Shenzhen

Shenzhen is a major city in Guangdong Province, China; it forms part of the Pearl River Delta megalopolis, bordering Hong Kong to the south, Huizhou to the northeast, and Dongguan to the northwest.

So if your a planning a short trip to Shenzhen (no need more than a week unless planning to move around), I’d recommend you visit these particular places:

1. Walk in Shenzhen Bay Park 深圳湾公园

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Shenzhen Bay Park 深圳湾公园 is the longest coastal park of Shenzhen (China). If you really love cycling or long walks this place will be perfect with great views of Hong Kong New Territories on the other side of the bay and Nanshan & Futian districts. Ideal for night!

To get there take metro Line 9 at Shenzhen Bay Park station (深圳湾公园站) exit C.

2. Explore Shenzhen Central Park 深圳中心公园

Central Park 深圳中心公园 is located in the heart of the Commercial Business District (CBD) of Futian, Shenzhen (China). It is free entry and considered one of the most underrated parks of the city

To get there take the subway to Huaqiang North Station and Exit A on the orange line and then straight ahead for almost 400 meters

3. Walk & chill at OCT Loft

OCT Loft 华侨城创意园 offers a different side of Shenzhen with its green paths, areas and parks. In additional, OCT Loft is one of the main points of interest for art and photography lovers, yet for coffee lovers as this place offers plenty of cafeshops

To get there take metro Line 1 to Windows of the World 世界之窗 and then transfer to Line 2 to Qiaocheng North Station 侨城北 and take exit B. The easiest way is following the OCT Hospital indications, since is near to the area.

4. Visit the Phoenix Mountain 凤凰山公园

Phoenix Mountain (凤凰山公园)  is located in Bao’an district of Shenzhen (China). This place is a great option for a walk and see a small nature side of Shenzhen with its lake surrounded of mountains and trees. A walk to the top you’ll have views of Bao’an district and a temple with its little pagoda

To get there can take Didi, the bus M433 or metro to 塘尾 Tangwei and walk or grab taxi from here to the mountain

5. Explore Nantou Village 南头

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Nantou Ancient Village 南头 is a historical monument in Shenzhen, China. It was the former administrative centre of Xin’an County. This place is perfect if you want to see the traditional side of China within a small neighborhood despite this places has been renewed and became commercial. Stroll through its narrow streets gives you the chance to see how the locals are living here.

To get there take metro to Taoyuan exit B and walk for 10-15 minutes or grab a taxi

6. Drop by Tulip Streets 荷兰花卉小镇

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Tulip streets or Netherlands Flower Town 荷兰花卉小镇 is an European-styled town located at Nanshan district in Shenzhen (China) which has been re-opened on 2011.

This little town offers a strange combination of plants, flowers, pets & cafe shops near a park, which makes it a good place to visit if you want to spend few hours of chilling

To get there you can walk for about 10 minutes from Nantou Village or by bus. The bus station is Xinghai Mingcheng (星海名城站), many buses can take you there, such as 42, 201, 223, 324, b623, b688, b699, b702, b813, m364, m370, m375.

The nearest metro station is Daxin Station at Line 1, take exit B and walk for few minutes to the north.

Alternatively, can grab a taxi/didi. By typing in Didi app (English version) “flower”, you may see that the first option is this little town to select

Address: 3008, Yueliangwan Avenue, Nanshan, Shenzhen

地址： 南山区月亮湾大道3008号

7. Walk through Shenzhen Bay Park promenade 

Shenzhen Bay Park Bridge may be an alternative to Shenzhen Bay Park. Both places are connected through the same promenade but the starting point are located in different sides. Through this walk you can see a little port in Sea World, the bridge that connects to Hong Kong and Talent Park. The walk takes roughly more than an hour

To get there take metro to Sea World and walk towards the sea passing by Nanhai Rose Garden, keep walking to Shekou Fishing Harbor and keep coasting to Shenzhen Bay Park Bridge or Talent Park farther ahead. Then you can come back by metro in Wanxia or Haiyue Stations

8. Visit Dafen Painting Village 大芬

Dafen Painting Village 大芬 is a suburb of Buji in Shenzhen, China. The area is an artist village for the production of replicas of masterworks and outsourcing of original art creation. Great place for a stroll and enjoy the traditional art of China

To get there take metro to Dafen Station exit A1 and walk straight away until finding the neighborhood

9. Hike up to Nanshan Mountain

Nanshan mountain also known as Nanshan Park, is one of the most popular mountains in Shenzhen. Great place for an amazing cityscape of Shenzhen. From the top of the mountain you will see mostly all Shenzhen. Highly recommended to visit or stay at night. The “hike” is paved with stairs and lights so is basically a walk to the top and safe to visit or back at night

To get there take metro yo Sea World exit D and head towards the mountain and then follow the indications to Nanshan Park.

10. Day/Night Hike to TanglangShan 塘朗山 郊野公园

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Tanglang Mountain 塘朗山 郊野公园 is located in Nanshan District, Shenzhen (China). With an elevation of 430m, Tanglang Mountain is the third highest peak in Shenzhen.

This mountain has two routes to reach the summit: road and paved stones trail. The climbing takes about 1-2 hours in relax rate or 45 minutes in good rate.

