Xiamen Travel Guide

Xiamen sits on the southern coast of Fujian, looking out across the Taiwan Strait, and includes both an island and the adjacent mainland. It grew as a treaty port opened after the Opium Wars and is now one of China's best-known seaside resort cities.

The headline sight is Gulangyu, the small island a short ferry ride off the old city. The whole island was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2017 under the name "Gulangyu: An International Settlement", recognizing the dense collection of late-19th and early-20th-century foreign villas and the cultural exchange they represent. Private cars are restricted on the island — visitors walk the cobbled lanes and visit the villas, gardens and small museums one by one.

Back on the mainland, Zhongshan Road is the pedestrian shopping street, lined with Fujian-cuisine restaurants and seafood places that stay open late. South Putuo Temple is an ancient Buddhist temple whose hillside behind it looks back over the city and the sea. The coastal promenade continues the walk under tropical trees.

Fujian cuisine and fresh seafood are Xiamen's food signature. Mild weather makes dining outdoors a year-round option, and high-speed trains connect Xiamen with Fuzhou and Shenzhen. The contrast between Gulangyu's quiet lanes and the lively seafront on the mainland is the city's lasting pull.