Last Updated on 09/11/2026
Certified Guides in Xiamen for Gulangyu, Nanputuo and Fujian Tulou Day Trips
Private walks on Gulangyu Island, temple and campus visits in the city, and full days to the Tulou earth buildings, Quanzhou or Kinmen, with one guide for your group.
Book an independent certified guide in Xiamen and plan the day directly with them: the ferry to Gulangyu, a morning at Nanputuo Temple, or a full day inland to the Fujian Tulou, Quanzhou or Kinmen. Guiding fees are charged per group, not per person, and the fee table shows typical ranges in euros and yuan.
Delphine W.
Message the guide through the chat button to check dates, the route and the final fee before you confirm.
A guided walk on Gulangyu, where the island’s villas and gardens are reached on foot (ai illustrated)
What a Certified Tour Guide in Xiamen Holds
A certified tour guide in China holds the national tour guide certificate (导游证), issued in electronic form by the local tourism authority and carried on the guide’s phone. The certificate follows a national qualification exam. In Xiamen the city’s tourism authority is the Xiamen Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism, and guides listed on OfficialGuides for the city are also registered with a tourism industry organisation.
Many listings for Xiamen describe a “professional English guide service” sold by the hour or as an eight-hour package, priced per person, with overtime added by the hour. Few of them name the certificate behind the guide. On this page the guide’s certificate is the starting point, and the fee is quoted for your whole group.
A certified guide is useful in Xiamen for practical reasons as much as for history. Ferry tickets to Gulangyu are sold in your name against your passport, Nanputuo Temple and Xiamen University admit visitors by advance reservation, and the Tulou buildings are spread over two counties with separate ticket routes. A certified guide who knows these rules plans the day around them, so you do not lose an hour at a ticket counter or a temple gate.
How Booking Works in Xiamen
OfficialGuides is a platform where independent certified guides list their services. You write directly to the guide who will run your day, agree the route and the fee in the chat, and pay the guide on the terms you agree. There is no tour operator between you and the guide, and the guide remains responsible for the service they provide.
English-Speaking Guides and Other Languages
The guides on this page work in English, and each guide’s listing shows any further languages. The everyday languages of Xiamen are Mandarin and the local Minnan (Hokkien) dialect. An English-speaking guide also handles practical steps such as the real-name ferry booking, temple reservations and menus in local restaurants.
Private Tours in Xiamen: Types of Day
Island Walks
Gulangyu on foot: villas, gardens, Sunlight Rock and the music museums. No cars or bicycles run on the island.
Temples and Campus
Nanputuo Temple, the Wulao peaks behind it and the Xiamen University campus next door, all by reservation.
Tulou Day Trips
Full days to the round earth buildings of Nanjing or Yongding counties with a private car and driver.
Quanzhou and Kinmen
The maritime heritage sites of Quanzhou, or a ferry crossing to Kinmen for its villages and Cold War tunnels.
Sample Routes with a Private Guide
These routes are starting points. Your guide adjusts the order to ferry slots, temple reservation times and the pace of your group.
Gulangyu Island (Kulangsu)
Gulangyu is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, listed as “Kulangsu, a Historic International Settlement”. Xiamen opened as a trading port in 1843, and from 1903 the island was an international settlement run by a municipal council; the British played the leading role in its administration, and the settlement had its own municipal police. UNESCO counts 931 historic buildings in the inscribed area. A half day covers the lanes of villas, the climb to Sunlight Rock (日光岩), the island’s highest point with remains linked to Zheng Chenggong (Koxinga), and Shuzhuang Garden, laid out in 1913 by the merchant Lin Erjia, with the Piano Museum inside. The domed Bagua Lou houses the Organ Museum. Daytime tourist ferries leave from the Xiamen International Cruise Center and land at Sanqiutian or Neicuo’ao after about 20 minutes.
Nanputuo Temple and Xiamen University
Nanputuo Temple dates back to the Tang dynasty and was rebuilt in 1684, when it took its present name; it is dedicated to Guanyin and stands at the foot of the Wulao peaks. Entry is free with an advance reservation, and visitors go in through the east gate and leave by the west gate. Paths behind the halls climb towards the Wulao peaks, and the temple has hosted the Minnan Buddhist Academy since 1925. Next door, Xiamen University was founded in 1921 by Tan Kah Kee (陈嘉庚); its campus is visited through the university’s official reservation system, booked one to three days ahead.
