Your guide to Shenzhen: where to stay, eat, unwind and shop in the Greater Bay Area city – and what to know about the Silicon Valley of China, Hong Kong residents’ new favourite weekend getaway

Feb 5 , 2025

The Mandarin Oriental Shenzhen is located in the Upperhills neighbourhood close to Bijiashan Park and Lianhuashan Park. Photo: Handout

Shenzhen is now a more popular weekend destination than Macau among Hongkongers looking for great deals on food, accommodation and designer shopping – without the need to hop on a plane

In recent years, Shenzhen, the Chinese metropolis in Guangdong province known as “the Silicon Valley of China”, has become a very popular destination in the Greater Bay Area, especially for those living in Hong Kong, which is only 30km away.

Thanks to its affordable accommodation, dining and massage offerings, the city has been attracting plenty of Hong Kong visitors, almost dethroning Macau, the gambling capital of Asia, as their favourite weekend getaway.

The appeal, however, also extends to international travellers. A Singapore acquaintance visiting Hong Kong late last year decided to take a day trip to Shenzhen to find out what all the hype was about and ended up going there twice, basically making Hong Kong her base for a visit to Shenzhen.

Information on what to do there is hard to come by, particularly if you don’t speak Chinese, so here are some tips that will prove useful when planning your visit.

Parks and green spaces abound in Shenzhen. Photo: Getty Images

How to get there

If you’re based in Hong Kong, the fastest way to get to Shenzhen is by High Speed Rail to Futian station from West Kowloon station. While the journey only takes about 15 minutes, you will still have to go through immigration, so make sure you show up about 45 minutes before the scheduled departure time, even if you are a Hong Kong permanent resident with a Mainland Travel Permit. From Futian station, you can take public transport, a taxi or a DiDi, the Chinese version of Uber and Grab, to reach your destination.

What to do

If you only have limited time, the best way to get a feel for Shenzhen – a technology hub that is home to tech companies such as Tencent and Huawei – is to explore its new side as well as its more traditional areas.

The modern neighbourhood of Upperhills, which is just a short drive from Futian station, is a must-visit. The mall of the same name features stores from local Chinese designers, independent boutiques and a branch of French department store Galeries Lafayette, where Chinese labels such as Shushu/Tong vie for attention with Western brands like Jacquemus and JW Anderson. Also worth exploring are the two parks in the area: Bijiashan Park and Lianhuashan Park, wonderful places to go for a walk and get some fresh air.

You could easily spend a whole day checking out the shops and eateries at Upperhills, and walking around the parks in the area – but you’d be missing out on seeing the real Shenzhen and getting a glimpse of the locals as they go about their daily lives. For that, you should head to Dongmen Street in Luohu district, home to food stalls, teahouses and massage parlours. But if you’re still itching to spend, Shenzhen’s main luxury mall complex, The MixC, is a 15-minute walk from Dongmen Street. While it mainly caters to high-end shoppers – with the usual suspects, from Louis Vuitton to Gucci and Dior, reigning supreme – it also features stand-alone stores from independent brands such as Ganni.

The pedestrian-friendly area of Dongmen Street in Shenzhen. Photo: Shutterstock