Shenzhen
深圳
Silicon Valley wannabe
Shenzhen was a fishing village 40 years ago, and it shows. Yes, it's China's tech capital. Yes, it has the headquarters of Tencent and Huawei. But as a tourist destination? It's a concrete jungle of office towers and shopping malls that could be anywhere. The 'attractions' are theme parks and shopping. The food scene is imported from everywhere else in China. Your time and money are better spent literally anywhere else.
The Honest Take:
Unless you're fascinated by drone delivery and tech offices, skip it. No culture, no history, just malls and expensive nothing. It's Manhattan prices for suburban Phoenix vibes.
- •Zero historical sites - the oldest building is from 1980
- •Identical to any modern city worldwide
- •Expensive for no cultural return
- •Tech parks aren't tourist attractions
- •Theme parks are mediocre copies of Disney/Universal
- •Food scene is just transplanted from other regions
What people fall for: The 'China's Silicon Valley' hype and proximity to Hong Kong
- ✓OCT-LOFT for decent art galleries
- ✓Dafen Oil Painting Village for kitsch fun
- ✓Day trip to Hong Kong instead
- ✓Electronics markets if you're really into gadgets
- →If you must come, use it as a base for Hong Kong/Macau trips
- →The only good thing is proximity to Hong Kong
- →Window of the World theme park is laughably bad
- →Literally any other Chinese city is more interesting
- →Save your money for cities with actual culture
Hangzhou (tech + culture) or just stay longer in Hong Kong
← See all cities