Kinmen National Park 金門國家公園

About Kinmen National Park

Zhongshanlin Visitor Center introduces these themes together, helping explain why a village, a tunnel and a wetland belong to the same park. This is a network of places rather than one enclosed scenic area.

Shuitou offers a settlement-focused visit, while Zhaishan Tunnel shows a former military waterway cut into the rock. Choose one geographical cluster and check the individual site notices. Zhaishan is scheduled to close to ordinary visits on 16–18 October 2026 for the tunnel music festival.

Kinmen National Park was announced in May 1995 and its management office was established in October 1995, making it the Republic of China's sixth national park, its first on an outlying island, and its first built around protecting historical and cultural heritage and military-battle memorials alongside natural-resource conservation.

The park is divided into five zones: Taiwu Mountain (太武山) at the centre of Kinmen island, Guningtou (古宁头) in the northwest, Gugang (古岗) in the southwest, Mashan (马山) in the northeast, and Lieyu (烈屿), together covering about 3,720.7 hectares, a quarter of Kinmen County's area. Geologically the island splits along the Qionglin-Shangyi line (琼林—尚义连线) into an eastern half of exposed granite gneiss and a western half of laterite, with its northeastern, southeastern and Lieyu coasts eroded into sea cliffs and wave-cut platforms.

The subtropical maritime climate brings strong winds, an average temperature of about 21 degrees Celsius, dry winters and foggy springs; annual rainfall of about 1,000 millimetres, mostly falling between February and September, is outweighed by evaporation above 1,600 millimetres, leaving semi-arid conditions that limit agriculture. Large wildlife is scarce after early development and repeated wars, but the park shelters the endangered otter and the ancient horseshoe crab and Chinese lancelet, and is a stopover for large numbers of migratory birds each autumn and winter.

What to look for

• Zhongshanlin introduces the park’s cultural and natural themes.
• Shuitou preserves a traditional settlement connected with overseas travel.
• Zhaishan Tunnel reveals the island’s former military infrastructure.

Location & getting there

Getting to Kinmen National Park

Zhongshanlin Visitor Center is at 460, Section 2, Boyu Road in Jinning. Use it as an orientation stop, then arrange transport to the individual park sites. The map’s park pin is not an entrance that gives access to all of them.