Gouqi Island is more than just an abandoned fishing village
Few tourists have ever heard of Gouqi island, and those that have are usually locals or expats. Those that do know of this island mainly know it for one thing, the abandoned fishing village named Houtouwan.
Gouqi Island is part of the Shengsi islands. As an island it is surrounded by water, meaning lots of beaches. It also has some beautiful walking trails and scenery galore.
Gouqi Island has more to offer than just an abandoned fishing village.
DongYaJueBi is a beautiful and well-kept cliff walk. The scenery overlooking the cliffs is gorgeous and peaceful. The walkways were very well kept, and the place was spotless.
We were told this park is beautiful at sunrise. We did not do this, but it was highly recommended to us.
We were able to take our dogs in this park. We had 2 small dogs and 3 medium sized dogs (10-11kg) and they were a little hesitant to let the ‘big’ dogs in as they called them. We just told them our dogs are not big and walked in. They didn’t try to stop us, but they may stop you from entering if your dog is indeed a big dog.
If you have a large dog, be prepared to negotiate or possibly be turned away at this area.
Houtouwan the most popular abandoned fishing village on the island.
For me this was the whole reason I made the trek to the island. I had been talking about going to this fishing village for years. And it did not disappoint in the least.
It is an amazing sight to see nature reclaim something that has long been forgotten by people. Moss covers the houses. There are even trees growing right out of the middle of a few houses. You are allowed to walk about the village, but not allowed to go into the buildings for obvious safety concerns.
There are two ticket options at Houtouwan. The cheaper option is to go only to the observation deck. The more expensive, and in my opinion totally worth it, option is a combination ticket for the observation deck and access to the village itself. If you want to walk around the village this is the option you will want.
We had no problems bringing our 5 dogs through the village with us. No-one seemed to care at all that we brought our dogs. We even let them off leash to explore once we were in the village. I was surprised to find out that there are some houses in the village that are still inhabited. You can see them scattered amongst the forgotten houses.
Gouqi island is covered in little beaches everywhere you turn. There are two main beaches on the island that have an admission cost. These beaches are the larger beaches and have little obstacles in the water to play on.
We did not go to these beaches as we assumed they are probably not dog friendly. Right across from our guesthouse there was a small beach where we would take the dogs. They absolutely loved running and digging in the sand. Small beaches like this were scattered throughout the island. No-one seemed to care we brought our dogs to these beaches. We even had a few women we met at the beach in the mornings who knew our dogs’ names and would pet and play with them.
I love getting lost in a place, that is how you truly get to experience it. I highly recommend just taking your dog for a walk and getting a little lost on the island.
This island is perfect for just that because it is so relaxed and laid back. We spent a day just walking around the island. I couldn’t tell you where we ended up, but it started at lover’s stone. We saw lovers stone on our map and headed in that direction. We spent some time on the beach by the stone and decided we wanted to get some lunch. We looked up and saw a hotel overlooking the beach. We thought we’d give it a try and see if we could eat there with our dogs. Our 5 dogs were no problem for them, and they even brought out water dishes for the dogs.
After lunch we decided to go on a small adventure. We went up the stairs close to the hotel we just ate lunch at. Here we crossed over a dam and found a temple. The path was completely off the beaten trail, and it looked like it kept going for a while. We decided to turn around (I still regret not trying to see where it went). We walked along the path until we found a road which led to small little village. We were on top of a hill, so the view was great, and the little village was very quaint. We wandered around for bit on our way back to our guesthouse.
Note: Getting around the island is fairly cheap and easy. Our guesthouse called a taxi for us. We paid less than 100rmb for him to take us (and our 5 dogs) to the cliffs and Houtouwan. He waited in each place for us and then took us back to the guesthouse.