Nanputuo Temple, entered by free advance reservation
Full Day in Xiamen: Gulangyu, Nanputuo and the University
The morning ferry to Gulangyu, lunch on the island, and an afternoon at Nanputuo Temple and the university campus. This is the usual plan for cruise passengers and travellers on a short stop, because the guide books the ferry slot and the temple entry around your arrival time.
Day Trips from Xiamen: Fujian Tulou, Quanzhou and Kinmen
For day trips the guide charges the full-day guiding fee only; the car, driver, ferry and entrance tickets are paid separately. Your guide can arrange the vehicle and tickets, and you agree these costs in the chat before the day.
Fujian Tulou: Tianluokeng or Yongding
The Fujian Tulou are a UNESCO World Heritage Site of 46 earth buildings built between the 15th and 20th centuries in Yongding, Nanjing and Hua’an counties. In Nanjing county the Tianluokeng cluster groups five buildings, known locally as “four dishes and a soup”, and a day there can add Yuchang Lou, Taxia village, Hegui Lou, built on marshy ground, and the double-ringed Huaiyuan Lou near Yunshuiyao. In Yongding county the route covers Chengqi Lou of 1709, called the King of Tulou, and Zhencheng Lou, called the Prince. A day covers one of the two counties; tickets are sold by scenic-area route and vary between routes.
Tianluokeng, the “four dishes and a soup” cluster of Fujian Tulou
Quanzhou: Emporium of the World
Quanzhou was one of the busiest seaports of the Song and Yuan dynasties, known abroad as Zayton, and 22 of its monuments are inscribed together by UNESCO as “Quanzhou: Emporium of the World in Song-Yuan China”. A day with a guide usually covers Kaiyuan Temple and its twin stone pagodas, the Qingjing Mosque, one of the oldest mosques in China, the stone Luoyang Bridge and the large Laozi statue on Qingyuan Mountain. Other inscribed sites include the Manichaean statue at Cao’an Temple, the remains of Deji Gate and the Maritime Trade Office, and the Dehua porcelain kilns. Around the Mid-Autumn Festival the heritage sites are also used for moon viewing.
Kaiyuan Temple in Quanzhou, one of the 22 inscribed monuments
Kinmen Island
Ferries cross from Xiamen’s Wutong Passenger Terminal to Shuitou Pier on Kinmen, 9.7 nautical miles away, in about 30 minutes. Kinmen is administered from Taiwan and uses the New Taiwan dollar, and passports are checked on both sides of the crossing. A day on the island usually includes Juguang Tower, a three-storey memorial to soldiers, the Zhaishan Tunnel, a sea tunnel cut into granite and opened in 1966, the arcaded red-brick Mofan Street from the 1920s, and the Shuitou settlement with Deyue Tower of 1931, once its tallest building. Much of the island lies within Kinmen National Park, which protects battlefield relics, traditional Minnan villages and the wetlands used by migratory birds. Check Kinmen’s entry rules and your re-entry to mainland China on official government sources before you book, and plan the crossing with your guide.
OfficialGuides also lists certified guides in Henan: see private tours in Luoyang.
Guide with a Private Car and Driver
For the Tulou, Quanzhou and cruise port days, the guide can be booked together with a private car and driver. The guide accompanies you and the driver handles the road, so the guide’s attention stays on the sites. The vehicle is priced separately from the guiding fee and depends on the group size and the distance. On Gulangyu no vehicle is used: the island is visited on foot from the ferry pier.
When to Visit and How to Avoid Crowds
The busiest days for Gulangyu are weekends and Chinese public holidays, including the October Golden Week and the Spring Festival. The island has a daily visitor quota and ferry tickets for popular departures sell out, so book the ferry as soon as your dates are fixed. Nanputuo Temple and Xiamen University also work with daily reservation slots, so the guide books them as soon as the ferry time is known.
Getting Around: Ferries, Reservations and Transfers
Daytime tourist ferries to Gulangyu leave from the Xiamen International Cruise Center (Dongdu) and land at Sanqiutian, near the main lanes, or Neicuo’ao, on the quieter west side. In the evening tourists use Hall 2 of the Xiamen Ferry Terminal, a short crossing to Sanqiutian. Tickets are round trip and issued in the passenger’s name, foreign visitors show their passport, and the return can be taken from either island pier. Children under 1.2 m travel free and children between 1.2 and 1.5 m pay half.
