Things to Do in Shenzhen

Editor's picks

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

Huaqiangbei electronics markets

Landmark · Futian, central

Several city blocks of multi-storey markets selling every component, tool, module and counterfeit gadget in existence.

Local tip: The ground floors sell finished goods to visitors. The interesting floors are upstairs and at the back — component vendors, repair benches and prototype shops, where the people who actually build things go. Bring a specific part number and you will be astonished at what happens next.

Shekou & Sea World

Neighborhood · Western Nanshan, on the bay

The original foreign enclave — a former industrial port turned into a waterfront district of bars, restaurants and international schools around a beached cruise ship.

Local tip: Shekou is where most of Shenzhen's foreign residents landed first and many never left. The ferry terminal here runs directly to Hong Kong airport, which is genuinely the fastest way to fly long-haul out of Shenzhen.

OCT-LOFT & Nanshan cultural district

Culture · Overseas Chinese Town, Nanshan

A converted 1980s factory complex holding independent bookshops, galleries, design studios and the city's best small music venues.

Local tip: The northern half is the good half — quieter, more studios, fewer chain cafés. The B10 live house here is the most serious independent music room in the Pearl River Delta.

Dongmen Old Street

Food · Luohu, near the Hong Kong border

The closest thing Shenzhen has to an old commercial quarter — dense pedestrian shopping streets and a deep concentration of regional Chinese food.

Local tip: Shenzhen has no native cuisine because it has almost no natives; what it has instead is every provincial cuisine in China cooked by people who grew up eating it. Dongmen is where that is most concentrated — Chaoshan beef hotpot, Hunanese, Northeastern, all within a few streets.

Shenzhen Bay Park & the mangrove reserve

Nature · Nanshan, along the bay facing Hong Kong

A long waterfront park along the bay with Hong Kong's hills directly across the water, and a protected mangrove wetland at its eastern end.

Local tip: The Futian mangrove reserve is on the East Asian–Australasian flyway and takes tens of thousands of migratory birds each winter — black-faced spoonbills among them. Access to the reserve proper is controlled, but the park path beside it gives you most of it for free.

Wutong Mountain & the eastern coast

Hidden gem

Nature · Eastern Shenzhen, Yantian and Dapeng

The city's highest peak at around 944 metres, with the Dapeng peninsula's beaches, coves and a walled Ming garrison town beyond it.

Local tip: Almost every visitor thinks Shenzhen is only towers. Dapeng peninsula, an hour east, has clear water, good coastal walking and Dapeng Fortress — a genuinely old walled town that predates the city around it by four hundred years. Go on a weekday; the beaches are packed at weekends.

Explore 125 places across Shenzhen

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

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Museum · 21Landmark · 8Monument · 6Religious · 19Archaeological · 3Park · 65Attraction · 3Open in OpenStreetMap

Museums & galleries

(21)

Photograph unavailable Shenzhen Museum

Museum

Shenzhen Museum

Museum in Shenzhen, Guangdong, China

Editor's picks

Huaqiangbei electronics markets

Shekou & Sea World

OCT-LOFT & Nanshan cultural district

Dongmen Old Street

Shenzhen Bay Park & the mangrove reserve

Wutong Mountain & the eastern coast

Explore 125 places across Shenzhen

Museums & galleries

Shenzhen Museum

Sam Tung Uk Museum

Jockey Club Museum of Climate Change

Lantau Link Visitors Centre and Viewing Platform

Tao Heung Foods of Mankind Museum

He Xiangning Art Museum

Museum of Contemporary Art & Planning Exhibition, Shenzhen

Ping Shan Tang Clan Gallery

Art Museum of the Chinese University of Hong Kong

Nanshan Museum

Shenzhen Art Museum

Museum of Ethnology

Sea World Culture and Arts Center

Hong Kong Museum of Education

Nantou Ancient City Museum

National Education Centre

Guan Shanyue Art Museum

Zhongying Street Historical Museum

Yi Tai Study Hall

Shenzhen Industrial Museum

Wangye Museum

Landmarks & architecture

Lantau Link

Rambler Channel Bridge

Hau Tei Square

Po Heung Bridge

The University Mall

Shing Mun Redoubt

萊洞 Loi Tung

Ma Liu Shui San Tsuen

Monuments & memorials

Goddess of Democracy

Spring Breeze Pavilion

Reunification Memorial Pillar

Lai Tau Shek

College Sign

Deng Xiaoping Statue

Places of worship

Shenzhen Mosque

Yuen Yuen Institute

Fan Sin Temple

Church of Christ in China Kei Long College

Christian Shenzhen Church

St. Thomas The Apostle Church

St. Jerome's Church (Hong Kong)

Ss. Peter and Paul Church

St. Joseph's Church, Fanling

Crown of Thorns' Church

Saints Cosmas and Damian Church

St. Anthony's Catholic Church

Christ the King Church, Shenzhen

CCC Chuen Yuen Church

Tsung Kyam Church

Cheng Hon Pang Ancestral Hall

Man Tak Yuen

Ling Wan Monastery

Tin Hau Temple

Heritage & archaeology

PB401

Lin Fa Shan Public School

PB403

Parks & nature

Kadoorie Farm and Botanic Garden

Tai Po Waterfront Park

Fairylake Botanical Garden

Lianhuashan Park

Ma Wan Park

Tin Shui Wai Park

East Lake Park

Lok Ma Chau Garden