A complex of imperial bathing pools and pavilions at the foot of Mount Li, fed by hot springs that have been in use for nearly three thousand years. The site reached its peak under the Tang emperor Xuanzong in the 8th century, who came here every winter with his consort Yang Guifei — the great romance of Chinese literature and the trigger for the An Lushan rebellion that almost destroyed the dynasty. The bathing pools attributed to them are still there, fed with the same hot water, although the stone surrounds are 20th-century reconstructions.
Almost every visitor combines Huaqing with the Terracotta Warriors, 10 km up the road. Most tour itineraries put it in the morning to break up the day. Allow two hours; longer if you stay for the slick (and very Chinese) evening song-and-dance show that retells the Yang Guifei story.