How do I buy a Gulangyu ferry ticket as a tourist?
Buy it in the 屿见厦门 (Yujian Xiamen) mini program, on WeChat or Alipay. The Xiamen Port Administration route list of 2025-08-07 names these two mini programs as the official channel for the four tourist routes (enquiry line 0592-3372020). Fares on the ferry company’s route pages are 35 or 80 yuan per person, but those pages are dated 2022 and 2023, so confirm the fare in the mini program before you pay. The 8-yuan ferry you may see online is a resident route.
Gulangyu ferry routes, piers and price
Xiamen Ferry Co. (厦门轮渡有限公司) has one page per tourist route. The table gives what each page says, with its own page date.
| Route | Page date | Fare per person | Operating times |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dongdu Passenger Terminal (东渡客运码头) to Sanqiutian Pier (三丘田码头), about 20 min | 2023-05-30 | 35 and 80 yuan listed | 7:10–17:30, to 18:30 in June–September; every 20 minutes |
| Dongdu to Neicuoao Pier (内厝澳码头), about 20 min | 2023-05-31 | 35 and 80 yuan listed | 8:10–17:10, to 18:10 in July–August; hourly |
| First Pier (第一码头) to Neicuoao, tourist route, about 15 min | 2023-05-31 | 80 yuan | 8:45–16:45, plus 7:45 weekends and holidays and 17:45 in June–September; hourly |
| Lundu Ferry Terminal (轮渡码头) to Sanqiutian, night, about 7 min | 2023-05-30 | 35 yuan | 17:50–23:45 October–May, 18:50–23:45 June–September; also 6:00 and 6:30 |
| Songyu Passenger Terminal (嵩屿客运码头) to Neicuoao, about 8 min | 2022-05-31 | 35 yuan | 7:30–17:50 October–May, to 19:00 June–September |
The Dongdu pages list two fares and do not say what each is for. Every page carries the same note: if sailings or fares change, the pier’s information on the day applies. Most add that the booking system decides the actual sailings. The Port Administration list calls the first four routes tourist routes (厦鼓游客航线) and Songyu to Neicuoao a resident-and-tourist route.
Where to buy Gulangyu ferry tickets, and how far ahead
The ferry company’s internet ticket notice (page date 2023-12-28) says you can buy up to 15 days ahead at the pier counter or in the mini program, and that the period may change. The Port Administration list names only the mini programs. The boarding rules (same page date) say tickets should come from the carrier, its website or a sales agent’s counter, and that the carrier takes no responsibility for other channels. So skip street sellers and third-party apps.
- One ID can hold one valid ticket per boarding date.
- At Dongdu, selling stops 20 minutes before departure and check-in closes 10 minutes before.
- Neither the internet ticket notice nor the boarding rules say how many tickets are released per day or when.
Can a foreigner buy a Gulangyu ferry ticket with a passport?
Tickets are real-name. The notice lists as valid ID the second-generation Chinese ID card, Hong Kong/Macao and Taiwan travel permits, and “a valid passport where regulations allow” (按规定可使用的有效护照). With any document other than the Chinese ID card, including a passport, print a boarding voucher at the departure pier. It is free, but you must show the original document; photocopies are not accepted. At check-in you show both. The tourist routes page adds that ticket, document and person must match, or you will not board.
Neither the internet ticket notice nor the Port Administration list explains how a foreign visitor registers in the mini program, whether a non-Chinese phone number works, or whether the counter will sell to a passport holder. So we cannot say that foreigners can or cannot buy. Try the mini program before the day, or call 0592-3372020 (08:00–20:30, per the ferry company’s notice of 2026-09-06).
Which pier do I arrive at on Gulangyu, and how do I get back?
You land at Sanqiutian or Neicuoao, depending on the route. The ferry company’s route pages do not say which is closer to which sight. On the tourist lines the return is only from these two piers, and the notice says the queue is long from 15:00 to 18:30. Tap the ID card you used, or show the voucher plus the original document. Your ticket gives one free return sailing within 20 days, and no return top-up tickets are sold. The internet ticket notice does not say which Xiamen pier that return goes to.
For the First Pier route, the ferry company’s notice of 2026-09-06 says that from 2026-09-21 tourist sailings from Neicuoao Pier to First Pier leave at 9:20, 10:20 and so on hourly to 17:20, plus 18:20 in June–September. Before the change they left at :10. This is the Gulangyu-to-First-Pier direction only.
The 8-yuan Gulangyu ferry: not the tourist ferry
The Xiamen Development and Reform Commission’s fare notice 厦发改价费〔2025〕573号 (2025-09-15, in force from 2025-09-16 for 3 years) sets 8 yuan round trip for Lundu to Piano Pier (钢琴码头) and for the First Pier to Neicuoao citizen service (市民航班). It names holders of a Xiamen resident ID card, people with Xiamen household registration, holders of a valid Xiamen social security card with active coverage or a valid Xiamen residence permit, and others covered by policy. It does not name foreign visitors.
The Port Administration list shows First Pier to Neicuoao twice, as a tourist route and as a resident route. Buy the tourist one. The commission’s explanation of 2025-10-15 says tourism ferries are outside government pricing, so 8 yuan is not a tourist fare. The notice also lets a valid-ticket holder return from Gulangyu on another route of the same fare; that line belongs to the government-priced routes, not tourist tickets.
Night ferry, bad weather and a missed sailing
The Lundu night route runs as in the table. Its page says overnight return sailings have moved to Gulangyu’s Piano Pier, with times as posted at the pier. The Port Administration list shows Lundu to Piano Pier (overnight) as a resident-and-tourist route, with no fare or times.
In fog or a typhoon, the boarding rules say tickets for the suspended day can only be refunded, with no fee, and cannot be changed. The internet ticket notice adds that the ferry company itself refunds unused tickets for a weather suspension without a fee, within 5 working days, to the card you paid with.
The internet ticket notice says a ticket not checked in by the cut-off of its sailing is void. Separately, the ferry company’s notice of 2026-08-28 (in force from 2026-09-01) lets you change a ticket once after departure time, by 24:00 that day, to a sailing still on sale. The fee is 20% of the ticket price for a same-day sailing and 30% for another day, and that ticket can then no longer be refunded or changed. Neither notice says how the two rules fit together, so ask the ferry company if you are running late. If a domestic flight or train disrupted by force majeure makes you miss the sailing, the boarding rules allow a refund with no fee on proof of the disruption (service line 0592-3372020).
That notice also makes a refund or change free within 30 minutes of payment and at least 4 hours before departure, once per account per calendar day; already-changed tickets are excluded. Otherwise the boarding rules charge nothing at 6 days or more before departure, then 5%, 10% and 20% as departure nears, with no refund after departure.
Luggage and children on the Gulangyu ferry
Each passenger carries up to 20 kg total (10 kg for free-ticket children) and 0.3 cubic metres free; each piece may weigh at most 20 kg, measure 0.2 cubic metres and be 1.5 m long (2 m for pole-shaped items). The boarding rules ban dangerous goods, smelly items, and dogs, cats, snakes, insects and other animals. These are ferry rules only. Children over 6 and up to 14, or over 1.2 m and up to 1.5 m, pay half price; a child of 6 or under, or 1.2 m or under, who is with an adult and takes no seat travels free; one adult can bring two such children, and the free ticket is claimed in the booking system after you buy, or at the departure pier counter at least 60 minutes ahead with the child’s original ID (a birth medical certificate for babies under 2).
We do not sell ferry tickets. We can book flights, hotels, train tickets, a local guide or a private car, for example to the Dongdu or First Pier terminal. For the city, see the Xiamen travel guide.
