Harking back to humble agricultural origins, the name Shenzhen literally means “Deep Drain” – and China’s tech metropolis is so large, busy and overwhelming that drained is precisely how the uninitiated can feel after spending time there.
But done right, the city of almost 18 million people can also surprise and enthral. It boasts a 271-kilometre coastline, for example, alongside hundreds of parks, world class cultural venues and a bookstore said to be the most beautiful in China. Unsurprisingly, the New York Times included Shenzhen on its list of the world’s best places to go, describing it as a “powerhouse of a city.”
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With a multitude of transport options available to get you to the city from Macao in as quickly as one hour, you’ve no excuse not to pay a visit. Arm yourself with this list of some of the best things to do in Shenzhen, and hopefully the experience will leave you not so much drained as delighted.
Shenzhen Museum of Contemporary Art & Planning Exhibition
The name of the Shenzhen Museum of Contemporary Art & Planning Exhibition (深圳市當代藝術與城市規劃館), abbreviated to MOCAPE, doesn’t exactly trip off the tongue, but this 91,000-square-metre urban landmark is certainly easy on the eye. Opened in 2017, it was designed by the avant garde Austrian architecture firm Coop Himmelblau and has an otherworldly feel.
As the name suggests, MOCAPE consists of two museums. The Museum of Contemporary Art showcases Chinese and international art in Asia’s biggest indoor art exhibition space. The Museum of Planning Exhibition, meanwhile, is dedicated to Shenzhen’s rapid development over the decades, with snazzy, multimedia installations, models and dioramas.
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After visiting MOCAPE, be sure to check out some of the other nearby attractions within walking distance. They include the Shenzhen Museum, which has permanent exhibitions on Shenzhen’s ancient and modern history; the Central Shenzhen Book Mall, one of the biggest single-storey book malls in the world; and the Shenzhen Concert Hall.
Opening hours: 10 am to 6 pm, Tuesday to Sunday. Closed on Mondays.
Admission: Free
Location: 184 Fuzhong Road, Futian Central District, Shenzhen City, Guangdong Province
Metro: Line 4 (Children’s Palace Station: Exit A2)
Dameisha Beach Park
Travelling to Dameisha Beach Park (大梅沙海濱公園) used to be a hassle, but the opening of Dameisha station on Line 8 of the Shenzhen Metro in December 2023 changed all that, giving visitors the ability to cut the traffic and reach one of the city’s longest beaches in roughly an hour.
At 1.8 kilometres in length, Dameisha is good for swimming, sunbathing and strolling – but don’t expect an unspoiled stretch of sandy coast. The beach is dotted with “instagrammable” installations – from statues to a luridly coloured sculpture of the word “Dameisha” – that are either eyesores or fun, depending on your point of view. There’s also an 81-metre-high observation tower looming over the sand as well as the Dameisha Coastal Walkway mall and the Dameisha 8 Warehouse Outlet, which features a range of domestic and global brands.
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That said, the area is home to the lovely InterContinental Shenzhen Dameisha Resort, where you can hide away in quiet luxury if you need to, and to the less fancy but perfectly comfortable Fairfield by Marriott Shenzhen Dameisha.
Opening Hours: 7 am to 11 pm
Admission: Free
Location: 33 Yanmei Road, Yantian District, Shenzhen, Guangdong Province
Metro: Line 8 (Dameisha Station, Exit B)
Dongmen Pedestrian Street
Lined with lively malls, Dongmen Pedestrian Street (東門步行街/東門老街/東門町) has been around since 1999.
Check out the nine-storey Sun Plaza (太陽廣場) for a plethora of lifestyle and clothing shops, or the trendier 1234space. Don’t miss the Shenzhen Wenheyou (深圳文和友) food mall, which takes design inspiration from gritty Kowloon streetscapes of the 1980s and 1990s, complete with neon signs, raw concrete and rusty corrugated iron.
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Dongmen is also home to a multitude of small stores and stalls selling a range of miscellaneous products, including hats, shoes, jewellery, clothes and snacks.
Opening hours: 24 hours (business hours vary for individual malls, shops and restaurants)
Location: Dongmen Pedestrian Street, Luohu District, Shenzhen, Guangdong Province
Metro: Line 1 (Laojie Station: Exit D)
Huaqiangbei Electronics Market
You can’t say you’ve visited Shenzhen unless you’ve been to Huaqiangbei Electronics Market (華強北) – the single biggest electronics marketplace in the world. The English name, however, is somewhat of a misnomer, as it is not a single establishment, but rather a shopping district clustered with electronics markets that are within walking distance from each other.
