Shengsi Islands, Zhejiang, China

4Marielle90 5:00 PM Oct 1, 2017

Gouqi Island & the Abandoned Village of Houtouwan
I traveled to Gouqi Island (part of the Shengsi Islands) with a friend from Sep. 29 to Sep. 30. Even though we traveled right before Golden Week, we had no difficulty at all getting tickets to the island, which was lovely. We specifically traveled to Gouqi Island as we wanted to visit the abandoned village of Houtouwan, which was very much worth the visit. Gouqi Island is a lovely place to go for a day or two, but it's probably best to travel there in the summer months when it's possible to go for a swim in the ocean (it was too cold to so while we where there). The island is fairly small and there's not much to do (but visit the abandoned village, stroll around, and eat delicious fresh seafood) but we thought it was lovely nevertheless. If you live in Shanghai and are looking for a peaceful place to spend the weekend, it's great. We thought it was a shame we couldn't find a place where we could rent bikes - it would've been nice to cycle around the island if that had been possible. As most information that I found online (about traveling to Gouqi Island and the abandoned village) was either incorrect or incomplete, I hope the following information about how to get there will be useful for others: - We bought tickets to Gouqi Island (枸杞岛) at the bus station at Nanpu Daqiao in Shanghai (it's right below the circular part of the bridge, on Waima Lu) the day before departure. We bought a one-way bus & boat combination ticket (车船联票) to the island (you have to buy the ticket back to Shanghai on the day of departure on the island). The ticket was 120RMB and the bus left at 07:00 (the ticket said 07:15 but the bus left early). The bus takes you to the Shenjiawan (沈家湾) Passenger Transport Terminal, where we arrived at 08:30. The ferry then left around 09:25. From there, it takes the ferry 2 hours to get to Shengsi Island and another 2 hours to get to Gouqi Island. Once we arrived on Gouqi Island, there were taxi drivers there waiting to take people to their accommodation. We didn't book anything in advance so just told our taxi driver we wanted to stay by the beach and he took us to a nice hotel in in Dawang village (大王村). The village is pretty small but there are some restaurants serving fresh seafood, as well as a lovely cafe with a terrace overlooking the ocean on the second floor (I don't remember the name but it's right opposite the beach). - To get to Houtouwan (后头湾), we asked a local taxi driver to take us there. The village is on Shengshan Island (嵊山), which is connected to Gouqi Island by a bridge. There are two ways to see the village: one is by taking a taxi to a viewing platform (entrance 20RMB per person), where you can see the village from the top of the hill. The view is beautiful and there's a lovely small temple there as well. Unfortunately it's no longer possible to descend into the village from here. Locals told me the path down into the village was washed away by rain earlier this year and it's become too dangerous to descend from the viewing platform. To enter the village, it's therefore only possible to take a boat from the main village on Shengshan Island (100RMB per person). - To get back to Shanghai, there is one ferry daily, which leaves at 13:30PM. We didn't get back to Shanghai until 18:30, as the bus got stuck in traffic. Overall, I can really recommend traveling there if you don't mind traveling 5-6 hours from Shanghai to get there. It's beautiful and for me it was unlike any other place I'd been to in China. Also being able to find such a beautiful place that was pretty dead right before Golden Week was amazing.

