Hakka Earth Buildings tour from Xiamen: Tianluokeng Tulou & lunch
Walk inside 650-year-old earth buildings and eat lunch with the families who built them
A 9-hour private tour from Xiamen to Tianluokeng Tulou, the "Four Dishes and One Soup" cluster of Hakka earth buildings, with an English-speaking guide, hotel pickup, and lunch cooked by a local Hakka family inside one of the buildings. The tour also includes Yuchang Building, the oldest and largest round tulou, and a walk through Taxia water village. Vegetarian meals available on request.
Step-by-step itinerary
Tianluokeng Tulou Cluster and Village Tour
- Hotel pickup by private guide
- Drive 2.5 hours to Tianluokeng Tulou
- Visit viewing platform and take photos
- Walk down to Tulou village
- Explore Tianluokeng Tulou Cluster
- Have traditional Hakka lunch with family
- Visit Yuchang Building
- Stroll in Taxia Village and visit ancestral hall
- Drive 2.5 hours back to Xiamen
- Drop off at hotel or chosen location
What’s included
- Private vehicle with air conditioning and hotel pickup.
- English-speaking Hakka guide (also available in French, Chinese or Korean).
- traditional Chinese lunch cooked by a local Hakka family inside an earth building.
- bottled water.
- China Life tourist accident insurance.
- government taxes and fees.
Times
- Every day 06:00 06:30 07:00 07:30 08:00 08:30 09:00 09:30 10:00 10:30
Information
Prices and times updated 4 days ago
Operated by Tulou Travel
The experience
Your guide picks you up at your hotel and drives 2.5 hours into the countryside, talking through the history of the Hakka people and the earth buildings you're about to see. The drive itself is part of the learning: by the time you arrive at Tianluokeng, you'll know why these massive circular structures were built the way they were and what life inside them looks like now. You start at the viewing platform, looking down at the cluster's famous layout: four large round buildings arranged around a smaller square one in the center, the pattern that gave it the name "Four Dishes and One Soup."
After 20 minutes taking in the view and photos, you walk down into the village itself. Your guide speaks Hakka, so you can actually talk to people living there: some of them descendants of the families who built these buildings 650 years ago. An hour of walking through the narrow lanes and courtyards, seeing how the buildings are organized inside, how families share wells and communal spaces. Then you sit down to lunch with a local Hakka family, eating their home cooking and trying their homemade rice wine, all inside the earth building. This is the part that sticks: understanding how people live in these spaces, not just looking at them from outside.
After lunch, you visit Yuchang Building, the oldest and largest round tulou still standing. The columns inside tilt at angles that look like they should have collapsed centuries ago, but the building has survived seven hundred years and multiple earthquakes. You walk through Taxia water village on the way back, a typical Hakka settlement along a river with ancestral halls and the kind of quiet that makes the morning's crowds feel far away. The 2.5-hour drive back to Xiamen gives you time to rest before your guide drops you at your hotel, airport, train station or anywhere else in downtown Xiamen you need to be.
Is this one for you?Book this private tour if you want a guide who speaks the local language and can introduce you to residents. The Hakka-speaking guide makes the difference between seeing the buildings and understanding how people actually live in them. The fixed itinerary and included lunch with a local family are what turn a morning of sightseeing into a real encounter with the place.
Traveler reviews
Compare the 9 alternatives
Top questions
What languages is the tour guided in?
Live guide in English, French, Chinese, Korean, Chinese and Japanese.
Can children come?
Yes. Ticket types: Infant (under 3): free.
What exactly is a Hakka earth building, and why are they built in circles?
Hakka earth buildings, or tulou, are massive circular or square residential structures made from rammed earth, wood and stone, built by the Hakka people over centuries. The circular design creates a fortress-like structure that provided defense, shared resources like communal wells, and efficient use of space for extended families: some buildings housed hundreds of people across multiple stories.
Will I have time to talk to people living in the buildings, or is it just walking through?
Your guide speaks Hakka and English, so you can have conversations with residents whose families have lived in these buildings for generations. The tour includes an hour of free time to explore Tianluokeng on your own, and lunch is eaten with a local Hakka family inside one of the buildings, not at a separate restaurant.
How far is the drive from Xiamen, and will there be a lot of sitting in the car?
The drive each way is 2.5 hours in a private, air-conditioned vehicle. You'll spend about 5 hours driving total, but the guide uses the time to teach you about Hakka history and culture, and the return drive is positioned as rest time after a full morning and afternoon of walking and exploring.
Is the lunch included, and can you accommodate vegetarian diets?
Lunch is included and cooked by a local Hakka family. You eat it inside an earth building as part of the experience. Vegetarian meals are available. Let the operator know your dietary requirements when you book.
What is Yuchang Building, and why is it called the "rickety building"?
Yuchang Building is the oldest and largest round tulou known to exist. It's called the "rickety building" because the wooden columns inside tilt at severe angles that look unstable, yet the structure has stood for over 700 years through earthquakes and erosion without collapsing: a testament to its ancient engineering.
What's included in the tour price, and what should I bring?
The tour includes hotel pickup and return, private vehicle with air conditioning, English-speaking guide, Chinese lunch, bottled water, government taxes and insurance. Wear comfortable walking shoes and dress for the weather. The tour operates in all conditions. Bring a camera for the viewing platform and village photography.
Hakka Earth Buildings tour from Xiamen: Tianluokeng Tulou & lunch
9h · EN · FR +4 · at your hotel
from US$ 229 per person