18d $6,360 China, End to End 
5d $1,430 Above the Pillars, Then Below 
3d $840 After the Last Booth 
13d $3,500 All the Way West 
12d $4,060 Axis to Kitchen Table 
How Should Taiwan Travellers Do Xiamen? A 3-Day Itinerary, Free Admission and the Mini Three Links
Xiamen is the easiest mainland city for Taiwanese travellers to reach — roughly 90 minutes by direct flight, or 3 to 4 hours end-to-end via the Kinmen–Xiamen Mini Three Links. And if this is your first trip to the mainland, Xiamen carries two benefits that stack: the nationwide first-timer admission waiver, and a Xiamen-only "First-Visit Xiamen Service Pack".
One trade-off has to come first, though: getting a landing permit at Wutong Wharf is convenient, but it forfeits your nationwide year of free admission. At LyrikTrip we plan mainland itineraries year-round, and this kind of question — where one paperwork decision shapes a whole year of travel — is what we handle daily.
Key takeaways
- Two benefits, different rules, and they stack. The national waiver depends on your permit showing issue count "01" and lasts a year; the Xiamen pack depends on entering the mainland for the first time through a Xiamen port and lasts seven days. - The Xiamen pack covers 15 attractions and activities, free Xiamen–Gulangyu ferries, and seven days of unlimited free bus, metro and BRT travel, plus rates at 26 hotels. Per People's Daily Overseas Edition in May 2026, it runs until 31 December 2027. - ⚠️ A landing permit uses up your first-timer status. The single-entry permit counts as a permit record: you gain seven days in Xiamen and lose a year across 1,281 attractions nationwide. - Gulangyu island itself is free to enter — the money goes on the ferry (about CNY 35 return) and individual sites on the island (CNY 100 combination ticket). The Xiamen pack waives both. - Several "free" attractions were already free to everyone (Jimei Aoyuan, the Garden Expo, Tianzhu Mountain), so the benefit adds nothing there.
What documents do Taiwan travellers need for Xiamen?
Just the Taiwan Compatriot Permit — no separate visa. But which type you get, and where you get it, directly determines which benefits you can claim, which the next section works through.
There are two types: the five-year card permit, applied for through an authorised agency in Taiwan, and the single-entry permit (commonly called a landing permit), which Mini Three Links travellers can obtain at Fujian ports. The first is valid five years with multiple entries; the second is valid three months, single entry only.
Full application requirements, documents and fees are in our Taiwan Compatriot Permit guide. This page covers only what is specific to Xiamen.
Direct flight or Mini Three Links? Comparing the routes
Flying is fastest; the Mini Three Links is cheapest. Xiamen is the mainland city Taiwanese travellers can most easily reach directly, with departures from Taoyuan, Songshan and Kaohsiung.
| Route | Time | Cost | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Direct flight Taoyuan / Songshan / Kaohsiung → Gaoqi Airport (XMN) | About 90 minutes to 1 hour 40 | Roughly NT$6,000–11,000 one way | Operated jointly by Mandarin, UNI Air, China Airlines and Xiamen Air; frequent departures |
| Kinmen–Xiamen Mini Three Links Taiwan → Kinmen → Shuitou Wharf → Wutong Wharf | About 3–4 hours in total | Clearly cheaper than flying | One of the cheapest cross-strait routes |
The Mini Three Links, step by step
``` Taiwan → (flight, about 1 hour) → Kinmen Shangyi Airport → (road, 15–20 minutes) → Kinmen Shuitou Wharf → (ferry, about 30 minutes) → Xiamen Wutong Wharf → (immigration, about 1 hour) → the city ```
Sailings from Kinmen to Xiamen run frequently between 08:30 and 17:30. In peak season, book online — walking up risks a long wait.
🔴 You need four things: your national ID card, your passport, your Taiwan Compatriot Permit and your ferry ticket. Most guides omit the passport, but Kinmen to Xiamen is treated as an international route — without it you will not board.
How much do first-timers save in Xiamen? Two benefits explained
The two benefits have different eligibility rules and different validity periods, and you can hold both. This is what makes Xiamen unusual among mainland cities, and it is the part almost every guide misses.
| National first-timer waiver | First-Visit Xiamen Service Pack | |
|---|---|---|
| Eligibility | Permit issue count of "01" | First entry to the mainland through a Xiamen port (Mini Three Links or direct flight) |
| Validity | One year from the permit's issue date | Seven days from first entry |
| Covers | First-gate tickets at 1,281 attractions nationwide | 15 attractions and activities, free Xiamen–Gulangyu ferries, seven days of free bus, metro and BRT |
| Basis | Taiwan Affairs Office catalogues, September and October 2024 | Xiamen Culture and Tourism Bureau with the exit-entry administration, from 13 April 2026 |
The Xiamen pack: what it covers and where to collect it
According to People's Daily Overseas Edition on 7 May 2026, the pack is issued by the Xiamen Culture and Tourism Bureau together with the exit-entry administration and runs until 31 December 2027. It has three parts.
