CN · Fujian · 25.02°N 117.69°E

fujian tulou

Giant round Hakka earth houses where whole clans lived together under one roof.

Best time
Spring (March to May) and autumn (September to November) are the most comfortable. Summer is hot and wet, and Chinese public holidays bring tour-bus crowds.
How long
2 days, 1 night
Getting there
Fly from KL to Xiamen (about 4 hours). The main tulou areas in Yongding and Nanjing counties are about 2.5–3 hours by road from there. Day tours and buses leave from Xiamen, or you can hire a driver.
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CN · Fujianfujian tulou25.02°N 117.69°Egowherelah.com
Dear group chat,Giant round Hakka earth houses where whole clans lived together under one roof.— gowherelahTo: whoever’s drivingFujian TulouCN, Fujian
KLfujian tulou
≈ 2,975 km from KL, as the crow flies
Three round, one oval, one square

Photo: Scott Edmunds · CC BY 2.0

1 / 5

Photos: Wikimedia Commons, credited on each.

Huge round and square earth buildings in the hills of southern Fujian, built by Hakka clans to live together and defend themselves. The biggest housed hundreds of people around a central courtyard, and many are still lived in. Forty-six of them are listed together as a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Makan

  1. Hakka home cookingHearty farmhouse dishes, often with home-made tofu, preserved vegetables and pork.Map ↗
  2. Local teaTea grows on the hills around the tulou, and many families sell their own leaves.Map ↗

Things to do

  1. Tianluokeng clusterFour round tulou around a square one, best seen from the viewpoint on the hill above. Locals call it 'four dishes and a soup'.Map ↗
  2. Chengqi LouKnown as the king of tulou, with rings of rooms inside rings, in the Gaobei cluster.Map ↗
  3. Yuchang LouOne of the oldest tulou, famous for wooden pillars that lean at odd angles but have stood for centuries.Map ↗
  4. Hongkeng villageA stream-side village with Zhencheng Lou and several other well-kept tulou close together.Map ↗
  5. Taxia villageA riverside village of tulou and old ancestral halls, nice for an evening stroll.Map ↗

Good to know

  • Many tulou are still family homes. Ask before you photograph people or step into private rooms.
  • The clusters are spread across the hills, so a driver or tour saves a lot of time. A night in a tulou guesthouse lets you see it after the day-trippers leave.
  • Set up Alipay or WeChat Pay before you go. Village stalls rarely take foreign cards.

Last checked October 2026. Things change, so check opening times, fees and transport before you go.