4Henric I 5:00 PM Jul 26, 2013

It is either a three or a five; it depends on you :-)
So I rated it a four ... The background is that this is not an easy travel destination if you don't speak Chinese or are very well prepared; and once there it totally depends on what your expectations are. The review below is more to let you know what to prepare if you decide to go. If you don't speak Chinese try to get professional help from a tour guide or your hotel and also make sure they can support as backup if you need help once there. To start; My very subjective comparison is - think Gran Canaria, Playa del Ingles, and relocate it to China ... the difference is that you are as much a tourist attraction as the island :-). We spent two days in Shengsi Islands (we stayed at Feichengwurao Resort in Jihu Village, Caiyuan Town; this is on Sijiaoshan Island, the same islands you arrive to with the high speed boat). This is an upscale hotel and it was a very nice experience. Link to hotel, http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g1372209-d3644587-Reviews-Feichengwurao_Resort-Shengsi_County_Zhejiang.html First, the trick is to find out how to get there. Even my Chinese friend who is an experienced tour guide was unsure. Through some extensive googling we found out that the most efficient way was to take the bus from the long distance bus station at Nanpu bridge and buy a combined ticket; first bus to the deepwater port and then boat to the main island . The most entertaining description of how to find the bus station is here; one note though, as far as I could understand the address is 1788 Waima Lu (not 1588 as it says in the blog). http://blog.chinatravel.net/china-travel-tips-advice/weekend-excursion-from-shanghai-to-shengsi-island.html another one is here http://www.cityweekend.com.cn/shanghai/articles/blogs-shanghai/armchair-traveler/great-weekend-beach-trip-shengsi-island/ There are different priced tickets and a first class. We paid 120 RMB each for one way and had OK seats on lower deck. We also tried to find out how to buy tickets back and the most convenient way is likely to buy them in the boat terminal when you arrive to Shengsi Island ... which we missed. For the time table; that is another issue - we talked to a number of persons including the hotel in Shengsi Island and got a variety of suggestions :-) in the end we took a bus at 8.20 in the morning and arrived just before noon (while the information we had was that it would leave either 8.30 or maybe 8.40). Here I strongly suggest you get professional help to figure out when to go. Make sure you have around 15 to 20 minutes buffer when arriving to the bus terminal (and it is the long distance bus terminal you should go to). Once arrived the way we got around was by cab. The cabs don't run on a meter so make sure you agree on the price before heading off. The cost was 50 RMB to get to the hotel and around 15 to 20 RMB to get from the hotel to the "city". We stayed smack on the beach (on what I would call the north beach at Houtan Bay but normally referred to as the east beach). My chinese friend really liked the clean air and the fresh water. The water is not crystal clear but a little bit opaque as a result of the tides and the sand they stir up. Independently it was a nice experience. The beach was clean and guarded and big. So no crowds. There was an entry fee to this beach but is was included in our hotel fee; my understanding is that is was around 80 RMB. For sightseeing; my take is that it is the beach and the seafood you come for. We also visited a very nice temple just east of our hotel. As far as we could figure out it was the Dabeishan temple. We actually walked there from our hotel (it worked out OK but bikes would have been better :-)). However the traffic on the road is very light. Our hotel helped us out with bikes the first day (but they were standard chinese size and maybe somewhat small for more extensive excursions ...) For food; first night we had dinner on the street. It was very good; we checked who had the freshest display and most local customers. We had crab, shrimp and a lot of really good local vegetables in a soup. The crabs were simply fantastic. Meal priced around 60 RMB per person since the crabs and shrimp added to the cost. My suggestion is to go for the boiled food not the barbecue. Second day we had lunch at an area with a lot of small restaurants looking over the port. I have added a picture of the business card/address for one of them. We finally found this place with help of a richshaw driver while the cab drivers seems to mainly try to drop ypu off at one of their friends ... For the price of the food; there is clearly a substantial markup if you are a tourist and even more so if you are a westerner. I suggest you do your best to haggle :-), but not if you have the street food. In short; if you have time over and have done Shanghai, Hangzhou or Suzhou and a water town; want to get away from the beaten track and see how some locals spend their holiday this is as condensed as it can get :-). If you are looking for a tropical island experience at a fancy hotel this is not your destination. Personally I had both a great time and some cultural overload :-). When at the Island there was maybe two or three more non Chinese there at the same time. The island is reasonably clean and litter removal seems to work well. As part of preparations; try to get as many of the seafood varieties you like can written down in Chinese. At many restaurants it is as ususal that you can just point at what you want but not all is on display we found out. Good luck with the adventure.