Shenzhen Travel Guide: Top Attractions & Tips for First-Time Tourists

We have witnessed Shenzhen staggering transformation. In just a few of decades, a collection of fishing villages evolved into a global megacity with nearly 20 million residents.

Our guide aims to help you navigate both the high-tech districts and the historic lanes where the local spirit of Shenzhen remains vibrant. Plan your first trip with confidence as you discover the balance between innovation and heritage.

How to Get Around Shenzhen as a Tourist

It is difficult to “google” stuff while planning for this trip because Google searches yield not so useful results. We used Baidu for our planning when Google fell short. Understanding Chinese helps, Google Translate was handy too. Most of “internet” resides in their Super Apps (eg. WeChat), and its full functions are not available via a web browser.

Take the case of finding an english Shenzhen Metro Map from official sources. All the decent resolution metro maps we could find are in Chinese. The official Shenzhen Metro english website was perpetually inaccessible. We included the next best official website we can find in our China Metro Maps post.

In essence, China’s whole internet and information are in WeChat, you need to have it installed to scan QR codes to access information. Without this, we felt handicapped during our trip!

While Google Maps and some of its other services were still accessible, (thanks to the eSIMs we bought). Information on google maps is scant. Places of interest are hard to find, and food reviews are non-existent. Thankfully, there are decent Google Maps alternatives. You can access them on a browser, but we recommend you download the apps before you travel for a better experience. Unfortunately, they are all in Chinese only.

We spent 3 days exploring Shenzhen, and here are all the places we highly recommend you visit!

Explore Dongmen Pedestrian Street 东门步行街

THE place for shopping. For first timers to Shenzhen, we highly recommended staying near Dongmen, specifically Hyatt Place Dongmen, to make sure you can do as much shopping as possible. This whole area was buzzing with people till late and gives similar vibes as South Korea’s Myeongdong and Taipei’s Ximending, supercharged.

In this area, you find a huge range of shopping to do. Explore the small alleys, and individual buildings and you will find yourself in rows of shops selling all kinds of stuff. It was disorienting at first, but we got used to it soon.

To get to Dongmen Pedestrian Street, take Line 1 or Line 3 to Laojie (老街). Most of the metro exits will take you to some part of Dongmen. Suggest you start from Exit E or F in your exploration.

Shopping at Huaqiangbei Electronics Market 华强北

There are many buildings here packed with hundred (maybe thousands) stalls selling all kinds of electrical, electronics and accessories. You can get a sense of the scale and massiveness of this area with a quick Youtube search.

We replaced our iPad Pro screen for ¥600, after some negotiation. We opted for the “better” screen which allows Apple pencil use. The screen replacement could be cheaper if you do not need Apple pencil compatibility. The workmanship and quality of the screen replacement was decent. And there were no issues with the screen after 3 months still.

There are also non-electronics shopping malls along the street, some with luxury brands. You can easily spend the whole day wandering and shopping. Some notable finds:

1. Mobile accessories - iPhone/iPad covers and screen protectors. It will not be easy to find other Brands though. The stalls are flooded with Apple and Chinese mobile brands (eg. Huawei, Xiaomi, Oppo, Vivo, etc.).

2. Electric Toothbrush.

3. Drones. Mostly DJI.

To get to Huaqiangbei, take the metro to either 华强北 or 华新 station. The main street is actually in between these 2 stations.

Halloween at Window of the World 世界之窗

This place needs little introduction. It is probably the top recommendation for places to visit in Shenzhen. Visiting during Halloween season was especially fun! Staff was dressed for the occasion and we were impressed by the decorations put up there. We highly recommend going! Night tickets, for entry after 6pm, are cheaper too (¥100 vs ¥220)!

The most convenient, and cheaper, way to secure tickets was via the Super Apps. But it was impossible to buy without a local mobile number. So we had to buy the ticket from the ticket counter, and they only start selling night tickets at 6pm. Else, try for cheaper tickets via Klook or Trip.com.

Queues start forming before 6pm, but it gets cleared quite fast. There are a very limited number of lockers for rent near the ticket counter, so travel light and bring water. It is a huge park and there is much to explore, with decent food options too. People of all ages are gonna find plenty to do or see there. Be sure to grab a map of the park after you enter the park.

Simply take the metro to 世界之窗 station and you are right at the entrance. Super convenient!

Visit Sea World 海上世界 for Waterfront Dining

The centrepiece of Sea World is the defunct ship, Minghua, in the man-made “sea”. Sea World is suited for families to visit, with plenty of open space to roam. It is also right next to Nvwa Park (女娲滨海公园) by the actual waterfront.

We tried the crab porridge at 金稻园砂锅粥 and it was pretty good, almost as good as the famous crab porridge at Macau. We should have ordered their “特大蟹” in hindsight, it was only ¥20 more. Using the maps we mentioned above, it was easy to get around and find food options. While it is mostly in Chinese, you may still find some results using english too.

Getting to Sea World is simple, take the metro to 海上世界 station and take Exit A.

Wander Among Locals at Nanshan Village 南山村

Nanshan Village 南山村 connects to Nanyuan Village 南园村 and Beitou Village 北头村. With a history exceeding 700 years, it stands as one of the oldest Cantonese-style villages in Shenzhen.

The low-rise village structures contrast directly with the surrounding modern skyscrapers right across the street. Walking into the village transports you to the traditional daily life of residents. One interesting fact about this village is that most villagers hold the surname Chen, followed by a minority surnamed Liang.

Notable architecture includes the Chen Clan Ancestral Hall 陈氏宗祠 and Chunniu Hall 春牛堂 (Nanshan Tianhou Temple), both built during the Qing Dynasty, and the Lansuo Chen Ancestral Hall 兰所陈公祠 from the Ming Dynasty.

To reach Nanshan Village, take the metro to Litchi Orchards 荔林 station and use Exit D.

China has transformed quickly all these years and we liked how easy it was to get around now. However, accessibility of information is still not tourist friendly, especially if you are non-Chinese speaking.

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