I really don't recommend joining a tour group to see the Tulou in Nanjing, Zhangzhou...

Besides saving some trouble with transportation, there are no other advantages. It takes over an hour by car to get to Yunshuiyao. We spent 10 minutes at Guilei, 10 minutes at Huaiyuan Lou, 5 minutes at Tianluokeng Viewing Platform, 10 minutes at Yuchang Lou, and then headed back. That means the total time spent actually sightseeing all day was less than an hour... Some might ask why not spend more time enjoying the sights. The problem with group tours is that you can’t leisurely explore on your own; you have to keep up with the whole group’s schedule. The itinerary is rushed, and if you stop even briefly to take a photo, you fall behind. This situation doesn’t allow for in-depth touring. - Secondly, the tour guides vary in quality. Ours kept repeating a few phrases that were hard to understand. The explanations about the history, structure, and various details of the Tulou felt less informative than what I could find on Xiaohongshu myself. Plus, the accent was so strong that if you stood a little farther away, you couldn’t hear anything clearly. Also, with group tours, you inevitably get pushed to buy things. Right after entering the scenic area, before we even started exploring, they took us to someone’s home for tea, and the tea drinking lasted half an hour. At least it saved us some money in that time, but honestly, the tea quality was average. The whole sightseeing time was squeezed too much. It’s really more comfortable to visit on your own, but public transportation is still inconvenient. If possible, I recommend driving there yourself. - Besides the issues with group tours, the scenic area management itself has many problems. The Tulou area is full of vendors, and prices are not transparent. There’s an extra fee to go upstairs for visits, which makes the 90 RMB entrance ticket feel really not worth it. The Tulou are great, but the management of the scenic area is really disappointing.