Zhongdeji Villa Hotel - Xiamen

Good location and service. The old building is historically maintained and well looked after. The room rate is surprisingly reasonable. An excellent place to stay at Gulangyu Island if you don't mind the breakfast.

This villa makes me feel like travelling back to China 100 years ago: old Chinese furniture and decoration. I enjoyed some traditional Chinese dessert and greet tea after dinner at balcony, with cool breeze touching my face - that moment, I felt inner peace. Very interesting thing is that I was woke up by the signing of a lovely bird resting at my balcony! What an experience!

My trip to Fujian was motivated by a desire to visit the earth fortress buildings in the region called tulou and Xiamen seemed the most attractive place to stay within a few hours of these remarkable buildings. After looking online for a place to stay I decided on the Zhongdeji Villa. It's located on Gulangyu Island in the harbor facing Xiamen and while it didn't have it's own website it was bookable through the Chinese site, elong.com. I arrived in Xiamen from Shanghai and knowing there are no taxis or other cars on Gulangyu I relied on reports of electric transport to help me find the place. The information was incorrect as was the phone number (or they just don't answer) but I was able to find help in front of the ferry terminal and was shown the way by a young woman guide for Y20. Next, checking in. No one spoke English and they couldn't use my foreign credit card. I asked them to contact elong through whom I'd booked which they did and elong said they'd collect at the end of my stay, not their usual practice but they would do it this time. The villa is just that, a hundred year old mansion restored and converted to a hotel. The furnishings are period reproductions and the grounds serve as a buffer from the mobs of tourists that come to the island. There are signs that the 2 neighboring villas are also being restored, I suspect by the same company. Breakfast is included in the room rates, mostly Chinese dishes which makes sense as their clientele is almost exclusively Chinese. I stayed for 5 nights and the breakfast choices were the same every day. Some variety would have been welcome. While menus, signs and information in the hotel and on the island are often given in English and pinyin as well as Chinese it was very difficult to find anyone anywhere that spoke English, my own fault but an inconvenience nonetheless. So if you come to Gulangyu Island do bring your own companion, preferably a Chinese speaker. My visit on the island was difficult not only because of language but also because of the throngs of tourists, not just on the weekends, and also because of the odor of some sort of dried seafood (I think) that seems to be everywhere in the commercial areas. I also found it difficult to find good food, not unusual I guess in a destination that seems to cater to day trippers. I loved the villa but because of the difficulties described I cannot wholeheartedly recommend a visit to Gulangyu Island for the average western tourist. However, if you are adventuresome and are looking for an unusual place to visit and a great place to stay not yet in western guidebooks this may be your place.