Travel with Wendy: Xiamen City Highlights Trip in Winter

It’s been a practice every year to travel to a new destination in winter with family for me and my colleague during our annual leave, in the winter of 2017, my family and I paid the visit to Xiamen, a romantic coastal city of Fujian Province.

Located in the southeastern part of China, Xiamen has a subtropical maritime monsoon climate with the annual average temperature around 21 ℃ and no severe coldness in winter or extreme heat in summer, which contributes to making it a destination suitable for travel all year round.

Our Tour arrangements:

Day1 Chengdu-Xiamen
Day2 Baicheng(White City)Beach- Hulishan Fortress- Island Road Cycling-Gulangyu Island
Day3 Gulangyu Island-Xiamen
Day4 Nanputuo Temple-Flight back to Chengdu in the afternoon

Detailed Itinerary day by day:

Day1 Chengdu-Xiamen
There are quite a few flights from Chengdu to Xiamen every day and we chose the evening flight as it’s more economical in cost and time-saving as well. Upon arriving at Xiamen Gaoqi Airport(XMN), we were greeted by the warmness of the weather, we were wearing thick in layers while the locals were dressed as in spring. What nice weather in winter! Our driver was an enthusiastic young man who introduced us Xiamen was like in his eyes on the way to the hotel. Our hotel was booked at Siming District 16 km away from the airport and close to many scenic spots and good for sightseeing. Check in to the hotel in the late evening and have a quick wash, we went to bed, tired and sound.

Day2 Baicheng(White City)Beach - Hulishan Fortress - Huandao Road Cycling - Gulangyu Island
After breakfast this morning, we set out to the Baicheng Beach first. For most people, like me, born in an island town, it’s always been exciting to see the sea. Baicheng Beach is located on Huandao Road, outside the Baicheng Gate in the east of Xiamen University. With a long stretch of the beach and privileged location, Baicheng beach has attracted numerous local citizens and tourists from every corner of the world. It’s an ideal place to take a leisure stroll and have fun, especially when you are taking kids. From the entrance of the beach, we can see clearly the Twin Towers, a new landmark of Xiamen, standing out with the shape of the sailboat right on the opposite side.

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Baicheng Beach - The Twin Towers have been the new landmark of Xiamen

Later on, after the leisure strolling on the beach, we headed for the Hulishan Fortress 200 meters away. Hulishan Fortress was first built in 1823, Guangxu Reign in Qing Dynasty. Unfortunately, it was destroyed in the Opium War, and then in the year of 1891, hundreds of thousands of silver was raised for its reconstruction, which took eventually 5 years to be completed. For nearly a hundred years, Hulishan Fort had been a military restricted zone, and it has been open to the public since 1984.

We entered the Hulishan Fortress scenic area approximately 10 am and there happened to be the artillery show that was scheduled to be performed twice in a day at 10 am and 4 pm.

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The artillery show

In the scenic area, various cannons& swords from different ancient periods in Europe, Asia, etc. are displayed to tourists, the most renowned of which is a giant Krupp cannon purchased from the German Krupp Arsenal in 1893. It is well preserved and has an effective range of up to 16000 meters (the longest range is 19760 meters). It took over 100,000 silver to purchase it (including shipping and insurance fees). The Krupp Cannon at Hulishan Fort was identified as the oldest and largest nineteenth-century coastal cannon on the original site in the world.

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Krupp cannon purchased from the German Krupp Arsenal in 1893

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Trees are planted everywhere in the scenic area

Walking out of the Fortress, we set out to Huandao South Road for cycling. Choosing a nice day and renting a bicycle, you’ll enjoy the fabulous time with family or friends of riding on the beautifully decorated seaside roads. Before the sun goes down, find a good spot, sit down on the beach and enjoy the wonderful moments with the wind blowing and touching your face and the beautiful music melody floating in the ear. What a memorable time!

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Cycling along Huandao Road and enjoying music at the seaside

Night came soon, we tasted the local seafood noodles for dinner and then went to the Xiamen Ferry Terminal for a 10-minute ferry trip to Gulangyu Island. There are mainly 2 cruise terminals for boats shuttling between Xiamen City and Gulangyu Island-Xiamen Cruise Terminal Xiagu Wharf and Xiamen Ferry Terminal. Xiamen Cruise Terminal Xiagu Wharf is located on Donggang Road, Dongdu. Here you can take a boat to Gulangyu Sanqiutian Wharf or Gulangyu Neicuo'ao Wharf. Here offers the daytime shift operating from 7:10 to 17:30 (until 18:30 from June to September).