One — seven days of free travel. The pack contains an e-Tong card giving unlimited free bus, metro and BRT travel for seven days from arrival. After the free period the card can still be topped up, and works for public transport in more than 300 mainland cities as well as Hong Kong and Macau — don't throw it away.
Two — 15 attractions and activities free. These include Haoyue Garden, Sunlight Rock and Shuzhuang Garden on Gulangyu; the Xiamen Botanical Garden, Garden Expo Park, Tianzhu Mountain Forest Park, Beichen Mountain, Hulishan Fortress and Jimei Aoyuan; Tong'an Film City, the Xiamen Science and Technology Museum, the Chengyi Science Exploration Centre and the Gulong Sauce Culture Park; plus sea activities including Kinmen viewing cruises and Lujiang night cruises. The pack also provides free Xiamen–Gulangyu ferry travel, unlimited and on any vessel type, within those seven days.
Three — hotels and cruises. Twenty-six hotels run by the Jianfa, Xiangye and Xiashang groups offer dedicated rates, and cruise itineraries departing Xiamen carry a CNY 300 per-person discount.
Where to collect it: there are four issuing points at the ports. Travellers obtaining a permit on arrival at Wutong Wharf or Gaoqi Airport receive the pack at the same time; those entering on a five-year permit can collect it at the Taiwan compatriot service area beside Wutong Wharf, or the one-stop service centre in the Terminal 3 arrivals hall at Gaoqi Airport.
The national waiver: 7 in Xiamen, 64 across Fujian
Xiamen has 7 attractions in the national catalogue, two of them 5A-rated: Gulangyu and the Xiamen Botanical Garden; the other five are the Garden Expo Park, Hulishan Fortress, Beichen Mountain, Tianzhu Mountain Forest Park and Jimei Aoyuan.
Fujian province as a whole has 64, including 11 5A sites: Wuyi Mountain, the Fujian Tulou (Yongding–Nanjing), Three Lanes and Seven Alleys, Meizhou Island, Qingyuan Mountain and Taimu Mountain among them.
⚠️ Before you take a landing permit, do this calculation
Getting a single-entry permit at Wutong Wharf is convenient, but it consumes your one-off "first application" status. Under the exit-entry administration's policy interpretation, first-timer status covers both the five-year and the single-entry permit — take the landing permit and you now have a permit record.
| Landing permit | Five-year permit obtained in Taiwan | |
|---|---|---|
| Preparation | Almost none; sort it at the wharf | About seven working days ahead |
| Cost | About CNY 100 on the spot (two-inch photo and original ID card required) | No mainland government fee for first-timers; agency fee around NT$600 |
| Validity | Three months, single entry | Five years, multiple entries |
| Xiamen pack | Available (issued with the permit) | Available (collect at a service point after entry) |
| National year of free admission | Forfeited | Retained, 1,281 attractions |
| Inter-provincial travel, mobile-payment verification | Awkward | Works nationwide |
How to decide:
- Xiamen only, with no plans to return to the mainland soon → the landing permit is fine; you would not use the national allowance anyway - If Tibet, Shaanxi, Zhejiang or Sichuan might follow → get the five-year permit in Taiwan first - Note carefully: even a transit that never became an entry counts as a record — it is not only about trips you actually took
No agency or travel blog runs this calculation. Agencies sell permits; blogs optimise for getting into Xiamen fastest — but this decision shapes where you can go for the next twelve months.
Gulangyu: ferries, tickets and what is actually free
Entering Gulangyu costs nothing — you pay for the ferry and for individual sites on the island. Many people assume there is a single "Gulangyu ticket". There isn't.
| Item | On-site price (CNY) |
|---|---|
| Island entry | Free |
| Xiamen–Gulangyu return ferry | About 35 |
| Sunlight Rock | 50–60 |
| Shuzhuang Garden (incl. Piano Museum) | 30 |
| Haoyue Garden | 10–15 (free after 18:30) |
| Organ Museum | 15–20 |
| International Carving Art Museum | 5–10 |
| Five-site combination ticket | 100 |
Doing Gulangyu properly costs roughly CNY 135 per person (100 combination ticket plus 35 ferry). The Xiamen pack waives both the ferry and Sunlight Rock, Shuzhuang Garden and Haoyue Garden — the single most useful part of any of these benefits.
One practical note: give Gulangyu a full day. People who squeeze it into half a day tend to miss ferry slots and rush Sunlight Rock in a crowd. Book ferry tickets online in advance.
Prices above were checked in August 2026; each site's posted rates govern.
