Nine days along China’s southeastern coast, built around one idea: that Fujian is best understood at the table. Oysters and shacha in Xiamen, oolong at its Anxi origin, a UNESCO City of Gastronomy in Quanzhou, Da Hong Pao on the cliffs of Mount Wuyi — and two nights slept inside a living tulou. Nearly every meal is included, and every one of them is the point.
It opens in Xiamen, the easy-going island city where Fujian sends its people to sea — an island-ring drive into the old town, lunch ordered the Michelin way at the No. 8 seafood market, and the lotus ponds of South Putuo Temple under Wulao Peak. Two nights at the Lohkah, a quiet garden retreat above the water, set the pace for everything that follows.
Inland, the road climbs into Tieguanyin country: Anxi’s tea terraces, where you try your own hand at traditional oolong processing before the museum explains what your hands already learned. Then Quanzhou — in the Song and Yuan centuries the greatest port in the East, and in late 2025 named a UNESCO City of Gastronomy. Mosques and temples stand on the same lane because for six hundred years, that was simply what trade looked like. Your evening here is private: Nanyin music and a puppet show in the workshop of a master artisan, not on a stage.
The last act climbs and then descends. Mount Wuyi for Da Hong Pao at its protected origin — the mother trees, a tea master’s tasting table, a bamboo raft down the Nine Bend Stream, and Zhang Yimou’s light show from a revolving auditorium. Then south into the green hills of Nanjing county, where four round towers and one rectangle have watched the valley from Tianluokeng since the Ming — “four dishes and one soup”, the locals say. You sleep inside them at Tsingpu’s tulou retreat in Taxia, and leave, as the best trips do, slowly.
Quanzhou’s kitchens earned the world’s newest food title in 2025. We eat our way to it: a Black Pearl restaurant led by Chef Yang of “The Divine Dish”, Michelin-inspired seafood, and tastings through Xiamen’s No. 8 market.
Nanyin — the oldest orchestral music in China — and a string-puppet show, hosted in the intimate workshop of a master artisan in Quanzhou. Not a theatre. His front room.
An in-depth rock-oolong session in Wuyishan, at the UNESCO-protected origin of the famous Big Redrobe — from the mother trees in their cliff to the cup in your hand.
Nearly every lunch and dinner, both first-class rail legs, all entrances and all tipping are covered — with a Travel Concierge travelling with the group from the first airport door to the last.
“Come hungry. Leave steeped.”
An island that tastes of the sea
Days 1–2Fujian opens gently: a coastal drive into a walkable old town, a seafood market eaten the Michelin way, and a full day on a car-free UNESCO island of pianos.
Land at XMN, where your guide and driver meet you with the day already shaped. The island ring road traces the east coast into the old town — sea on one side, banyan shade on the other — and lunch is the first lesson in Minnan cooking at the No. 8 seafood market, its stalls and dining rooms recommended in the Michelin guide and chosen with your concierge. The afternoon belongs to South Putuo Temple at the foot of Wulao Peak: incense, lotus ponds, and the quietest views over the university quarter. Dinner is a proper Xiamen table — oysters, shacha broth, the sea in everything.
The short ferry crossing drops you on Gulangyu, the UNESCO-listed island where every lane curves and nothing is allowed to honk. Tea is poured inside a two-hundred-year-old red-brick residence; the coastline unfolds from Sunlight Rock, the island’s granite crown; and the afternoon slows through Shuzhuang Garden onto its bridge that ends in the sea, and the Piano Museum’s collection of antiques — on an island that has produced more concert pianists per street than anywhere in China. Dinner back in the city, with the lights of the harbour for company.
The oolong origin & the emporium of the world
Days 3–4A morning among the tea terraces where Tieguanyin was born, then on to Quanzhou — Song-dynasty superport, museum of world religions, and China’s newest UNESCO City of Gastronomy.
