus, do bear this in mind and save skewers from other family members to feed other animals so we could take pictures of them feeding on the meat.

This experience was the best highlight of our China trip this time.

Before reaching the ferocious animals area, we also watched large packs of different types of deers, antelope and cattle roaming freely in the forested area while the bus was moving.

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2. Watch Magic and Acrobatic Performances in the Circus Theatre

The second best thing I enjoyed about Qinling Wildlife Park was the performance located in the “Chang’an Grand Theatre”. There are two shows per day: 13:30 – 14:30 and 15:30 – 16:30. We took the 13:30 one as we happened to walk there and missed lunch time.

The performance began with Equestrian horse-riding where the performers did amazing stunts with the horses while they ran fast in circles.

The magic performance was amazing as the person who was supposed to be confined in a burning box on stage, reappeared in front of us and walked down from the audiences’ seating area to the stage. There was even a performance with dogs. As a dog owner, it warmed my heart to see the dog following the trainer’s commands.

There were other exciting performances that completely captured our attention — The two guys that leapt on two huge wheels in the air without any ropes on them, the 4 motorcyclists that had to turn around in circles in an enclosed environment without crashing into each other and the horse riders doing daring stunts with moving horses. Not once were we bored.

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3. Feed Alpacas and Llamas

My third favourite impression of Qinling Wildlife Park was the alpacas and llamas at the “Llamas house” – 驼羊馆 Tuo Yang Guan.

As there were more llamas near the entrance and the alpacas were busy eating somewhere else in the middle, we fed more llamas as we walked along an elevated path. This was thoughtful as the llamas were taller than the children by a lot and elevating the platform for us brought them lower.

At that time, we did not know the difference and it was only after googling that I noticed that what we thought was “alpacas” (Yang Tuo) were actually llamas (Tuo Yang – camel sheep). One llama was very gentle and we kept feeding and playing with it. One alpaca was quite aggressive in getting my carrot and spat out some carrot bits at me when I ignored it. (It is known that alpaca likes to spit when they are unhappy)

To feed them, we just had to pay via scanning the QR code (WeChat or Alipay) to the staff. Each plate was RMB$20, not expensive to us. Ling loves these feeding activities and kept feeding non-stop so we bought two plates after one was finished and spent RMB$40. I noticed locals would just came to look at the alpacas and went off, reluctant to pay for the carrots as it is too expensive to them. One family even wanted to feed them with their own food but was told by the staff that it was not allowed. Thus, we were the only ones happily feeding the llamas and spent a long time there. I had to drag my girl away as we still have many places not explored and she wanted to continue feeding them. She even suggested coming back again after all the activities to feed them again. Fortunately, we found some deers to feed later on as the last activity of the day.

NOTE: To differentiate: The llama has banana-shaped, slightly curvy, long ears and it does not have a lot of hair on its head as the alpaca does. The face is also longer like that of a horse.

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4. Take photographs with a Sea lion

This was the first time we took a photograph with a sea lion. Even though we often watch marine animal performances, we seldom wait to take photographs or there was no such offers.

Before the marine animal show, the announcers were telling people to take photos with the sea lion but I was reluctant to move from our seat in case we could not find the best seats again. I saw someone held the laminated photograph right after she took it and regretted that I should have taken one.

I was surprised though that they opened up the photo-taking again after the performance and I quickly hurried my family members down. I often made it a point to take such memorable professional group photos if we can while overseas. We were only second in line as many people did not want to take photograph with the sea lion and left. I was glad for this as in other countries, it was always a long queue to take such photographs.

We paid for four people to take individual shots with the sea lion and a group photo with their professional camera.

Lastly, the staff again took our photographs using my phone in both landscape and portrait mode so I could get a digital copy. That was very nice of them to do this extra gesture. Thus, I have a digital copy and five printed, laminated ones for future keepsake. It was a great memento for this trip to Qinling Wildlife Park.

The cool thing was that I got to touch the sea lion’s flipper for the first time! It was a hard and cool feeling. ^_^

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5. Go down the Amazing Children’s Playground with the longest slide

Everything in China seemed to be big and long so this was the first time we saw such a tall and long slide.

It was 5pm and almost closing time so we had about an hour. The entrance fee for playing was RMB$50 which was expensive in Chinese standard but Ling could not resist playing after seeing such a huge playground with tall slides, so we paid for it.

Upon entering, everything was in rainbow colours and the entire playground was covered in faux green grass patch which was nice to step on. After a while, we started playing with the structures too as there was only one other family beside us. We had the entire playground almost to ourselves as we tried out everything.

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6. Feed Deers

We noticed deers in a small enclosure after coming out from the playground area. The price is the same for the alpaca at RMB$20.

Ling started wondering whether we could feed them and looking around, we realised that indeed we could purchase some carrots! We happily served the late plate of carrots to them and took some photographs. They ate it up eagerly.

We really love feeding animals because it is so fun. This is an activity we always do in various animal locations we visited over the years in different countries.

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7. See young tigers close-up

When we headed to the “Animal Kindergarten” via the tram, we did not know what to expect. From the name, I knew we would be seeing baby animals. However, I thought it would be the young of rabbits, deers like that. What we saw was however the young of white tigers and Siberian tigers! It is not like everyday you get to see these animals in close-up. Precautions were taken for the gates to be criss-crossed finely too so it would not be possible to squeeze a finger through. Still, there might be people who were too excited so there was a warning for vistors not to stay too close to the gates.

It was interesting to see them in different ages separated in different rooms as we walked past. We could see them progress in age from as young as 8 months old to 2-3 years old. There was a talk about them earlier but we missed it.

