Xiamen is the most immediately appealing city in Fujian — a compact island city with a subtropical climate, clean streets, and a genuine beachside personality that sets it apart from most of industrial coastal China. It was one of China's first Special Economic Zones, which brought prosperity and a cosmopolitan air, and its overseas Chinese connections have given it a more outward-looking character than many cities of similar size.
The undisputed highlight is Gulangyu, a small island a ten-minute ferry ride from the waterfront. Cars and motorcycles are banned entirely, which makes it feel like nowhere else in China: quiet residential lanes, elaborate colonial mansions built by foreign merchants and returned overseas Chinese, bougainvillea spilling over stone walls. The island became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2017. It's busy with tourists, but wander away from the main souvenir drag and the residential backstreets are genuinely lovely. The Piano Museum and Organ Museum reflect the island's unlikely reputation as a centre of classical music — brought here in the 19th century by missionaries.
Back on Xiamen Island, Xiamen University is one of the most beautiful campuses in China, its traditional rooflines blending with subtropical gardens along the waterfront. The Nanputuo Temple next door is a working Buddhist monastery backed against Wulao Mountain, and you can hike up the hill behind it for good views over the city. The Huandao Lu coastal road makes for an excellent cycling route around the island's southern and eastern shores.
Xiamen's food culture is notable. Shacha noodles — a peanutty satay broth with oysters or pork — are the city's signature dish, with a flavour that traces its origins to Southeast Asia via the emigrant diaspora. The oyster omelette (fried with sweet potato starch) is another local specialty worth tracking down in the night markets around Zhongshan Road.
Getting here is easy: Xiamen Gaoqi International Airport has direct connections to major Asian cities and some European routes. High-speed trains link Xiamen to Fuzhou in about an hour and to Shanghai in eight.