A three-day Xiamen itinerary, with the benefits marked
One day for the old town, one for Gulangyu, one for the creative quarter and the coast is the most sensible rhythm. The table below adds a column the standard itineraries lack: which benefit, if any, actually applies at each stop.
| Day | Stop | National catalogue | Xiamen pack | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Zhongshan Road pedestrian street | — | — | Free area; most kitchens close around 21:00, so don't leave it to the last day |
| 1 | Nanputuo Temple | — | — | — |
| 1 | Hulishan Fortress | ✅ | ✅ | A stop where you genuinely save |
| 1 | Bashi seafood market | — | — | — |
| 2 | Gulangyu (Sunlight Rock / Shuzhuang / Haoyue) | ✅ 5A | ✅ all three named | Pack adds free ferries; give it a full day |
| 3 | Xiamen Botanical Garden | ✅ 5A | ✅ | A stop where you genuinely save |
| 3 | Shapowei / Zengcuo'an / ring road | — | — | Free areas |
| 3 | Xiamen University | — | — | Free, but book ahead |
An honest note: some "free" attractions were already free
Jimei Aoyuan, the Garden Expo Park, Tianzhu Mountain Forest Park and the Gulong Sauce Culture Park have had long-standing free admission, according to Xinhua reporting. They appear in both the national catalogue and the Xiamen pack, but your actual saving there is zero.
So across a standard three-day itinerary, the stops where the benefits genuinely save you money are the three Gulangyu sites, Hulishan Fortress and the Botanical Garden. Everything else was already free or is an open public area. Knowing that tells you where your limited time is worth spending.
More time after Xiamen? Fujian has 64 more
If you have five days or more, push further out. Fujian has 64 attractions in the national catalogue and 11 5A sites:
- Wuyi Mountain (Nanping) — a dual World Heritage site, worth 2–3 extra days - Fujian Tulou (Yongding–Nanjing) (Longyan / Zhangzhou) — World Cultural Heritage - Three Lanes and Seven Alleys (Fuzhou) - Meizhou Island (Putian) - Qingyuan Mountain (Quanzhou), Taimu Mountain (Ningde), Taining (Sanming)
⚠️ These fall under the national one-year catalogue, not the seven-day Xiamen pack.
What does a Xiamen trip cost?
Roughly NT$18,000–20,000 per person for three days, with flights the largest item. The ranges below were checked in August 2026; your booking will govern.
| Item | Range (NT$) |
|---|---|
| Return flights | About 12,000–22,000 (6,000–11,000 one way) |
| Accommodation (Siming district, double room per night) | About 1,200–2,500 |
| Three days, per person, total | About 18,600 |
The Mini Three Links brings transport costs down further, at the price of about two extra hours. And with the Xiamen pack, city transport and Gulangyu ferries are free for those seven days, so getting around costs close to nothing.
Frequently asked questions
Do Taiwan travellers need a visa for Xiamen? No. Only the Taiwan Compatriot Permit is required, with no separate visa. Fingerprints are collected on arrival, taking three to five minutes. The permit comes in five-year and single-entry versions, and which you choose affects the benefits available.
Does the Xiamen pack cost anything, and how do I get it? It is free. Travellers obtaining a permit on arrival at Wutong Wharf or Gaoqi Airport receive it at the same time; those entering on a five-year permit collect it at the Taiwan compatriot service area beside Wutong Wharf or the one-stop centre in Gaoqi Terminal 3 arrivals.
When do the pack's seven days start? From your first day of entry. The e-Tong card's free travel period and the free Gulangyu ferry period run together. After seven days the card can still be topped up as an ordinary transport card, so keep it.
Can I still get the Xiamen pack if I take a landing permit? Yes. First-time travellers obtaining a permit at the port receive the pack at the same time. But the landing permit forfeits the national one-year admission waiver — the two things are separate and should be weighed separately.
Should I book Gulangyu ferry tickets in advance? Yes, book online. Peak-season sailings fill up, and tickets normally include the return leg on any vessel. Xiamen pack holders travel free and unlimited on the Gulangyu tourist route for seven days.
What else does the Mini Three Links need besides the permit? Your national ID card, passport, Taiwan Compatriot Permit and ferry ticket — all four. Kinmen to Xiamen is treated as an international route, so the passport is mandatory rather than optional; many guides omit this and travellers get turned away.
Conclusion
For a first trip to the mainland, Xiamen has the lowest barrier and the richest benefits: 90 minutes by air, two stackable schemes, and city transport plus Gulangyu ferries covered.
The only decision that really needs thought is whether to take the landing permit at the wharf. It saves you one errand, at the cost of a full year of free admission across 1,281 attractions nationwide. If Xiamen is only your first stop, the answer is clear.
To check whether you qualify as a first-timer and how the year is counted, see our Taiwan Compatriot Permit guide; if more than three months of that year remain, the Tibet travel guide for Taiwan residents is the highest-return trip of the lot.
Free admission is subject to each attraction's on-site policy and booking requirements; some require advance booking with the permit, and some operate time-slot or quota limits. Policies may change, and the issuing authority's announcements govern.