One of the biggest and most famous of them is SEG Electronics Market (賽格電子市場), which is housed on the first ten floors of SEG Plaza (賽格廣場). With a floor area of 56,000 square metres and some 3,000 stores, the market has you covered for almost any kind of electronic and computer component you can possibly need.
Floors 1 and 2 are for electronic components of all types, while floor 3 is stocked with digital products, GPS and an assortment of similar items. Floor 4, meanwhile, is stocked with computers from respected brands such as Dell, Acer and Apple. Floors 5 and 6 sell computer hardware equipment such as motherboards and CPUs. The last four storeys are reserved for accessories for computers, mobile phones, as well as gaming devices.
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Other electronics malls in Huaqiangbei that are worth looking into are the HQ-mart (華強電子世界), which consists of six floors of electronic goodness with products ranging from cameras to video game consoles, Yuanwang Digital Mall (願望數碼商場), and SEGCOM Market (賽格通信市場).
The shopping district even has its own museum. With displays in Chinese and English, the HQB Museum (華強北博物館) recounts the story of how Huaqiangbei developed from a backwater into a sprawling retail giant in the course of a few decades.
Feeling a little peckish after exploring all that gadgetry? The centrally located Loto underground shopping street (樂淘裡地下商業街) has a decent selection of dining options.
Opening hours: Varies depending on the mall and shops
Location: Huaqiangbei Road, Futian District, Shenzhen, Guangdong Province
Metro: Line 1 (Huaqiang Road Station: Exit A)
UniWalk Qianhai
Opened in 2017, the 360,000-square-metre, 8-storey behemoth known as UniWalk Qianhai (壹方城購物中心) is the largest mall in Shenzhen. It features over 400 branded stores – including international brands such as Omega, Uniqlo, Chanel, Piaget, Dior and Hugo Boss – and around 100 eateries, offering everything from dim sum to Thai.
Even if you don’t have the urge to shop, UniWalk Qianhai is still worth visiting for its modern architecture. The interior of the building is inspired by the idea of flowing water, while the stunning ceiling floods the mall with lots of natural lighting.
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There are a number of Instagrammable installations at UniWalk, most notably the stainless steel dragon in front entrance of the mall. Children will also have a great time at the mall, which boasts a game arcade, a VR game centre and a sprawling 6,000-square-metre playground.
Location: No. 99, Xinhu Road, Bao’an Central Business District, Bao’an District, Shenzhen, Guangdong Province
Opening hours: 10 am to 11 pm
Metro: Line 1 (Bao’an Centre: Exit F)
OCT-LOFT Creative Park (華僑城創意文化園）
Shenzhen’s boho quarter is the Overseas Chinese Town (OCT)-LOFT Creative Park. An industrial area in the 1980s, the 150,000-square-metre site was completely revamped in 2006, becoming a hub for creatives across the city.
Many of the art spaces, stores and centres in this area are housed in refurbished industrial buildings. Check out OCAT-B10, an impressive art museum with an open-air gallery that was originally a two-storey factory, as well as the Dplus Art Museum and ArtBay. There are plenty of shops on site, selling everything from books to upcycled bags and handmade accessories and jewellery.
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In case you’re feeling hungry, OCT-LOFT Creative Park has 20 or so restaurants and cafes. There’s also a live music venue, Penny Black Jazz Cafe, featuring performances from both domestic and international musicians.
The park hosts many events throughout the year, including the OCT-LOFT Jazz Festival, the OCT-LOFT Art Film Screening Project and the Bàng! Children’s Art Festival. Check out the park’s website for more details.
Opening hours: 24 hours (Operating hours varies depending on the business)
Location: Wenchang Street, Overseas Chinese Town, Nanshan District, Shenzhen, Guangdong Province
Metro: Line 1 (Qiaocheng East: Exit A)
Zhongzhou Bay C Future City (中洲灣C Future City)
Zhongzhou Bay C Future City (中洲灣C Future City) is one of the more recent additions to Shenzhen’s impressive list of malls, opening its doors in December 2022.
