Atour Hotel Xiamen Xiagu Cruise Center

Off the main drag,down a cul-de-sac, this hotel is away from the Xiamen hustle and bustle and quiet at night- and day. Location is good- close to the ferry, and Zhongshan Road, and a good kick-off point for the Hakka tulou and other interesting places. Comfortable beds, firm but not hard are welcome after a busy day. The breakfast is a happy mix of Western and Chinese, with endless toast and 2 kinds of jam, cereal, coffee, yoghurt, and a wonderful array of vegetables, fruit, eggs, noodles, rice- and more. Would I stay there again? Yes, in a heartbeat. The clincher is the approachable, friendly staff. Although not all speak English, enough do, and I always felt they would do all they could to help with any request or solve any problem. When our taxi took a while to come, the young man at the front desk escorted us down to the road and hailed a cab for us. Nicely down, Reethi Rah.

Room was well appointed, clean and the A/C worked ! Cost is reasonable for city. Location is good for nearby bars and restaurants, and being set back from the main road helps. However having maintenance start drilling next door at 7.45am on a Saturday was not a great idea. Breakfast was average. Two words of warning. No international TV channels. Check out took 20 minutes without a queue, and it took 3 of them to do it !

All bathrooms, they tell me, are have see-through showers visible from the bedroom with venetian blinds controlled from the bedroom side. Go figure. A bit awkward, to say the least, when staying with friends. But the breakfast is pretty amazing, with custom-made bowls of noodle and poached/fried egg, and a buffet spread of various congees, sausages, Chinese vegetables, and fried rice/noodles. Ah yes, hot milk to go with coffee or, get this, corn flakes! Nobody at the desk speaks English or even tries to. Nor is the Internet over the Great Firewall of China; so forget about all things Google and Facebook--and a whole lot more. Stick to Chinese sites--Baidu, Youku, etc.--and the speed is like magic.