Things to do in Xiamen

I was quite excited for my first visit to a World Heritage Site on June 17th. Our tour guide that day was A-Jian. Unfortunately, the weather didn't cooperate, and it rained all day. Despite this, our guide was very patient, picking up and dropping off every traveler, and meticulously explained the history with a touch of humor, which kept the trip from feeling dull.

The service is quite good, and the dancers perform diligently, making for an excellent show. It's very suitable for bringing older family members. If you're worried about feeling awkward, don't choose the most expensive seats. Instead, opt for the first row on either side, which is closest to the dancers and often includes interactive games.

Was a great day trip to Yunshuiyao and Tulou. The travel agency will email requesting for WeChat ID and thereafter all communications were done via WeChat. The driver and Yunshuiyao guide is the same person and we were assigned to 洪师傅. He came to pick us from our hotel at Zhongshan Pedestrian Street at 7.30am and he was very punctual. Thereafter we went to pick another 2 more groups before heading to Tulou. Actual itinerary: 7.30am - Pick up from hotel 10am - Reached Tulou, a separate guide from the Tulou will meet the group there and explained the history of Tulou. Visited 3 Tulous and the whole walk was about 3km. 12pm - Lunch at a restaurant (meal not included) 1.30pm - Leave for Yunshuiyao 2pm to 4pm - Yunshuiyao tour 4pm - Sending the group back to their accoms 7pm - Reached Xiamen Zhongshan Pedestrain Street Total of 6 pax and a comfortable 9 seater bus was allocated. Pleasant experience and will definitely recommend.

Thank you to driver Xiao Zhang for picking us up and dropping us off on time. It was amazing to see the Tulou buildings come to life from our textbooks; there are over 30,000 of them here! Yunshuiyao was beautiful, and thanks to Xiao Zhang for helping us take photos 🤳. Highly recommend 👍👍👍

I booked this tour without realizing it was a local Chinese tour, but it was still a lot of fun. I'm Korean, and the staff took great care of me from the beginning to the end of the itinerary. I had an issue with the WeChat app, so we communicated via email, and they provided convenient pickup and drop-off near my hotel, which made traveling much easier. In fact, because it was a local tour, I got to experience a more authentic and natural side of the area. Of course, I couldn't understand most of the explanations since they were in Chinese, but the visual experience was much more enjoyable. And using a translation app made it manageable, so it wasn't too difficult to travel. Thank you for taking such good care of me!

Our guide Xiao Chong was informative, engaging and caring! All in a great experience and learning journey 😊

You can board the ship early to dine. After purchasing tickets on Klook, there will be a WeChat confirmation and contact, which is a bit inconvenient. However, you won't need to exchange tickets on-site; just present your Taiwan Compatriot Travel Document for photo-based real-name verification. Most areas on the ship still have a lot of cigarette smoke, with no regulations, but the overall atmosphere is authentic and lively.

Mainland China is really smoker-friendly; you can smoke everywhere, from market restaurants to the Lujiang River night cruise ferry! 👍 It's truly a cultural difference. 😂 In Taiwan, you'd get dirty looks for smoking indoors. Xiamen is so beautiful, and the Twin Towers are stunning! ♥ A table with refreshments on the top deck of the ferry costs 200 RMB, which is about 1,000 NTD. 😂

The Xiamen Ancient Residence Scenic Area wasn't anything special. There were no people around, almost nothing was running, and we just had to look at the old, on-display exhibits and leave. However, the Minnan Legend show was worth seeing at least once with my parents. I was very worried because some reviews mentioned that the restrooms were dirty, but the restrooms were actually well-maintained and clean. We booked premier seats, so there weren't many people around us, and we were able to watch comfortably. Most of the audience is Chinese. Actually, there isn't a huge difference in the seats, but since it was just us in our area, it was less noisy and comfortable. Also, during the performance, translated text is shown on both the left and right sides.