The road inland climbs into Anxi’s tea country, where the mist does most of the farming. At the Yunling plantation in Xiping you try traditional oolong processing with your own hands — withering, rolling, the charcoal finish — before the Tieguanyin museum explains the history your hands just learned. Lunch is a farmhouse table, and then the day turns maritime: Luoyang Bridge, one of China’s four great ancient bridges, held up by raft foundations and piers reinforced with oyster shells — engineering that has held the tide since the Song dynasty, and still does. Evening arrival in Quanzhou.
The UNESCO listing says it plainly: “Emporium of the World in Song–Yuan China”. The old lanes hold a Qingjing Mosque — among China’s oldest — beside the incense clouds of Guandi Temple, because for six centuries Arab merchants and Buddhist monks shared the same streets. You wander the markets and eateries of the old quarter through the day, and the evening is the journey’s quiet masterpiece: a private Nanyin recital and string-puppet show in the workshop of a master artisan, the music the Tang court already knew, played at the distance of a teacup.
Da Hong Pao at its protected origin
Days 5–6A first-class rail ride north into the green gorge country of Wuyishan — mother trees in a cliff, a tea master’s table, a bamboo raft, and a night at the opera that revolves.
The first-class train runs north into the Wuyi range, where the famous Da Hongpao rock tea grows out of stone. A three-kilometre trail walks you past the mother trees standing in their cliff crevice at Nine Dragon Nest, on through the gorge to Water Curtain Cave — the microclimate that makes Wuyi tea what it is, explained by the rock itself. The afternoon is the deep end: an in-depth session with a local tea master, roasting levels and rock veins poured side by side until you can taste the ‘yan yun’ — the cliff rhyme — everyone talks about.
The morning climbs Heavenly Tour Peak — the Bird’s Eye View Pavilion, Flax Brooklet and its ancient trees — for the classic panorama of the river bending below. Then the day’s real throne: ninety minutes by bamboo raft down the clear, cool Nine Bend Stream, dramatic cliffs sliding past on both sides while the boatman steers with a pole and a lifetime of stories. The evening is spectacle: “Impression Da Hong Pao”, the Zhang Yimou–team show staged in China’s first 360° rotating auditorium — the tea story told in light, with the mountains as the backdrop and your seat doing the panning.
Four dishes and one soup — life inside the tulou
Days 7–8A thousand-year-old merchant village on the way south, then two nights slept inside the round earth buildings of Nanjing county — the journey’s most unforgettable address.
Xiamei Ancient Village opens the day: brick, wood and stone buildings a thousand years old, part of the Wuyi World Heritage listing and once the tea-trade town where the road to Russia began. A short walk through its lanes and canal bridges, then the first-class train runs south (about three hours) into Nanjing county’s green valley country. Tonight the address changes shape entirely: a traditional tulou in the exquisite village of Taxia, built in 1426 by the Zhang family — Tsingpu’s retreat fills the round walls with designer rooms, and dinner is Hakka home cooking at its true source.
The day earns its nickname early: from the observation deck above Tianluokeng, four round towers and one rectangular hall sit in the valley exactly like the table it is named for. On through Yuchang Lou — among the oldest tulou, its pillars leaning up to fifteen degrees and holding for seven centuries — and quiet Shiqiao village along the stream. The afternoon is the UNESCO Chuxi cluster, thirty-six buildings from the fourteenth century still lived in, a local family visit with tea you have now followed from three origins, and a walk up through riverside terraced fields as the valley turns gold. Farewell dinner inside the walls.
One last slow morning
Day 9No alarms, no coach at dawn. The morning is Taxia’s: steam off the rice fields, the stream doing its patient work under the little bridges, and a last cup of rock oolong on the tulou courtyard. Then the transfer carries you to the airport for the flight home — luggage heavier with tea, as it should be.
Rail and road times are approximate and re-checked at booking. The order of sights flexes with weather, ferry schedules and closing days; every day is planned for the group and adjusted by your Travel Concierge as the journey runs.
Nine days, four addresses: Xiamen 2 nights → Quanzhou 2 → Mount Wuyi 2 → Taxia 2. Two first-class rail legs and every road transfer handled — the group never touches a timetable.