Xiamen Ferry Terminal, located on Lujiang Road, is for the night shift. Here you can take a boat to Gulangyu Sanqiutian Wharf with the operating time from 17:50 (18:50 from June to September) to 06:30 the next morning. You need to note that tourists should go to the terminal Hall No. 2 for the ferry trip as the other Hall No.1 next door is a special line for local citizens.

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Gulangyu Island night view & Overlook at Xiamen from Gulangyu

Similar to the Twin Towers, our hotel on the island is boat-shaped as well. It provides an ideal background for wedding photography. Climbing upstairs to the open-air balcony on the top floor of the hotel, we can have a nice view of the Xiamen city across the sea.

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Our boat-shaped hotel

Day3 Gulangyu Isand-Xiamen
The green coverage on Gulangyu Island is more than 40%, with rich species of plants. Representative attractions include Sunlight Rock, Shuzhuang Garden, Piano Museum, Zheng Chenggong Memorial Hall& Underwater World, etc.

After breakfast, we left the hotel for the famous Piano Museum first. As the only museum in China, it owns a collection of 80 rare ancient pianos from all over the world. Word has it that the island has a population of 25000 and a total amount of over 5000 pianos, and that’s why Gulangyu Island is called the island of pianos.

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Piano Museum

It is followed by a visit to Sunlight Rock that is formed by two huge rocks leaning side by side. Climb up to the highest point of Gulangyu, you can have a panoramic view of both Gulangyu and Xiamen. Getting down from the Sunlight Rock and walking along the alleys, we arrived at the Shuzhuang Garden, a charming seaside garden. Built in 1913, Suzhuang Garden is located in the south of Gulangyu Island, facing the seaside and leaning against Sunlight Rock. It was originally a private villa of a local gentleman Lin Erjia and was donated to the government as a park in 1955.

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Sunlight Rock on Gulangyu Island

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Suzhuang Garden

Besides the attractions, the buildings complex on Gulangyu Island is a highlight as well. On the small island of less than 20,000 square kilometers, various distinguished characters and styles coexist harmoniously and elegantly, you’ll find traditional Southern Fujian(province) architecture, colonial outline architectural styles, western countryside houses, modern and Art Deco styles, and unique Xiamen decoration, etc., there is no wonder that it was reputed as the world architecture expo.

After a happy time on the island, we took the ferry back to Xiamen city and stay overnight there.

Note: Motor vehicles are forbidden on the island, tourists need to walk to the scenic attractions.

Day4 Nanputuo Temple-Flight back to Chengdu in the afternoon
The last morning before heading to the airport, we had a visit to the South Putuo Temple that was first built in the Tang Dynasty and has been one of the Buddhist resorts in Southern Fujian Province. Similar to the Guanyin Temple in Putuo Mountain, Zhejiang province, it is dedicated to the Guanyin Bodhisattva. As it’s located to the south of Putuo Mountain, people named it "South Putuo Temple".

The South Putuo Temple is renowned for its collection of Buddhist cultural relics, such as a Burmese jade carving of the buddha, some important Buddhist texts. Standing at the top of the Wulao Peak, tourists can enjoy a bird’s eye view of Xiamen University and Xiamen Port.

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South Putuo Temple

After the South Putuo Temple, we went straight to the airport for the flight back to Chengdu. Because of the limited time during this trip, we failed to visit the well-known Hakka architecture, Tulou, in Nanjing and Yongding. It needs 2.5-3 hours to drive from Xiamen to Tulou and the exploration needs additional 1-3 days. We’ll leave it as our next trip destination to Xiamen.


Travel with Me

Hi, I'm Wendy. Are you interested in my 4 Days Xiamen Tour? Feel free to contact me, and I will be glad to tell you more stunning stories about the places I have visited. Or, if you want to customize a tour on your own, I'm always ready to help at any time. With my passion, knowledge and understanding of the essence of travel, I promise I will try my best to make the tour memorable and meaningful for you.

Wendy
Travel Consultant
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