A 1.5-Day (2 Night) Itinerary at the Fujian Tulou (福建土楼)

Oct 4

Oct 4 A 1.5-Day (2 Night) Itinerary at the Fujian Tulou (福建土楼)

Before coming to the Fujian tulou, I really had no concept of time, distance, how long to spend overall, or how long to spend at each site. Should I stay 1 night? 2 nights?

Day 1: Getting to the tulou + Hongkeng tulou cluster

6:52am: I took the G1651 high speed train departing Shanghai Hongqiao station

12:30pm: Arrive in Longyan station. Do PCR testing in the station. Drive to Changdi Inn in Hongkeng tulou cluster.

3:00pm: Arrive at Changdi Inn. Check in, wash up. Have Stephen give the lay of the land.

4:00pm: Explore Hongkeng tulou cluster.

6:30pm: Dinner

7:30pm: Look at the light show in the village.

Day 2: Full day of tulou exploration, in both Nanjing and Yongding areas

8:00am: breakfast

9:00am: departure (if I did this day again, I would push to leave earlier, to leave the rest of the day a bit more relaxed)

9:40am: arrive at Tianluokeng tulou (田螺坑土楼) (50 minute visit)

10:40am: arrive at Yuchang building (裕昌楼) (15 minute visit)

11:00am: arrive at Taxia village (塔下村) (30 minute visit)

11:45am: arrive at Hekeng tulou cluster (河坑土楼) (1 hr visit)

1:00pm: arrive at Gaobei tulou cluster (高北土楼) for lunch (30 min)

1:45pm: visit Gaobei tulou (高北土楼) (1 hr visit)

3:30pm: arrive at Chuxi tulou cluster (初溪土楼) (2 hr 15 min visit - there’s a whole walk from the ticket center to the actual tulou)

6:20pm: arrive back at Changdi Inn (40 minute drive), in time for the cooking class, followed by dinner.

Day 3: departure

9:30am: leave Changdi Inn, stop to get PCR test

11:20am: arrive in Meizhou (梅州) (1.5 hr drive)

I thought taking the early morning train from Shanghai, arriving around noon at Longyan station (龙岩站) was great. Not only is Longyan station closer to the Yongding tulou than Xiamen station, it is also faster to get to from Shanghai, with the train taking 5.5 hrs rather than 6.5 hrs from Xiamen. The M2Adventure people took a later train from Shanghai to Xiamen, and their own van from Xiamen to Yongding tulou. Basically they spent the whole day on the road, arriving at Changdi Inn in time only for a late dinner.

On Day 2, I would have left a little earlier, to feel just a bit more at ease. Still, I had time to sit for a jelly (liangfen凉粉) break at my last stop, and overall I didn’t feel too rushed. That would be the one change I would make. Plus, if I weren’t trying to get back in time to join the cooking class, I could have lingered even longer.

This itinerary is just a recording of how much time I spent at each site, and how long it took to get places. Everyone’s interested in different things, so your mileage may vary!