For Spectacular Sea Views Visit Xiamen’s Huandao Lu

Huandao Lu (环岛路), also referred to as Huandao Sightseeing Road, is one of Xiamen’s most important scenic attractions, offering unparalleled glimpses of Xiamen’s beautiful coastline and sea. Huandao Lu winds along the coast for 31 kilometers and has a width of 44-60 metres. A drive or cycle along the road not only takes you past stunning seaside views, but also past mountains, hanging bridges, and even caves. Different sections of the road offer different eye-catching sceneries, which explains why every year endless streams of tourists flock to this idyllic road.   

Huandao Lu actually offers more than just scenic views. Lots of recreational venues and snack bars with local food and beverages are dotted along different parts of the route. Huandao Lu is also dotted with a series of bronze statues – 99 of them in total – some depicting musicians singing famous songs about Xiamen. This is why the biggest challenge facing tourists is completing the entire 32 kilometer trip in one day, especially since the best way to experience the full splendour of the road is to stop at various sites along the way. For this reason, we suggest first doing the 9km “gold coast line” from Xiamen University to Qianpu, which is a green seaside corridor that combines tourism, sightseeing, leisure and entertainment into one.

There is also an abundance of hotels to choose from along the sightseeing road, with many more hotel construction projects either already underway or in the planning. The best time to do the Huandao sightseeing tour is Spring or Autumn. Xiamen has a subtropical monsoon climate and is therefore influenced by typhoons from July to September. It’s also best to avoid Huandao Lu during national holidays when hundreds of millions of Chinese tend to travel. Hotels near Huandao Lu are known to get booked out during key national holidays like Spring Festival, Labour Day or National Day holidays.

Tips:
Huandao Lu is free of charge and open all day long.

Getting there: All taxi drivers know Huandao Lu but bus no. 17, 29, 47 and 805 do there, as does tour bus B.
 

Related links
A Guide to Xiamen’s Most Bustling Shopping Districts
Xiamen Attractions