For the past two years, I have been planning to visit Xiamen with my family, but I have never made it. This summer, I originally made an appointment with my younger brother and sister to go to Xiamen to eat and drink, but the two children worked overtime and took exams, and finally became a trip with friends.

Let me give you a few tips before traveling!

1. When traveling during summer vacation, sun protection is indispensable, especially at the seaside. You must replenish sun protection frequently. I feel that I didn't get much tan when I went to the northwest last year, but this time I got a lot darker.

2. Making strategies in advance can save time and avoid being deceived.

3. Nan'ao Island is divided into 4 towns. Houzhai Town and Qing' ao are the ones where people are concentrated. You can choose these two places for accommodation. We live in Houzhai Town, and it is very convenient to eat and take a car around it. It is just a sea view. In Qing 'ao, there are more sea view rooms, which can be selected according to your hobbies.

4. Personally, I feel that transportation on Nan'ao Island is not very convenient. Although there are round-the-island buses to the scenic spots, there are not many flights, and not every scenic spot is reached. There are two main directions for visiting Nan'ao Island. The first one is a round-island tour (it is relatively convenient to charter a car for a round-island tour. There are 4 of us, and the cost is 500 yuan a day). The second one is to go out to sea, where you can fish, snorkeling and barbecue, as well as a private beach. We couldn't swim, so we chose to swim around the island.

5. Most scenic spots in Xiamen are quite crowded. Xiamen University didn't get the reserved ticket, so I didn't go. If you go to Gulangyu, you can choose to purchase boat tickets in advance.

6. If you want to go to the Botanical Garden, it is recommended to enter from the West Gate, because it is cheap and convenient to take the sightseeing bus from the scenic area. It costs 5 yuan one way and only 10 yuan a round trip. However, if you enter too late, you will only sell a one-way ticket. The mountain road is difficult to walk, so it is recommended to take a car.

7. Accommodation in Xiamen is recommended to stay on Zhongshan Road. It is convenient to get anywhere and you can get taxis everywhere. There are many B & Bs living in Zengcuo 'an, and the decoration and repair are very distinctive, but it is inconvenient to take a taxi.

8. If you want to go to Yunshuiyao or go to Yongding to see Tulou King, you must bring mosquito repellent. There are many mosquitoes and small insects in the scenic area. You must also wear suitable shoes. It is difficult to walk in Yunshui Wanli.

Below is the official journey to begin ~

Day 1: Nan'ao Island

There are many high-speed rail and bullet trains from Guangzhou to Shantou, so you can choose the one that suits you, plus the transfer time is about 4 hours.

Coming out of the railway station, there are buses in the railway station square that go directly to Nan'ao Island. We took the 161K. Compared with other buses, the 161K has fewer stops and is an air-conditioned bus, which is more comfortable. We get off at the visitor center.

Get off the bus from the Visitor Center and you will find the beach next to the road. Because the weather was bad and cloudy on the first day, the sea water also looked gray.

Walking along the beach, you will see little lights on the sea until evening.

On the way back to the hotel from the beach, I chose a restaurant recommended by the locals for dinner. The taste was good. Generally, the food on Nan'ao Island is light, and the order is basically calculated by serving, which is a bit different from our usual seafood calculation by weight. After eating Nan'ao Island's famous seaweed fried rice, I don't know if it was because it was not fried well, but I always felt burnt.

Day 2: Nan'ao Island Island Tour

The round-island tour on Nan'ao Island mainly involves visiting 5 attractions, including Yisongjing; Guanghai Sky; Zongbing Mansion; Treasure Island and Qing' ao Bay.

Except for Qing 'ao Bay, the other four attractions require tickets, but the tickets are all very cheap, ranging from a few yuan to a dozen yuan. These attractions are mainly about looking at the sea. In fact, they are about looking at the sea from different angles.

The Songjing Scenic Area is lined with trees. Even if the sun is shining, it will not feel hot under the sea breeze blowing under the shade of the trees.

The broad sea and sky is a mountain-top observation platform that overlooks the sea and is very beautiful. The sea water will take on different colors under the illumination of the sun, which is very special and beautiful.

There are also some small attractions in the vast sea and sky, such as waterfalls, ancient trees and so on. Coming down from the observation deck, we chose to see the waterfall. Although it was always down the mountain, the road was not easy to walk, and it took a long time to see the waterfall. This waterfall is still very small, and it is still very different from a waterfall in the traditional sense. What is more devastating than walking exhausted and not seeing the imaginary waterfall is that the waterfall ends there and there is no other way down the mountain, which means that you have to climb the top of the mountain again and go down the mountain. It felt like this was the most painful part of the entire trip.

It was already lunchtime after going down the mountain. Because we were not familiar with the road in life, we asked the driver to recommend places to eat. At first, I didn't have much expectations for this meal, because when chatting with the driver, the driver said that people on the island had lighter tastes. After serving the food, the food was not bad and tasted okay, which was quite suitable for the taste.

After lunch, I took a short rest and headed for the next attraction-the General Military Mansion. Whether it is worth visiting depends on people.

