A Guide to Kinmen, Republic of China Part 2: A 3-5 Day Itinerary
Hello everyone! This is a continuation of my Kinmen Islands series, where I share a little bit about my experience on this beautiful island off of the coast of Xiamen, China. I spent three full days in Kinmen + 2 days of travel, arriving mid-afternoon on Monday and leaving Friday afternoon. It was a great amount of time and I highly recommend checking out Kinmen if you have a chance! Please see the previous post for transportation and homestay information and the next post for part three of this series!
Where to go in Kinmen
It was great being able to spend 3-5 days in Kinmen because there was a surprising amount of things to do on this relatively small island + factoring in the time it takes to scooter from one place to the next. Perhaps a car would be most time-efficient, but I think you’d miss the spontaneity and the hair-blowing-in-the-wind-but-also-gravel-in-your-face glamour that a scooter brings. Just saying. We had a lot of adventures on the scooter but I think that’s what made the adventure so memorable as well - it was about the journey and not just the destination! #cliche sorry but I found it to be true when the journey was made up of gorgeous tree-lined roads and stunning views. Oops, I got distracted again about describing the feeling that I had while in Kinmen - let me break down some of the top places that we went and a little more information on them!
Day 1: Arrival + Exploring Jincheng Village
We walked around Mofan Street (the one with the Taiwanese flags lining the way) and checked out a few souvenir shops and historical buildings. We kind of used this as our base to grab food (I think it was the closest area with restaurants to the minsu where we stayed) and to change our electric battery. Otherwise, I’m not sure if I would recommend staying here as it definitely felt too city-like for me. I do recommend checking out this area in particular though with a sweet stationery shop and a beautiful plaza where ladies were enjoying lunch together. (pictures below) A few stores here had cute products that featured the beautiful tile print that you can see all over the building. We didn’t have that much time to explore on this day as we had arrived in the afternoon hours, so we grabbed a bite to eat and headed back to the minsu before dark.
Day 2: Jinhu Township: Chen Jinglan Western-style Mansion, Oyster Pockets, Lighthouse
On our first full day, we decided to venture back towards the airport area to visit the Chen Jinglan Western-style Mansion 陳景蘭洋樓 near Chenggong Beach. The mansion was originally a wealthy merchant’s home and later used as a recreation home for the military. It’s a beautiful place to sit and enjoy the ocean breeze, but there’s honestly not much “to see” if you’re more interested in learning about historical artifacts. I did really enjoy this oyster pocket that I had outside of the mansion though - the potato croquette was also so fantastic. Old House Oyster 老屋子蚵嗲 even warranted its own Youtube video - it might be common to others in Taiwan, but this was my first time trying a 蚵嗲 or an oyster tempura pocket. It’s about 25 NT (approx $1 USD) for an oyster pocket - so affordable for a freshly fried snack!
After this delicious afternoon delight, we headed over to a lighthouse to do a mini photoshoot or as they call it here IG 打卡 which means that you went to a place to check in/post a photo on Instagram haha. I have to admit, the giant tetrapod dolos to prevent erosion made for a pretty cool picture! I believe it was taken around here - photo credit to my friend and fellow traveler Rachel!
Day 3: (Jinsha Township) Traditional Kinmenese Breakfast, Shamei Old Street, Qieyi Dessert Shop, Mashan Observation Post, Mofan Street
Wowza! This was a jam-packed day. We began the day with a traditional Guangzhou jook / congee - here in Kinmen (and elsewhere in Asia!), congee is traditionally served with youtiao (fried cruller) with their jook/congee/zhou 粥, but unfortunately we woke up a little too late to buy any :( (Try to get there by 9 am or earlier if you want youtiao 油條). We went to a small hole-in-the-wall place for this breakfast below and started exploring the area right after. It was a short walk from the breakfast place to Shamei Old Street 沙美老街, where we saw the most beautiful ruins that kind of reminded us of pita bread and took a few fun photos. It’s known as Kinmen’s Morocco and was one of the oldest commercial trading areas in Kinmen.
After Shamei, we headed over to a beautiful dessert cafe that we had spotted on Instagram with gorgeous tiled walls. Unfortunately, the coffee wasn’t my favorite, but the desserts (taro is pretty famous in Kinmen!) were delish! Be sure to check the hours before you go :)
Qieyi Dessert 愜意甜點工作室
Closed Mondays & Tuesdays
After getting caffeinated, I wanted to check out the Mashan Observation Post 馬山觀測站, which I was very curious about due to its close proximity to mainland China. It’s still an active military post today and was previously used to broadcast propaganda, songs over to mainland China to encourage People’s Liberation Army soldiers to surrender to the ROC Armed Forces. Speakers used to broadcast songs from singer Teresa Deng, who was popular on both sides. It’s free to enter and you’re able to step into the “shouting station” where they used to record messages to broadcast. We also walked down a very long tunnel to reach a room with telescopes, where you can creepily peer onto the shores of mainland China while still being on ROC turf.
Right outside of Mashan, there’s a small beach that was pretty breathtaking. Rachel took really lovely pictures here of us looking out and pointing to mainland China haha! (The photo on the homepage of my blog was taken here) I just remember how breezy it was and how we ended up spotting a boat that was flying the PRC Chinese flag. They’re not actually able to land on ROC territory right now so they were just circling around and peering out at us. Pretty unusual situation amid these tense times.
It was a full day of scootering around, so we ended up heading back to the Jincheng area to get a battery change and a bite to eat for dinner. I highly recommend this delicious noodle soup restaurant called 良金牧場貞節牌坊店 where the soup base is poured onto thinly sliced raw meat in front of you. It’s labeled as a dude ranch on google because the shop is run by Liang Jin cattle farm. The beef noodle soup shop sits on top of their store and they sell a variety of products like beef jerky, noodles, hot sauce, etc. They also have free soft serve after the meal and a great view of the Chastity Arch for Qiu Liang-gong's Mother 邱良功母節孝坊 from the window seats! We finished the night out with a taste of the Gaoliang Ice Cream Egg Roll, which was super weird and I probably wouldn’t recommend it LOL. Then again, I’m not a huge Gaoliang liquor fan, but it was like a serious punch in the face. Worth a try though for only 30 NT ($1 USD) ;) You can find them at a souvenir shop called 淳新蛋捲 Chun Shin Egg Roll on Mofan Street.
I’ll catch ya later on part 3 where I’ll continue with the week’s activities and recap my top recs for Kinmen! Hope you enjoyed!
