2025 Xiamen Hiking: The Entire Shanhai Trail

For my first hike in Xiamen, I chose to walk the entire Shanhai Trail. The Shanhai Trail has two sections (see map 19). One is the east-west Yunhai Line, starting from Dongdu Cruise Terminal, passing through Xianyue Mountain, Yuanshan, Xueling Mountain, Hutou Mountain, Jinhu Park, and ending at Wuyuan Bay/Guanyin Mountain. The other is the northeast-southwest Linhai Line, starting from Wuyuan Bay, passing by Hubian Reservoir, Zhonglun Park, Dongping Mountain, Dongshan Reservoir, Shangli Reservoir, and Pangui Tower, ending at Tianquan Trail Plaza. I started from Hexi Building to Huwei Mountain Park (see photo 1), first walking the Yunhai Line. After passing Jinhu Park, I connected to the Linhai Line and continued all the way to Tianquan Trail Plaza (see photo 18). The entire route is 32 kilometers and took me 7 hours and 21 minutes, a bit longer than expected. The Shanhai Trail reportedly had an investment of over 3 billion yuan, with more than half of the route being steel-structured elevated walkways. The entire trail is well-equipped, very safe, and basically not difficult. It passes through several parks where you can descend at any time, and there are many places to rest, so it’s very popular on weekends, with many families bringing their kids. Some major landmark buildings: Huwei Mountain Sea Pearl Tower (photo 2) Hemei Bridge (photo 3) Youranyuan Garden (photos 4–6), the Chinese tallow trees are beautiful in autumn Yuanshan Bridge (photo 7) Dongshan Reservoir and Dongshan Corridor (photo 8) Meihai Flower Terrace (photo 9) Guanhu Tower (the famous “Gluten Tower”) and Shangli Reservoir (photos 10–12) Pangui Tower (photo 13) Taiqing Palace (photo 14) The endpoint, Tianquan Trail Plaza (photo 15) Along the way, you will pass many temples (photo 16) Even though it was late November, flowers were still blooming along the route (photo 17) Since this is a frontline coastal defense area, you can also see many bunker ruins along the way (photo 18)