The hike is pretty easy and safe what makes it is perfect for a night hike by following the road. The night views from the top are pretty amazing

To get there take metro to Taoyuancun Line 7 and Exit D. Walk forward until seeing the mountain in the right side. Then walk towards the mountain and will be visible the Trail starting point

11. Watch the Lights Night Show at Lianhuashan Park 莲花山公园

Lianhuashan Park 莲花山公园 is a hill and urban park in Shenzhen, China. It is located at the northern end of the Futian Central Business District and covers an area of 150 hectares. Atop the 106-metre hill is a large bronze statue of Deng Xiaoping and views of Futian Central Business District. This park is very popular for its night lights shows, so is highly recommended to come before night and find a spot at the top to have a look to the night show. It usually starts at 8pm and last about one hour

To get there take metro to Children’s Palace exit F2, cross the park until finding the stairs up to the top

12. Hike at Yangtaishan 羊台山

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Located in Bao’an district of Shenzhen (China), Yangtaishan 羊台山 is a mountain of about 587 meters in height. It’s not as high as Wutong mountain but the summit will surprise you with its stunning views of Bao’an, Nanshan & Longgang districts.

To get there take the bus 769 or 635. If you take the bus 635, you may transfer bus at Shiyan Bus General Station and grab the bus 769 to Yangtai Mountain Station.

Otherwise, you may take Didi or taxi to get there. We grabbed a taxi from Shenzhen North Station to Shiyan entrance and costs 45RMB

13. Escape to Dapeng Old Town 

is a well-preserved town located at the east of Longgang District in Shenzhen (China). Through its narrow streets can get to the Fortress and at 5-10 minutes driving distance can get easily to Dongshan temple. By walking distance should be about 30-40 minutes though

To get there:

CAR

This is the way how I got there since is the easiest and recommended way. The journey takes about one hour departing from Louhu/Longgang district. Find a friend with car or rent it totally worth it.

BUS

This is the slowest and the last alternative. Usually takes about 2 hours or more

-From Yinghu Bus Station: Bus E11 to Dapeng -> Bus B756 to Dapeng Suocheng

-From Futian Bus Station: Bus H92 to Dapeng -> Bus B756 to Dapeng Suocheng

-From Longgang: Bus 833 to Dapeng -> Bus B756 to Dapeng Suocheng

-From Longgang Bus Terminal: Bus 818 to Dapeng -> Bus B756 to Dapeng Suocheng

 

Easy steps to use Didi through WeChat

 

Didi 滴滴 is a mobile platform taxi-calling application in China. This app is one of the largest apps in China to hire a personal taxi. It’s basically the Uber/Grab in the mainland. This app can be loaded through Wechat, which provides more apps within Didi 滴滴. It means that there are more taxi options than the single Didi app, despite the single Didi app may be found in English version.

For its use, is not necessary to understand Chinese, just to know where to click. I will explain the most basic steps to let you hire a personal taxi. For any other particular use, better check with some locals that they will certainly help you

What to do if the driver call you and you don’t speak Chinese?

-Usually before hiring a car, I do translate a brief description of myself (such as the color of my clothes, etc) and my location, highlighting that I don’t speak Chinese. Then I send this info to the driver by a message once the car is hired. Being foreigner, will be easier to be spotted!

Please note that I did not translate accurately the real meaning of services. It’s explained by what locals told me and by personal experience

To launch Didi 滴滴, open Wechat and click Order Taxi

1. DIDI SERVICE

In the next menu, you will find the following details:

By clicking “Origin“, you will see the next display. There are 2 ways to set your Origin, by typing the address in Chinese, or by selecting a pointer in the map.

 

The following screen shows an example. By typing the Origin, will display several options to choose. The most convenient and wise is to choose an easy location to skip a call from the driver, unless you speak a good Chinese. Eg: metro stations, bus stations, etc.

Once your Origin is selected, click “Destination”

There is only one way to choose your destination and is by typing the address in Chinese. This time there is no pointer to select. I choose Shenzhen Bay Port as example, but do not despair, you can find your wanted destination in Chinese searching it in Baidu or Google.

Once chosen your destination, you will see the following screen. From this screen, you may choose a Deluxe car and Normal car. Sometimes there is no difference at all. Personally, I found some Normal cars very clean and providing water, and Deluxe cars really dirty and old.

By selecting Normal car, you may choose between a Shared car or Personal car. The price may vary. Shared car is much cheaper, but takes longer since you are sharing the car with more customers. The driver will pick up more people and drive around the area much longer than a Personal car.

By selecting Normal car, you will be able also to set a pick up time by clicking the clock icon. This icon is show in other taxi options as well to arrange a taxi service anytime

Once selected what you need, just have to click NEXT and a search will start to find a Taxi nearby.

2. SINGLE TAXI

If you only want to arrange a Taxi, select the following option and set a time. Personally, this option is not really useful having different options at much better prices. Yet is well known that many taxis in mainland have the taximeter rigged

3. DELUXE/SPECIAL SERVICE

This is another option provided by this app which I don’t really know how reliable is. It shows Airport Departure and Arrival options below, which most likely is a full service whether your destination is the any airport. Totally unknown for me. I will explain more whether I am able to find information

4. PICK UP SERVICE

This service is really useful and the cheapest. If you are not in the rush to arrange a service, you may use this option. Through this service, the driver will pick you up on the way to his/her destination. This is not a personal taxi, only if you are going to the same destination as the driver, he/she may accept your arrangement and take you to the destination chosen. Easy and convenient.

This option also can choose the time and the number of passengers

 

You will notice that the last option has the lowest price. So, as long as you are not in the rush, this option is really great to get to your destination at an affordable price (50% cheaper than other options).

Once set your destination and time, click NEXT and you will keep waiting for a driver to accept your arrangement. If you see that any driver accepts your arrangement, you can increase its value by 5, 10 or more RMB to make it more eye catching

Otherwise if no luck after a while waiting, you may cancel by clicking in the above button!

Note: if you manage to find a driver with this service, you have to pay immediately once you get into the car since the price is already agreed, not at the end like the Personal taxi/Didi service

I hope this guide have been helpful for you 🙂