The five-storey complex has a creative, high-tech theme. Upon entering the main entrance, guests are treated to an art piece known as The Waterfall and People Create Vortices, created by digital art group teamLab using computer generated imagery.
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The mall also features other permanent teamLab art pieces, including Flowers and People in the Cubic Honeycomb, an installation that hangs on the third floor and displays randomly created computer images of flowers blooming and fading away. Lights of Jungle and People is another mesmerising piece that adorns the wall down in the mall’s basement. There’s also a teamLab Future Park on the third floor with even more displays.
Shops at Future City skew toward a younger crowd. Check out China’s first Mindstyle Mission Control store for the latest Funko Pops and other collectables, or call in at the trendy Tsutaya Bookstore.
Opening hours: 10 am to 10 pm (Sunday to Thursday), 10 am to 10 pm (Friday and Saturday)
Location: No. 9283, Binhe Avenue, Futian District, Shenzhen, Guangdong Province
Metro: Line 9 (Xiasha Station: Exit B)
Shenzhen Zhongshuge bookstore
Dubbed the most beautiful bookstore in China, the 1,300 square metre Zhongshuge bookstore (深圳鐘書閣) opened in 2021 to much fanfare due to its breathtaking interior.
The store itself is one of dozens of branches of Zhongshuge scattered across China, with many of them featuring striking interiors courtesy of award-winning Shanghai-based architectural firm X+Living. In designing the Shenzhen branch, the chief designer Li Xiang said the bookstore was intended to recognise those who helped to transform Shenzhen into the city it is today.
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“The city has been forged by countless dreamers,” he explained. “Shenzhen Zhongshuge was born under such a circumstance to pay tribute to the creators of history on this land.”
Zhongshuge doesn’t offer much in the way of English and foreign language books, but once you’ve popped your head in and enjoyed the design there’s plenty more shopping in the OH Bay shopping area where the bookstore is located. Look out for the precinct’s 128-metre Bay Glory Ferris Wheel.
Opening hours: 10 am to 10 pm
Location: L1-021, East Bank Building, No. 2 Huanle Harbour, Haifu Road, Shenzhen, Guangdong Province
Metro: Line 5 (Linhai Station: Exit B2)
Shenzhen Bay Park (深圳灣公園)
Shenzhen is home to around 1,200 parks and one of the most popular is Shenzhen Bay Park, stretching roughly 13 kilometres along the coast and covering nearly 129 hectares.
The park is divided into the Shenzhen Bay Coastal Recreation Zone to the southwest and Hongshulin (Mangrove Forest) Coastal Ecological Park to the east. Although just 20 hectares in size, the latter has proven to be especially important to Shenzhen’s ecosystem, harbouring approximately 200 bird species, including 23 that are at risk, including the Dalmatian Pelican and the Eurasian Spoonbill.
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Footpaths and cycling lanes connect both parts of the park, with plenty of room for relaxing and enjoying the view. Best of all, the experience doesn’t cost a single cent.
Opening hours: 6 am to 11 pm
Location: Shenzhen Bay Park, Binhai Boulevard, Nanshan District, Shenzhen, Guangdong Province
Metro: (Line 9: Shenzhen Bay Park Station, Exit D2)
Alcove at Ensue
Perched on the 40th floor of the Shangri-La Shenzhen, Alcove is the perfect place to indulge in drinks while enjoying a stunning view of the city’s nighttime skyline. The bar itself is located on the mezzanine floor of Ensue, a fine dining restaurant opened by three-star Michelin chef Christopher Kostow in 2019.
Alcove follows the restaurant’s approach of fusing Cantonese and Western flavours. The Miso Blanc Martini combines local ingredients such as monk fruit and white vinegar with gin and miso. The Jasmine Zing, meanwhile, mixes tequila with jasmine, ginger, agave syrup and lime to produce a refreshing crosscultural libation.
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Alcove’s beverage programme was recognised by the compilers of the 50 Best lists and the restaurant’s cellar was given the Star Wine List of the Year Asia 2024.
Alcove opening hours: 5:30 pm to 1 am (Wednesday to Sunday)
Ensue opening hours: 5:30 pm to 11 pm (Wednesday to Sunday)
Reservation number: (86) 188-2343-7333
Location: 40 floor, Futian Shangri-La Hotel, 4088 Yitian Road, Futian. Shenzhen, Guangdong Province
Metro: Line 1 (Shopping Park: Exit D)
