Xiamen's Hidden Gems for Family Travel—Gulangyu Island Edition

Gulangyu Island is definitely a place worth staying for two days, allowing you to stroll and explore at a leisurely pace. The blue-green sea complements the classical Western architecture perfectly, along with the stories and people behind them. During holidays, the streets near the ferry terminal are crowded with tourists, but if you walk a bit further inland, it becomes very peaceful, with several less crowded yet interesting places to visit. 📍Pipe Organ Art Center The Pipe Organ Art Center is located near the Sanqiutian Ferry Terminal. Inside is an enormous pipe organ that makes you feel like you're standing in a Western cathedral. There are four performances daily, which are truly spectacular. Visits require booking tickets online at midnight one day in advance, with 100 tickets released online daily. On-site reservations are also possible, but overall visitor numbers are controlled, making for a pleasant visiting experience. 📍Puppet Shows and Nanyin Performances at Haitian Tangkou As one of Gulangyu's top ten architectural sites, its most distinctive feature is the blend of Chinese and Western architectural styles. However, we were more interested in the puppet shows and Nanyin music performances inside. The puppet show lasts about 20 minutes, after which staff members come to the front of the stage to demonstrate how to control the puppets. You can also purchase a puppet as a souvenir. Since it's a tourist attraction, it's not exactly quiet. We skipped the main building tour and arrived 20 minutes early to secure seats for the puppet show. The second floor above the puppet theater also hosts Nanyin music performances. 📍Palace Museum Gulangyu Foreign Cultural Relics Exhibition This exhibition displays Western and Japanese artifacts from the Palace Museum collection. Though not far from the ferry terminal, it's on the opposite side, making it much less crowded and providing an excellent viewing experience. So if you can't visit Quanzhou, come to Gulangyu to see puppet shows; if you can't visit Beijing, come to Gulangyu to see Palace Museum exhibits. We walked all the way from Sunlight Rock to Bijia Mountain's Moonlight Rock, then to the former HSBC Bank site, and finally to the Foreign Cultural Exhibition. Even during the National Day holiday, the entire route was peaceful, especially the latter half. 📍Sunlight Rock As the highest point on the island, Sunlight Rock offers a panoramic view of the entire island and is certainly crowded. I recommend staying at the Linghai Old Villa Hotel at the foot of Sunlight Rock—the rock is just around the corner from the hotel. If you enter half an hour before closing time in the afternoon, there will be far fewer people. Overlooking the island and sea during sunset is particularly beautiful. 📍Organ Museum The Organ Museum and the Pipe Organ Art Center are in different locations. When we visited, the Bagua Building was under renovation. I've heard that the Organ Museum has now moved back to the renovated Bagua Building, which is the iconic red circular building near the ferry terminal. The museum displays various types of organs that you can examine one by one at your leisure. 📍Piano Museum The Piano Museum is located inside Shuzhuang Garden, right next to the Gangzaihou Beach. The sand there appears quite fine from a distance. I didn't have much of an impression of Shuzhuang Garden on my first visit, but this time I discovered many photogenic spots. The Piano Museum exhibits numerous pianos. Being inside a popular tourist attraction, it gets quite crowded. Staff members also perform "Waves of Gulangyu" on schedule.