Both first-class rail legs (Quanzhou–Wuyishan, Wuyishan–Nanjing county) and all road transfers are booked on your behalf, with a private air-conditioned coach throughout and your Travel Concierge travelling with the group every day.
A small-group departure — eight travellers at most, one Travel Concierge throughout, departing 14 October 2026. Nearly all meals, both rail legs and all tipping are part of the price.
Single supplement US$966 per person · deposit US$976 per person, due at sign-up. Registration closes 16 July 2026, or earlier should the departure fill.
The first four bookings on this departure (eight travellers in all) receive a complimentary upgrade to a Distinctive Villa at Haloyon Villa Wuyishan — two nights of extra space and Song-dynasty calm, at no additional cost.
Registration closes 16 July 2026, or earlier when the departure is fully subscribed. Deposits of US$976 per person are due at sign-up, with the balance following our invoice. Cancellation before 16 July 2026: the deposit is forfeited. From 16 July 2026: 100% of the journey price applies. Travel insurance is required and we will guide you through it.
Luxury and tranquility above the water: elegant rooms with wide views, a world-class spa, and dining that spans local Minnan and international menus. Two nights.
Local design and panoramic views in the old port city — rainforest showers, quiet club corners and the staff’s insider tips to the lanes your guide grew up in. Two nights.
110,000 m² of Song-dynasty-inspired calm at the foot of the Wuyishan Scenic Area — 56 courtyard villas facing Chongyang Creek, and the best rock-oolong breakfast in China. Two nights.
A heritage retreat of 27 rooms set among the tulou of Taxia village: designer interiors inside earthen walls, landscaped gardens, a restaurant, bar and pool. Two nights — the journey’s most memorable address.
Eight travellers at most, one departure date, everything arranged: a Travel Concierge travels with the group from the first airport door to the last, a local English-speaking guide leads each city, and the coach, rail tickets, entrances and tipping are all handled before you reach them. You make no decisions and carry no cash for guides or gates — that is the point of the format.
Single travellers are welcome at the supplement; we will match roommates on request where we can.
The departure runs on 14 October 2026 and registration closes 16 July 2026 — the tulou retreat has only 27 rooms and the early-bird villas go with the first four bookings. Shorter notice? Ask anyway: we will confirm availability the same day.
Prefer your own dates and party? Our five days in Fujian runs privately year-round, and the Lingnan & the Min coast journey links these flavours into Guangdong. Ask and we will send the options side by side.
October is Fujian’s golden month: the summer heat has broken, the tea harvest is in, the skies over the coast clear, and the tulou valleys turn gold at the edges. The 14 October departure sits deliberately in this window.
Gentle to moderate: a three-kilometre valley trail, one hill pavilion climb with stair options, a flat bamboo raft, and old-town walking throughout. Nothing is mandatory and the coach is always an option — the concierge adjusts any day to the group’s legs.
Water rides on board, umbrellas too; the tea never stops coming. Tell us about knees, hips and diet in advance — Minnan cooking is generous and every table bends around the answer.
Tulou courtyards, tea-terrace paths and cobbled merchant lanes — broken-in walking shoes carry every day of this journey.
Coast, tea country and mountain gorge sit in the same week — Wuyishan mornings run ten degrees below Xiamen afternoons.
The raft has no shade and the hills make their own mist — a hat and a compact umbrella cover almost every day in October.
Rail tickets and entrances are matched to it by name — carry it, and leave the queueing to the concierge.
The coach carries the rest. Pack for the morning, not for the day — you return to the same address most nights.
You will buy tea — Anxi, Wuyishan, maybe both. Half a suitcase of space is the most honest packing advice on this page.
Alipay or WeChat Pay set up before you land; we send a two-page guide with the booking. Cards work in hotels, cash almost nowhere.
Mornings are the gentler hours — the market, the mother trees and the observation deck are all at their best before the day-trippers arrive.
Tea mountains, tulou villages and a City of Gastronomy — come hungry, leave steeped.
Reserve your place