Shenzhen
Shenzhen is the city you walk into China through: seven road and two rail crossings link it to Hong Kong, and most people arrive on foot at Luohu or Futian. It is the easiest of the eight cities to pay in, the newest, and the one with the least history — every metro gate takes a foreign card, but forty years ago this was fishing villages; come for the coast, the theme parks and a city that has only just grown up, not for antiquity.
The Districts
Luohu: the Border Crossing and Old Shenzhen
10 placesThe crossing from Hong Kong, the 1980s city around Dongmen, the Diwang deck looking back into the New Territories, and the temple and botanical garden under Wutong Mountain.
Futian: the Civic Centre, Ping An Tower and Huaqiangbei
11 placesThe skyline district: the Ping An deck, the free view from Lianhua Hill, a museum that names foreign passports in writing, the electronics warrens of Huaqiangbei, and the station that reaches Hong Kong in a quarter of an hour.
Nanshan and Shekou: Shenzhen Bay, the Ferry Port and Nantou Old Town
12 placesThirteen kilometres of free waterfront looking at Hong Kong, Shekou's expat quarter and ferry port, the rebuilt walled town at Nantou, and the new ground at Qianhai.
OCT: Theme Parks and the Creative Quarter
7 placesThe company town of Chinese theme parks - Window of the World, Splendid China, Happy Valley - and, free behind them, the converted factories of OCT-LOFT and three art museums.
Yantian: Wutong Mountain, the Meisha Beaches and Chung Ying Street
8 placesThe city's highest mountain, its free and ticketed beaches at Dameisha and Xiaomeisha, a 19.5 km coastal boardwalk, and the permit-only street at Sha Tau Kok where the Hong Kong border runs down the pavement.
Dapeng Peninsula: the Ming Fort and the Good Beaches
10 placesA walled Ming garrison from 1394, the guesthouse beach at Jiaochangwei, the big beaches at Xichong and Dongchong, the sea wall to Lujui, and seafood at Nan'ao.
Beyond the Old Line: the Stations, the Hakka Walled Villages and the Oyster Coast
10 placesThe arrival and departure points, the painters' village at Dafen, the Hakka walled compounds of Longgang and Pingshan, and the thousand-year-old oyster coast at Shajing.
Browse by theme
🥟 Must-eat Shenzhen
Theme28 dishes by shelf — start with these, at the table, street and breakfast, in season, tea, coffee and imports, souvenirs, vegetarian and halal — each with where to get it.
📅 What to eat this month
By monthXiasha poon choi — the village feast in a basin in Feb, fuyong roe crab and glass noodles in a clay pot in Apr, cantonese sweet soups — double-skin milk, ginger milk, mung bean in Jun, shajing oysters — the oyster village of bao'an in Nov — eat what the season is eating.
⚖️ Which Crossing to Hong Kong from Shenzhen?
DecisionChoose the Hong Kong crossing by where you start, where you are going and when you need to pass immigration.
⚖️ Which of Shenzhen's Four Railway Stations?
DecisionChoose among Shenzhen's four railway stations by destination and where you are staying.
⚖️ Using the 240-Hour Visa-Free Transit in Shenzhen
DecisionDecide whether your Shenzhen transit route qualifies before buying the onward ticket.
⚖️ Dapeng Peninsula in a Day
DecisionChoose one Dapeng route rather than trying to cover the fortress, observatory coast and Yangmeikeng in a day.
⚖️ Nanshan and Shekou in Half a Day
DecisionChoose one Nanshan half-day rather than grouping Shekou, Chiwan, Nantou and OCT by district name.
⚖️ Futian in Half a Day: Civic Centre, Lianhuashan, the Museums and Huaqiangbei
DecisionChoose one Futian half-day instead of assuming everything in the district is nearby.
Getting by in Shenzhen
Tap any line for the details.
Three choices for a first visit. (1) Futian - the centre, and the one to take if Hong Kong is part of the trip. Futian Port puts you on Metro Line 4 straight off the MTR at Lok Ma Chau, and Futian station, about 3 km north and three levels underground, is fourteen minutes from Hong Kong West Kowloon by high-speed rail; the Civic Centre, Shenzhen Museum's free history hall with its written passport lane, Lianhua Hill and Huaqiangbei are all inside the district, on Lines 1/2/3/4/9/10/11/14. The price: offices, malls and eight-lane roads, no old quarter, almost nothing built before the 1980s - and two different places called Futian, 3 km apart, with different hours (the port shuts at 22:30, the station's checkpoint runs to 23:30). (2) Luohu - the oldest and scruffiest part of the city, and the cheapest arrival if you are coming by train. The Lo Wu crossing runs 6:30-24:00 and opens straight onto Shenzhen railway station and the bus station, with Dongmen two stops up Line 1; Lines 1/2/3/5/7/9. The price: this crossing has the city's most persistent touting problem - in November 2025 the provincial transport department published a case of a 20-yuan ride out of Luohu charged at 90 - and one name, Luohu, covers the crossing, the railway station and the metro station, so telling a driver 'Luohu' tells him nothing. (3) Nanshan and Shekou - where foreign residents actually live. Sea World's bars and restaurants, thirteen free kilometres of Shenzhen Bay Park facing the hills of Hong Kong, the cruise terminal with boats to Hong Kong airport and Macau, and Lines 1/2/5/9/11/12/13. The price: it is the far west of the city, an hour from Luohu, and the bay is a year-round fishing-ban zone beside a national nature reserve, so nobody swims on that shore. Whichever you pick, check which station is printed on your rail ticket before you book a bed: Shenzhen station is in Luohu, Futian station is under the centre, Shenzhen North is out in Longhua and Shenzhen East is at Buji, and in Chinese the four names differ by a character or two. And in the warm half of the year, book somewhere you can reach without a long walk in the open: a typhoon orange or rainstorm red signal closes the beaches, parks and scenic areas at once, and the day you lose is usually the day you had put on the coast.
