Foreign bookstore (Wai Tu Shu Dian 外图书店）
The best resource for English-language books on Kulangsu is this lovely, centrally located bookstore, where you can find a surprisingly diverse selection of Western reading material in English, as well as a vast array of beautifully designed Chinese-language printed matter. But the highlight of the store is the space itself: a spectacularly restored early-20th-century mansion […]
Gang Zai Hou Beach (Gang Zai Hou Sha Tan 港仔后沙滩)
This is the biggest and most popular beach on Kulangsu. It was once a popular spot for outdoor concerts. Stand in the middle of Gang Zai Hou’s golden sands, and you’ll be surrounded on all sides by wonders. To your left, lies a thicket of bearded coconut palms, the graceful green-roofed pagodas of the Shu […]
Wedding beach (Guan Hai Yuan Hai Tan 观海园海滩）
When you’re on the most romantic island in China, some spots can be overwhelmed with romance. This small, pretty beach at the end of Tianwei Road is a classic perch on the Kulangsu coast, in part because of the incredible number of couples posing for wedding pictures on the beach every day. On an average […]
Kulangsu Organ Museum (Eight Diagrams Mansion / Bagua Mansion) (Ba Gua Lou 八卦楼)
The Kulangsu organ museum’s beautiful red dome is visible from across the bay in Xiamen. The museum, housed in the old Bagua Mansion, is one of Kulangsu’s most important tourist attractions–both for its impressive collection of organs and for its stately and imposing architectural style. The Bagua Mansion, also known as Eight Diagrams Mansion, is […]
Gallery Inn, Shi Wai Tao Yuan (Hua Lang Lü Guan 画廊旅馆,内厝澳)
Halfway up a hill in Nei Cuo Ao, this secluded fairytale bed-and-breakfast in an old stone house is one of the hidden gems of Kulangsu and, for that matter, of anywhere at all. You might expect to see nymphs and satyrs runinng along the pathways up a forested hill in the magical backyard garden, where […]