Nanputuo Temple and Xiamen University both work by advance reservation, and the Kinmen ferry leaves from a different pier, the Wutong Passenger Terminal on the northeast side of Xiamen Island. Your guide sets the order of the day around these three booking systems.
Visa and Entry
Xiamen Gaoqi International Airport and the Xiamen sea passenger port are both entry points for China’s 240-hour visa-free transit scheme. Eligibility, the permitted stay and the documents required are set by China’s National Immigration Administration; check the conditions for your passport on official sources, such as the Xiamen Municipal Government’s notice on transit visa-free entry, before you travel.
Cruise Passengers and Premium Days
Cruise ships berth at the Xiamen International Cruise Center, the same terminal that runs the daytime ferries to Gulangyu. A guide meeting you at the ship can take the island ferry from the same building and fit Gulangyu and Nanputuo into one port day. For a more comfortable day, add a private car with a driver for the temple and university, and a guide-booked lunch on the island. For families with older relatives, the guide can plan shorter walking stretches on Gulangyu and leave out the climb to Sunlight Rock.
Prices: Guiding Fees and Tickets in Xiamen
Guiding fees in Xiamen vary from guide to guide; the figures below are typical ranges, and each guide confirms the exact fee in the chat. Fees are per group, not per person, and cover guiding only. Yuan amounts are approximate, converted at the European Central Bank rate of 7.4590 CNY per euro.
| Service | Typical guiding fee (per group) | About, in yuan |
| Per hour | 20–30 € | 150–220 ¥ |
| Half day (Gulangyu, or Nanputuo and the university) | 80–120 € | 600–900 ¥ |
| Full day in Xiamen | 160–200 € | 1,190–1,490 ¥ |
| Day trip: Tulou, Quanzhou or Kinmen (guiding only) | 160–200 € | 1,190–1,490 ¥ |
Tickets, ferries and vehicles are not included in the guiding fee. Published fares for the main city sights:
| Ticket | Price |
| Gulangyu tourist ferry, round trip, standard (passport required) | 35 ¥ |
| Gulangyu ferry, deluxe service to Neicuo’ao, round trip | 50 ¥ |
| Shuzhuang Garden with the Piano Museum | 30 ¥ |
| Nanputuo Temple | Free, advance reservation |
| Xiamen University campus | Free, advance reservation |
Sunlight Rock, the Tulou scenic areas, the Quanzhou sites and the Kinmen ferry have their own tickets, and your guide gives the current prices when you plan the day.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does a private tour guide in Xiamen cost?
A certified guide in Xiamen typically charges about 80–120 € for a half day and 160–200 € for a full day, per group. The hourly rate is around 20–30 €. Each guide sets their own fee, and tickets, ferries and vehicles are extra.
Do I need a guide for Gulangyu Island?
You can visit Gulangyu on your own, but the ferry ticket is issued in your name and popular departures sell out. A guide books the ferry, chooses the landing pier and leads you through the lanes, villas and gardens without backtracking.
Can I visit the Fujian Tulou as a day trip from Xiamen?
Yes, with a private car and driver most groups visit one county in a day: Tianluokeng and nearby buildings in Nanjing, or Chengqi Lou and Zhencheng Lou in Yongding. The guide charges the full-day guiding fee; the vehicle and scenic-area tickets are paid separately.
Is an English-speaking guide easy to find in Xiamen?
Yes, the guides on this page work in English, and each listing shows any further languages. Write to a certified guide as soon as your dates are fixed, especially for weekends and Chinese public holidays, when the Gulangyu ferry sells out first.
What is the difference between a certified guide and an official or licensed guide in China?
In China all three terms refer to the same thing: a guide who holds the national tour guide certificate. Listings for Xiamen that say official or licensed mean the holder of this certificate, issued electronically by the tourism authority after the national exam.
Can we do Gulangyu and Nanputuo on a cruise port day?
Yes, the cruise ships and the Gulangyu ferries use the same terminal, the Xiamen International Cruise Center. A full day with a guide covers the island in the morning and Nanputuo Temple in the afternoon, timed to your all-aboard hour.
Plan Your Day with a Certified Guide in Xiamen
Message a guide with your dates and group size to plan Gulangyu, the city or a day trip.
Contact Us About Your Xiamen Trip
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Guiding fees and ticket prices on this page are indicative and may change; guides set and confirm their own fees. Read our terms of service and privacy policy.
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