Central Fujian

Spanning the Sanming mountains and the Putian coast, Central Fujian offers the water Danxia gorges of Taining, Taoyuan Cave in Yong'an and the Mazu ancestral temple on Meizhou Island, combining landscapes with maritime belief culture.

Central Fujian follows Fujian's dialect and cultural-geographic division and includes Sanming and Putian, lying between Eastern, Southern, Western and Northern Fujian: Sanming is Central Fujian's mountain region, with mixed dialects and a Hakka presence, while Putian is the Puxian dialect area, on the coast. Key sights: Taining is part of the UNESCO World Natural Heritage site China Danxia, and a boat trip on Great Golden Lake to see water-surrounded Danxia, bamboo-raft rafting on Shangqing Stream and Shangshu Mansion in Taining Old Town are all distinctive; Taoyuan Cave in Yong'an is also Danxia terrain, with a rather daunting "Thread of Sky" crevice; Meizhou Island in Putian is the birthplace of the Mazu faith, and the Mazu Ancestral Temple attracts large numbers of believers from China and abroad each year, while the island also has a golden-sand beach and sea-erosion landforms. Classic itinerary: two days in Taining (Great Golden Lake + Shangqing Stream + old town), one day at Taoyuan Cave in Yong'an, with Yuhua Cave in Jiangle or Shaxian snacks as optional additions; one to two days on Putian's Meizhou Island, for about five to six days across the region, though the two areas can be arranged separately. Transport: Sanming has Shaxian Airport, the Xiangtang–Putian railway has a Taining station, and the Nanping–Longyan railway passes through Yong'an; Putian Station is on the Fuzhou–Xiamen high-speed and Fuzhou–Xiamen railways, and from downtown Putian you go to Wenjia Pier and then take a ferry to Meizhou Island. Spring and autumn are the best seasons; around Mazu's birthday (23rd day of the third lunar month) the island is extremely crowded, so book accommodation early; in summer, typhoons may suspend ferries.

Destinations

Itineraries