anyone been to xiamen? is it a good time? any decent beaches? what do you guys recommend doing?

The beaches are nice enough but not really worth the trip (try Hainan for that). However, it is a nice little city and you can easily fill a few days having a relaxed poke around Gulangyu (island with no cars and covered in old buildings), the old fort, temples, old town with an excellent Minnan style wet market, boat trip to look at the Taiwan controlled islands off the coast, etc. The people are great (just watch for the taxi drivers trying to ferry you to and from the airport via the long coastal road which can easily double the journey distance depending on which part of town you are headed to).

Try and get to Huoshaoyu (a little island under the Haicang Bridge) if possible and eat at the restaurant there (owned by the aunt of Apple - see below). I haven't been because Apple's aunt runs two restaurants and she only open the island one when the weather is good or during tourist season. However, I ate at her other restaurant in the downtown area and the food was good quality and very reasonably priced (she even gave us some free dishes). The same food plus an interesting little islet to relax on would make for a good evening I think.

With more time you could consider seeing the Hakka roundhouses around Nanjing (not the big city of that name) and Yongding. You can arrange tours for the roundhouses through Apple Foreign Connections 0592 5053122. I think you can do a one day tour and see Nanjing, or stay overnight (out at Yongding) and see both. I did the roundhouses as part of a trip from Xiamen to Meizhou so didn't use Apple's tours. The tour would be expensive if going alone, but if you contact her ahead she may be able to fit you in with another tour party (should be plenty organized during the May holiday).

You could also consider heading up to Quanzhou to check out the mosque and temples there. I haven't been but it is only a couple of hours up the road.

There was a thread on this roughly a year back which might give some more details.

Oh, and you can also check out the site 'What's on Xiamen' (google it) for some restaurant and nightlife recommendations.

If you like sea fishing or just sightseeing on the water, rent a fishing boat at No. 1 Wharf. It will cost you about 400 RMB for the day, including the skipper.

I went to Xiamen for May holiday last year, and as a location not too far away for three days it was good. I have been intending to go back ever since. I thought Gulang Yu was average, although I did have high expectations beforehand. Nanputuo temple is good, make sure you wander up the hillside behind the actual temple.

Apart from that I just hang out in the cafes. Walking around some quieter parts of the city reminded me of Singapore and Malaysia - and not many people about compared to Shanghai.

SC3 wrote:I thought Gulang Yu was average, although I did have high expectations beforehand.

Agree. . . They sell it as European colonial architecture but it isn't really, more like Chinese merchants' mansions in a mixed style. So it wasn't what I expected, but I did manage to get interested in it. Perhaps less impressive than I expected, but quite unique.

I found a lack of good food on Gulangyu though which was a real shame. A perfect spot for a nice cafe or restaurant but there wasn't much to choose from.