Things to Do in Guangzhou

Editor's picks

A local's shortlist — the places worth your time first, each with a tip.

Shamian Island

Landmark · Liwan, on the Pearl River

A small sandbank that was the foreign concession from 1859 — colonial banks and consulates, banyan trees, and almost no traffic.

Local tip: Go early. By mid-morning it fills with wedding photographers, and the point of Shamian is that it is the one place in Guangzhou where you can hear birds. The old Anglican church and the riverside path on the south side are the good parts.

Xiguan & Enning Road

Neighborhood · Liwan, west of the old city

The historic Cantonese merchant quarter — arcaded qilou shophouses, Cantonese opera houses and the oldest food streets in the city.

Local tip: Enning Road has been restored and is busy; the interesting part is the lanes running off it, where the old Xiguan houses with their carved wooden folding doors are still lived in. This is where Cantonese food culture is at its densest and least performed.

Zhujiang New Town & Canton Tower

Landmark · Tianhe, the modern CBD

The new central axis — the opera house, the library, the museum, and the tapering Canton Tower across the river.

Local tip: The axis is best walked at night from the library down to the river. Skip the tower's paid observation deck; the free view from the Haixinsha park at the base of the axis, looking across at the lit tower, is the better one.

Qingping and the tea markets

Food · Liwan and Fangcun

Guangzhou's traditional medicine, dried goods and tea wholesale markets — enormous, working, and utterly unlike a tourist market.

Local tip: Fangcun is the largest tea wholesale market in China and the vendors will brew for you at length whether or not you buy. Go with a Cantonese-speaking friend, allow three hours, and expect to leave with more pu'er than you intended.

Xiaobei & Dengfeng

Neighborhood · Yuexiu, north of the centre

The trading district that has hosted Africa's and the Middle East's business communities in China for two decades.

Local tip: The restaurants here are the real reason to come — Nigerian, Ethiopian, Turkish, Uyghur and Yemeni cooking that exists nowhere else on the mainland at this quality. Numbers have fallen since 2020 but the food and the freight forwarders are still there.

Baiyun Mountain at dawn

Hidden gem

Nature · Baiyun district, northern Guangzhou

A 380-metre wooded massif inside the city, laced with paved paths and used properly by locals rather than visitors.

Local tip: Go at six in the morning and you will find several thousand Guangzhou residents walking, singing opera, practising tai chi and drinking tea at the summit teahouses. It is the single best window into ordinary Cantonese life in the city, it is free before a certain hour, and almost no foreign resident ever goes.

Explore 77 places across Guangzhou

Museums, landmarks, monuments, heritage sites and parks — mapped, with photos. The most notable spots first.

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Museum · 17Landmark · 14Monument · 5Religious · 16Archaeological · 4Park · 18Attraction · 3Open in OpenStreetMap

Museums & galleries

(17)

Photograph unavailable Guangdong Museum

Museum

Guangdong Museum

General museum in Guangzhou, Guangdong, China

Editor's picks

Shamian Island

Xiguan & Enning Road

Zhujiang New Town & Canton Tower

Qingping and the tea markets

Xiaobei & Dengfeng

Baiyun Mountain at dawn

Explore 77 places across Guangzhou

Museums & galleries

Guangdong Museum

Chen Clan Academy

Guangdong Museum of Revolutionary History

Guangdong Science Center

Nanyue King Museum

Xuelei Fragrance Museum

Memorial Museum of Generalissimo Sun Yat-sen's Mansion

Guangdong Museum of Art

Cantonese Opera Art Museum

Wong Fei-hung Memorial Hall

Guangzhou Museum

Site of Palace and Garden, Nanyue King Museum

Guangdong Overseas Chinese Museum

The Museum of Biology, Sun Yat-sen University

Liwan Museum

10,000 Tree Cottage

Memorial of the March 29th. Uprising Headquarters

Landmarks & architecture

Guangzhou Bridge

Haiyin Bridge

Hedong Bridge

Yajisha Bridge

Jiangwan Bridge

Haizhu Square

Memorial square of the first national congress of the Communist Youth League of China

Zhujiang Bridge

Shijing Bridge

Doi Jyut Bridge

Former police dorm. of the 11th District Police Station

Black Flag Army Camp Remains

General Temple

联鹤新街2、4、6、8、10号民居

Monuments & memorials

Memorial to the Shakee Massacre

Chen Yu Statue

Yun Dai-ying Statue

Lie Rong-zhen Statue

Yang Yin Statue

Places of worship

Huaisheng Mosque

Sacred Heart Cathedral

Xianxian Mosque

Xiaodongying Mosque

Our Lady of Lourdes Chapel

Shamian Christian Church

Tianhe Church

Christ Church Dongshan

Nanhai Guanyin Temple

Christ Church Wanshan

Zion Christian Church of Guangzhou

Haopan Street Mosque

Franciscan Church of the Five Injuries of Dongshan

FuiSing Temple

Three Purities Temple

Cui Clang Ancestral Hall

Heritage & archaeology

Southern Han Mausoleums Museum

Site of Nanyue Kingdom Palace

Archaeological Site of the Wooden Watergate of Nanyue Kingdom

Pearl stone

Parks & nature

Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall (Guangdong)

Yuexiu Hill

South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences

People's Park

Guangzhou Insurrectional Martyr Cemetery Park

Cemetery of 72 Martyrs of Yellow Flower Mound

Yuyin Shanfang

Dafushan Forest Park

Tianhe Park