Where to Stay in Xiamen for a Sea View?
8 Hotels Where You Open the Curtains to the Water — Strait Views, Beachfront Rooms & a Gulangyu Heritage Villa

We open the sea-view list with a view you genuinely can't get anywhere else — Lin's Mansion 林氏府 scores 9.7/10 from around 866 real guest reviews, the highest on the list. It's a century-old colonial mansion on Gulangyu Island (鼓浪屿), the car-free UNESCO World Heritage site — five villa buildings, 37 rooms, restored in 2025. What earns it the top sea-view spot is the Sea-View / terrace rooms that look straight out at the water from the heritage villa itself — a mix of old-mansion atmosphere and sea that no high-rise can match. Guests say the same thing over and over: it's the full sea-side mansion experience, and the real standout is being by the water on the island in the evening, after the day-trippers have gone. The honest catch: it's the highest from-price on the list (¥1,400), the car-free island means wheeling your bags up from the pier (with some slopes), Sea-View rooms are limited so book well ahead, and the garden-view rooms are cheaper but miss the water.

A seaside five-star known specifically for its sea-view rooms and sea-view pools — Xiamen International Conference Center Hotel scores 9.5/10 from around 5,695 real guest reviews. It's a big 520-room hotel on the east coastal road (环岛路) by the Xiamen International Conference Center. What makes it a top sea-view pick is the sea-view rooms where you open the curtains to sunrise over the strait, plus two sea-view pools where you can swim looking at the water — a wide, open beachfront view on the east coast, and a hotel that suits families; the south side puts Xiamen University, Nanputuo Temple and Hulishan Fort within a short drive. The honest catch: it's a large conference hotel, so the lobby gets busy during events / tour groups; the city / garden-view rooms are cheaper but miss the sea view (specify a sea-view room when you book); and it's on the coastal road, a hop from the metro.

If you judge purely on 'a beachfront sea view', this one is strong — Xiamen International Seaside Hotel (悦华酒店) scores 9.6/10 from around 4,615 real guest reviews. It's a beachfront five-star that faces Dolphin Bay beach head-on, on the coastal road (环岛路) on the airport side, renovated in 2022. What reviews single out again and again is the Sea-View rooms with large balconies that look right out at the water, with the beach across the road a short walk away, and sunrise you can watch from your balcony — on a clear day you can see Kinmen Island in the distance, the kind of open-the-door-onto-the-beach view a lot of people are after. The honest catch (this list compiles from real Trip.com reviews; this one doesn't yet have our own review page): the city / garden-view rooms are cheaper but miss the sea view (specify Sea-View when you book), it's on the airport side, fairly far from the city centre and Gulangyu so you need a ride, and it's a hotel that's been open a long time — even after the renovation, some parts aren't as new as recent openings.

If you want a wide strait view from a high tower, this is a top choice — Conrad Xiamen scores 9.4/10 from around 6,675 real guest reviews. It's a Conrad (Hilton) hotel on floors 37–54 of the Twin Towers 世茂海峡大厦 by the strait on the south side of the island. What makes it a top sea-view pick is the sea-view rooms looking across the strait to Gulangyu Island, with sunset from up high — a wide strait view from a skyscraper that's different from the beachfront views elsewhere on the list — alongside Conrad-level service, spacious ~45 sqm rooms, and a location you can walk from to Xiamen University and Nanputuo Temple, near Zhenhai Road metro on Line 1. The honest catch: the city-view rooms are cheaper but miss the strait view (specify Sea-View when you book), it's a hotel inside a large office / retail tower so the lobby is high up by lift, and the from-price is one of the higher ones in the group.

A seaside resort whose top sea-view rooms get serious praise — Seaview Resort Xiamen scores 9.4/10 from around 9,055 real guest reviews. It's a garden resort on the Huandao coastal road (环岛路) by Huangcuo Beach (黄厝) on the south of the island, with a million-sqm garden and a free water park. What earns it a sea-view spot is the Villa Sea-View rooms, which many reviews call straight out the best sea-view room they've ever stayed in, looking out at the water and the small islands to the south, plus being a resort that suits a family stay where the kids can swim, near Hulishan Fort, with Xiamen University and Nanputuo Temple a ~10–15 minute drive. The honest catch: the garden-view rooms in the main building are older and miss the sea view (the newest, best-view rooms are the Villa building), it's fairly far from the city centre so you need a ride, and it's a long-established resort where some parts aren't as new as recent openings.

This one's sea view is special because it's an island view from a city-centre harbour — Hotel Indigo Xiamen Harbour scores 9.4/10 from around 9,184 real guest reviews, the most-reviewed on the list. It's an IHG design hotel on the Lujiang Road harbour facing Gulangyu Island. What earns it a sea-view spot is the bay-view rooms looking out at Gulangyu Island and the ferries crossing back and forth, wall-to-wall glass — a sea-and-island view that comes with the convenience of being right in the city centre, a few minutes' walk from the Zhongshan Road pedestrian street, near metro Line 1 and the Gulangyu ferry, plus Indigo's distinctive design. The honest catch: the city-view rooms are cheaper but miss the island view (specify a Gulangyu view + book ahead), it's on the harbour-side road that's busy with visitors by day, and it's a design hotel — lovely rooms, but not a full-facility resort.

This one's sea view is a wide bay view from the other side of the water — Wyndham Grand Xiamen Haicang scores 9.4/10 from around 3,012 real guest reviews. It's a big Wyndham Grand resort on the Haicang side (海沧), across the bay from the main island. What earns it a sea-view spot is the sea-view rooms that look across Haicang Bay back towards Gulangyu Island — a sea-and-skyline view from an angle that's quieter and more open than the main-island side, with reviews mentioning the sea view and warm front-desk service over and over, a bay-view five-star at a lighter price than the five-stars on the island. The honest catch (this list compiles from real Trip.com reviews; this one doesn't yet have our own review page): it's on the Haicang side across the bay, so getting into the city centre / to Gulangyu means a bridge or tunnel drive; the city / garden-view rooms are cheaper but miss the bay view (specify Sea-View when you book); and it suits people who want a wide, quiet view more than walking to the main sights.

We close with the best-value bay-view pick — Atour Hotel Wuyuan Bay scores 9.7/10 from around 3,156 real guest reviews, level with the #1 on the list. It's an Atour (亚朵) design chain hotel in the Wuyuan Bay area (五缘湾), known for its bay outlook and sunsets. What earns it a sea-view spot is that some rooms look out over Wuyuan Bay, plus a location ~3km from XMN airport with a ~500m walk to Wuyuanwan metro on Lines 2/3 — a light bay view from a ¥350 starting rate, the cheapest on the list, with the Atour Library and coffee corner that are this chain's signature, scoring higher than several five-stars here. The honest thing to say straight: the Wuyuan Bay view is a city / urban-bay outlook, not the open beachfront sea view of the other resorts (and not every room faces the bay — specify it when you book); it's a value-focused four-star chain rather than a resort; and getting to Zhongshan Road / Gulangyu means a metro ride. That's why it sits at the bottom of a sea-view list despite the peak score.