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8. Observe the cute Panda eating bamboo

At the panda house, we got to see one panda lazing around in a relatively large glass panelled room. Many people were crowding around to take pictures of it as the panda is an important icon in China. We stayed for a while to take a video only as it was too crowded. On Day 5 – We took a day trip to Chengdu to view more Pandas in close-up.

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9. Walk over crocodiles as they lie beneath your feet

In Reptile World, we get to walk over a glass pathway and the crocodiles were beneath our feet. They were mostly not moving in the room enclosed with glass panels in front and the entire area was with dimmed lights to create an eerie feeling.

There were many other reptiles such as lizards and huge pythons through the glass windows too. It is a nice respite from the heat to walk into this dark air-conditioned reptile gallery. However, it feels strange to see crocodiles kept in an enclosed cool environment instead of basking out there in the sun, like what other zoos do.

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10. Just going for a nature walk surrounded by lush greenery

The walking area of the park was quite big and we were surrounded with different varieties of plants as we walked. Paths were easy to walk on but most of them were not on flat ground so we were panting as we walked up some steep slopes especially the one outside the Marine Animal Show performance theater. I like bamboo forests though so it was nice to have them on the side of our paths as we explored.

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What was not so worth…in Xi’an Qinling Wildlife Park:

1. The caged monkeys / apes in concrete small rooms

We saw some poor monkeys confined in a rectangular room with cement floors. The floors were very wet and the monkeys kept sliding across the floor as they moved. The rooms were placed higher so in my line of view, I kept seeing the wet floor more than the monkeys themselves. Their droppings were all over the place which made me uncomfortable.

I wish they could have enclosed the monkeys in a place with more natural vegetation on the ground or with some soil to cover their droppings.

At the Primate house, the gorilla also looked sad in his little confined concrete room. I felt sad for him being alone and in such an unnatural environment for him. (We saw gorillas before in Seoul Grand Park and they were placed in a natural habitat with grass and trees).

I was also surprised that in other parts of the Wildlife Park, the enclosures were done quite well with ample space and mimic natural surroundings with grasses and trees. There was even a free roaming enclosure for monkeys too. Thus, why is it that these particular monkeys were being treated this way? The observation experience was certainly not pleasant.

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2. Dolphin / Sea lion Performance

The staff performing with the sea lions were not enthusiastic and sounded monotonous and bored as they had probably repeated the performances several times. One staff was even yawning at the back. We did not find the performance captivating compared to previous animal shows we had watched. The tricks that the sea lions did seemed also pretty forced. I felt that perhaps they should not have so many shows and could let the animals rest more?

• Weekdays: 11:00 12:30 14:30 16:00 / Weekend: 5 shows in a day

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3. Caged birds

We saw some caged birds in the Animal Kindergarten which was our last stop. The cage was criss-crossed with so many bars that it was difficult to view the birds nicely. I saw more of the metal cage than the birds themselves. The viewing experience could be nicer if they are kept in other types of cages.

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Food

By the time we headed to eat after the Circus performance, it was 2:30 pm and the main, large cafeteria, “Zoo Parent Child Restaurant” went out of food. Thus, I do not know whether they might have better tasting food.

There were some side stalls with fast food such as burgers, fried chicken and fries. However, I had a bad throat and could not eat those and we were not interested in fast food. I wanted the kids to just go ahead and eat but Vin insisted to follow me, so we found another small cafeteria at the Ocean Restaurant (the place where Marine Animal Shows were held). There was rice and we and decided to order food from there. Our order was a plate of stewed meat with veggies and rice. The taste was just ok, not fantastic. We just ate to fill our stomachs. Ling has a small appetite and ate the cute bun that came with the set.

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[ In Summary ]

I would highly recommend to visit the Qinling Wildlife Park in Xi’an if you have the time.

Park Map:

• Opening Hours:
  • March 01 – Nov 30 : 8.30 to 18:00 (Last entrance weekday: 17:30)
  • Dec 01 to Feb End: 9:00 to 17:30 (Last entrance weekday: 17:00)

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Dinner at Xi’an Nanmen Hopson One 合生汇西安

Chuan Shi Duo 回转小火锅 in Xi’an Nanmen Hopson One Mall 合生汇西安

We stumbled on this shop when we were searching around for what to eat and found this concept interesting. It was delicious and we ended up eating it again on the last night in Xiaozhai area – SAGA International Shopping Mall.

There is a base soup pot of RMB$9 with a large variety of choices. Our usual was pork ribs soup and tomato soup. For my second time, I tried corn butter soup.

We can choose a wide variety of food to put into our personal hotpot as it goes past us on a rotating conveyor belt. When our soup got too little for steaming stuff, the staff came to top it up with plain soup. We were surprised that after we said that the top up made it too diluted, they gave us one cup of sauce to add to the soup to make it like the original again (no extra charge!). There were four different types of foodstuff to select ranging from the cheapest normal skewer at RMB $1 to at most RMB$3 for a flat skewer. A box of food and those with green clips costs RMB$2. It was very, very affordable!

Eating here was also fun for my ten-year old to select what she wanted to eat and cook it herself. I did help to monitor a while but she could manage it very well. We ended up busy cooking our own food in our own pot and eating. She could also finally choose how much to eat instead of wasting some food due to being unable to finish all in a standard meal (very small appetite).

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Xi’an June 2025: Day 3 Itinerary

• Xi’an Qinling Wildlife Park (This trip was a relaxing trip so we spent one entire day here)
• Dinner at Chuan Shi Duo Xi’an 回转小火锅 at Xi’an Nanmen Hopson One Mall 合生汇西安

READ China Xian 2025 Itinerary Summary: 6-Day China Itinerary: Xi’an | Chengdu

Tips For Travelling in China: “Essential Tips for Safe Family Travel in China“

Past Explorations in China :

Read About our China 2018 Trip: 9-Day Family Travel Itinerary in China Shanghai, Suzhou & Hangzhou