Xiamen is the Manhattan of Fujian province, a cosmopolitan island city tethered to the mainland by a few bridges. Sitting at the mouth of Jiulong river, Xiamen is also the nearest mainland city to Taiwan, and it shares some of Taiwan’s finest qualities – like great street food and a surprisingly sophisticated coffee culture.

Zhongshan Lu

While the ranks of palm trees outside Xiamen airport are a welcome sign that you’ve left chilly northern China behind, a trip to bustling Zhongshan Lu is the best way to anchor your imagination firmly in Xiamen. Day and night the street is alive with people shopping, snacking and beating past clouds of Sponge Bob helium balloons on their way elsewhere. Candy floss, egg pancakes and wontons are easy to find, but best of all are the more uniquely Xiamen seafood dishes, including sweet, salty fish ball soup and oyster fritters.

One of the city’s most famous snacks, readily found on Zhongshan Lu, is sha cha mian, sand tea noodles. The wet clay colour, just likae that of Xiamen’s beaches, comes from pulverised peanuts and a touch of chili, a recipe related to South East Asia’s satay. You choose the garniture to add to the egg noodles when you order sand tea noodles: there’s squid, mussels, chicken, prawns, liver, and much more.

For dessert on Zhongshan Lu, visit Huashen Tang Dian, the most famous place to pick up some huang ze he, peanut soup. The whole peanuts are boiled in a sweet, milky solution until they’re soft enough to crush between your tongue and the roof of your mouth.

Among Zhongshan Lu’s various hawkers and street entertainers, you might also find picture box story tellers. They’ll invite you to look into a lit box where a series of pictures illustrates the story they sing. We were shown a folktale about two young lovers who encounter a tiger, but in the past such picture boxes have also been used to show pornography – at least when the authorities aren’t looking in.

Gulangyu Island

The hilly island of Gulangyu is perhaps Xiamen’s most famous tourist destination, and ferries leave just a couple of blocks from Zhongshan Lu. Tickets for the 10 minute trip are paid on return, and cost just RMB 8. After 8pm, the price drops to RMB 4 and after 10pm the return trip is free.

The 1.78 square kilometre island is car free, and it’s a pleasure to stroll its narrow paths, bordered by gardens kempt and unkempt. You can get a great view of the picturesque island from its highest point, Sunlight Rock.

Gulangyu was once home to Xiamen’s foreign residents, something like Shanghai’s foreign concessions. The island is known for the diverse styles of its early 20th century buildings, some of which have been adapted into hotels and cafés. Others are continuing their quiet decay uninterrupted.

The island also has a reputation as a piano centre. In addition to its piano and organ museums, which house rare and old specimens of the instruments, Gulangyu hosts a biennial festival in August – 2010 is a festival year – that includes recitals by renowned performers as well as a competition for young pianists.

The piano museum is found inside Shuzhuang Garden, a worthy destination in its own right. The gardens wrap around ocean cliffs, and include a labyrinthine rock grotto.

One of the most pleasant ways to pass the time on Gulangyu is in one of its many superb cafés. Babycat is one of the island’s most famous, and there are now two outlets on the island, one in a rustic style and one with a white, modern interior (and a bathroom lined with kitty litter). Babycat sells boxes of the island’s tastiest bing, sweet Taiwanese-style pies filled with green tea, pumpkin, coconut, and red bean centres.

Other famous cafés worth visiting include Zhao Xiaojie’s, Judy’s, and the homely hostel Naya, which is named after its giant resident cat.

Babycat Café, 143 Longtou Lu, Gulangyu Island. Tel: (592) 206 3651

Xiamen University

Xiamen is also known for its university, which is said to have one of the most beautiful campuses in China. The main drive entering Xiamen University is lined with palm trees, a Chinese student-studded Sunset Boulevard.

As well as the large lawns and ponds, football fields and basketball courts, the university has a great museum celebrating the life of author Lu Xun, who taught at the university in 1926. While the museum doesn’t have any English information, there are plenty of period artifacts and photographs, and Lu Xun’s taste in cardigans transcends language.