I left the General Military Office and went to Treasure Island. Treasure Island is actually a very small scenic spot close to the sea. But when you stand at the highest point, it still looks pretty good. Although it was in the sun, walking by the beach did not feel hot at all.

The last attraction for the round-the-island tour is Qing 'ao Bay. I arrived at Tsing O Bay around 3 o'clock. It was too hot, so I didn't dare to go to the beach. I found a nearby restaurant for afternoon tea and took a rest. I didn't go to the beach until 4 o'clock. Next to Qing 'ao Bay is the landmark Tropic of Cancer Square. Just walk along the square and you can reach the beach. Although it is 4 o'clock, there are many shady places on the beach because there are several buildings. There are many people swimming in Qing 'ao Bay, and it is also the most famous attraction in South Australia. I can't swim, so I can only step on water next to me.

At around 6 o'clock, the driver picked us up back to the hotel to end the day's Nan'ao roundabout tour. Overall, I am quite satisfied with this round-the-island tour.

Go back to the hotel to rest for a while and set out for food. At this time, the benefits of living in the back house were highlighted. There were many snack bars along the street, which was more convenient. Since the afternoon tea had not been digested yet, I chose to eat sugar water for dinner.

Day 3: Shantou

The third day of the journey is from Nan'ao Island back to Shantou. Then take a stroll in Shantou, which serves as a transfer point, and leave for Xiamen on the fourth day.

We had soup cakes and fried cakes near the hotel for breakfast. They were actually the same as the soup dumplings and fried rice dumplings we usually eat, but with more ingredients. After breakfast, go to the Visitor Center and take a bus back to Shantou City. There are many cars back to Shantou. The driver of each car will stop and ask if you need to return to Shantou. You can choose the flight according to your actual situation. We communicated with the accommodation owner in Shantou and he suggested too many flights and stops, so we chose to go back to the train station first and then take a taxi to the accommodation place. I still sat on the 161K and waited for about 40 minutes. I wanted to give up for a while, but in the end I insisted on waiting.

The place to stay in Shantou is between the scenic spots and the train station, which is quite convenient.

The typhoon was approaching, so Shantou was always cloudy. I planned to rest in the evening and go to the small park. Considering the weather, I went to the small park first after lunch. The lunch place was a square, and we chose a crowded place and ate.

There is a whole arcade in the small park, but there are very few people and it is deserted and cold. There are not many shops, and most of them are closed. It makes people wonder whether this is really a tourist attraction. Not only the small park area, the entire Shantou gives me the feeling that it is a bit dilapidated and has little popularity.

We came out of the small park relatively early, so we went to the nearby Shantou Museum. There are several exhibition halls in the museum that are quite good. The one that impressed me more is the exhibition hall of the Nan'ao Shipwreck No. 1, which contains video materials from the time and many salvaged cultural relics.

When I came out of the museum, the wind began to rise, and in a short while, it began to rain. Although the rain was not heavy, we decided to return to our accommodation first. The place to stay was a youth hostel on the roof of a business building. It was a small three-story duplex apartment that was quite unique.

In fact, when we go to Shantou, we should go for a beef hot pot meal, but some of our friends don't eat beef, so we can only give up regrettably. We had snacks for dinner. Rice rolls were similar to what we usually eat. Bean pudding with brown sugar was similar to what we eat in Sichuan. I couldn't tell the difference between rice cake juice and dried kway teow. One with a lot of preserved vegetables on the surface was very delicious, and the other with a lot of ingredients, but it wasn't delicious.

Originally, the young lady from the Youth Hostel recommended us to have barbecue, but because the rain was too heavy at night and we were not hungry, we didn't order it.

Day 4: Xiamen-Xiamen Botanical Garden-Railway Cultural Park

Although there was heavy rain in Shantou the night before, the weather was fine the next day and cloudy. Because there are no breakfast shops near the Youth Hostel, breakfast is ordered takeout, soy milk fried dough sticks + Chaoshan old vegetable preserved porridge. The fried dough sticks are very delicious, but this porridge bar is really not used to it. It is neither salty nor sweet, and there is still a lot of pork minced on the surface.

After breakfast, take a taxi to Shantou Railway Station and head for Xiamen. It is not far from Shantou to Xiamen, about two and a half hours. Arrived in Xiamen after 2 p.m., and after checking in at the hotel, I wanted to find food on Zhongshan Road. Because we read the reviews that the hotel is very close to Zhongshan Road, we used the navigation system to leave, but we never found it. In the end, we randomly found a meal from our family on the roadside and ate Shacha noodles.

After eating Shacha noodles, we will set off the first attraction on our trip to Xiamen-the Botanical Garden.

The Botanical Garden is very big. The two more famous attractions are Rainforest World and Psammophyte Area. The park is relatively large and are all winding mountains. The roads are steep and difficult to walk. It is recommended to take a sightseeing bus in the scenic area (the sightseeing bus is 5 yuan one way, and the round-trip is 10 yuan, which is still very cost-effective). Because we arrived at the Botanical Garden after 4 o'clock, the scenic area only sold one-way sightseeing bus tickets, so we took the bus to the sandy plant area and then walked back to the rainforest world.

The sandy plant area is filled with various cactus, and the Rainforest World has two periods of spraying every day, until 5 o'clock in the afternoon. We wanted to try to see the spray, so we just walked around the sandy flora area and followed the road down the mountain to the rainforest world. The Rainforest World spray is not as beautiful as expected. It is probably because of the cloudy days, so it is all gray. After visiting the two parks around 6 o'clock, we went directly down the mountain. Although it was going down the mountain, the road was not easy to walk at all. It was too steep and my feet hurt when walking.

Coming out from the West Gate of the Botanical Garden is next to the entrance of the Railway Park. I heard from the staff that the railway at the entrance next to the Botanical Garden is just a railway, and the entrance on the other side has a locomotive and tunnel, which is quite special. The section we walked was relatively ordinary, just the rails and nothing else. I didn't want to go too far, so I came out directly if there was an exit. Then I took a taxi back to Zhongshan Road for dinner.

There are many snack bars on Zhongshan Road, with countless varieties. We chose the ones with more family members and ate meat dumplings, oyster cakes and fish ball soup. After dinner, I walked back to the hotel.

Day 5: Yunshuiyao Ancient Town + Yongding Tulou King

Yunshuiyao Ancient Town and Tulou King are still a little far away from Xiamen. Considering the convenience, they signed up for a one-day tour.

Depart from 7:30 a.m., arrive near the scenic spot for lunch, and start visiting the scenic spots around 12 o'clock. There are also relatively famous tulou in the Yunshuiyao Scenic Area, which is visited by many people. From the tulou, you can reach the movie shooting place along the river. It feels quite useless. If it is an ancient town, there is basically nothing except big banyan trees and flowing water in a small river. Perhaps it was because it rained heavily the day before, and the river was yellow and turbid. If the river were clear, it would be much more beautiful.

After leaving Yunshuiyao, I took the bus and continued to visit Tulou King.

Yunshuiyao's tour guide has been drinking at us all the time, so he even has a bad impression of Yunshuiyao. On the contrary, Tulou King's explanation was particularly good. She explained very thoroughly and was particularly patient. Tulou King is really spectacular and worth a visit.

The one-day group also presented a night tour of the Lujiang River. Although it took a long time, it was okay.

Day 6: Gulangyu

As Xiamen's most popular attraction, I believe everyone knows it without saying much. This is the second time I have visited Gulangyu. The first time was a few years ago. On a business trip, I took a time lag and went shopping for two hours. This time, I bought a set ticket and visited most of Gulangyu, plus Riguangyan, Shuzhuang Garden and Organ Museum.

You can overlook the entire Gulangyu Island from Riguangyan, but the platform area is relatively small, so safety should be paid attention to.

Snacks and lunch on Gulangyu Island.

Because I was afraid of being too hot, I booked a ticket to the island at 8:30 in the morning. It was around 3 o'clock after visiting Gulangyu. Because I didn't choose a suitable hotel, I didn't stay on the island for one night and went straight back to Xiamen. I took a taxi back to the hotel. It was not yet 4 o'clock. I rested until 6 o'clock before going to Zhongshan Road for snacks.

Day 7: Nanputuo Temple + Maojie + Hulishan Fort + Seaside Trail + Zengcuo 'an

Because the original plan was to stay on Gulangyu for one night and then stay in Zengcuo 'an for one night, but later the plan was changed, and it was to stay in a hotel for the first three nights and stay in Zengcuo' an for the last day. The last day of my trip was all small attractions, so I took a taxi to Zengcuo 'an in the morning to drop my luggage, and then went to Putuo Temple

Due to traffic jams on the way to Putuo Temple, it was already past 12 o'clock when we arrived near Xiamen University, so we had lunch nearby before going to Putuo Temple.

Putuo Temple, Cat Street and Putuo Temple are close to each other. They are on the same line. You can always go along. Because Xiamen University couldn't make an appointment, I went to Putuo Temple first and then to Cat Street.

Cat Street is the one that surprises me the most. I always feel that Zeng Cuo 'an and Gulangyu are a bit commercialized in the past. They don't have the feeling when I first visited them. On the contrary, Cat Street is very similar to the Xiamen I remember.

After coming out of Maojie, I took a taxi to Huli Mountain Fort, visited the Fort, watched a historical movie, and also walked around the coastal trail outside the Fort before taking a taxi back to Zengcuo 'an.

Zeng Cuo 'an is now a food street. When I went there before, it was still very petty. There were all kinds of shops, especially with special decorations, but now it is just a place to eat. I am a little disappointed. And there are really too many people. Even at 10 o'clock in the morning, buses are parked outside.

However, the food in Zengcuo 'an is still okay. I recommend ginger duck, raw oysters and thick toast, but do whatever else you want.

Day 8: Return journey

The second trip in 2019 is a successful conclusion, and it can be regarded as some regrets left behind in Xiamen before.