China Travel FAQ

Shenzhen Travel FAQ & Tips

Weather:

When is best time to travel Shenzhen?

Shenzhen is suitable for travel around the year.

And yet from the climate perspective, the best time to visit Shenzhen is October to December for the pleasantly cool temperature and relatively dry weather in this period.

Shenzhen is incredibly high humidity and hot in summer (Apr-Nov). Typhoon and rainy season lasts from June to October.

Spring is cooler but is often humid with fog and heavy thunderstorms.

Tips: From June 28th to August 8th, there is an annual litchi festival and many economic or cultural events revolving litchi will take place. Shenzhen locals go to Litchi Park to taste the fresh litchis.

Safety:

Is it safe to travel Shenzhen?

It is generally safe in Shenzhen. But Shenzhen rural area is relatively more chaotic than that in urban area. It is advised not to hang out at night to avoid the robbery.

Tips:

  • Try to wear your bag in front. Keep wallet in your bags and put some small changes in the easily accessible place like your bag's side pocket or pant pockets to avoid flashing your wallets unnecessarily.
  • Avoid walking phoning. If you do have urgent call to make or answer, try to find a place like the wall behind you to avoid the thieves to snatch from your back.
  • Do some caution work when you take the overnight train, it is better to keep the valuable items inside your clothing. To enable you can wake up easily when necessary, sleep aids like sleeping pills, earplugs are not advised.
  • Ignore the touts that approach you and try to get you to somewhere when you come out /to the train stations, bus stations or borders.
  • Better to go to big shops or restaurants or hotel lobby to get your orientation if you loss your way.
  • Get the Xerox copy of your passport and your Chinese visa to avoid the trouble of steal loss and respond the police's check.

Transportation:

By Metro

The Shenzhen Metro fares are 2-5 Yuan. Trains depart every 3 minutes or so and the metro runs until 11pm.

Note that the exit-direction signs in the station are only in Chinese except for the main attraction spots. There are also no local maps in the station, making to find the right exit a bit troublesome.

By Taxi

Taxi is CNY12.5 for the first 2 kilometers, then CNY 0.60 for each 250 meters. Late night is slightly higher. Taxis are separated in three classes by the color: red taxis can operate anywhere in Shenzhen, green taxis only outside the Special Economical Zone and yellow taxis only inside the Special Economic Zones.

Tips for taking taxi:

  • 7am-9am and 5pm-7:30pm is the rushing and shifting hour. It is better to avoid this time to take the taxi.
  • Make sure the driver starts the meter. If they refuse, you can just get out and take the next taxi.
  • If possible, pay exact or small money to avoid getting a fake CNY 50 back or a fake CNY 100 swopped by the driver. Or try to remember the last 4 digits of your big notes when you pay the taxi fare so that you can make sure whether it is really your money when he returns and claims it's fake.
  • Write down or print out on paper the name and address of your destination and hotel in Chinese characters since majority of the drivers speak Mandarin or Cantonese rather than English.

By Bus

Local buses reach everywhere and mostly start at CNY 2. Bus stops are signed in Romanised Chinese. Since next bus stop may be not clearly announced, you can try to count stops to figure out where you are. Bus announcements are made in Mandarin version only.

Mini-buses operate outside of the Special Economic Zone although they have been phased out within it.

Shopping:

Is shopping in Shenzhen really that great?

It is a heaven to shop for designer knockoffs like Gucci, LV, Prada, etc…make sure you bargain and hard.

What are the great shopping places in Shenzhen?

  • Lo Wu Commercial Center for great knock offs.
  • Dongmen Commercial Center for great buys that are not necessarily branded.
  • MixC Mall (the biggest Shenzhen mall) for good branded clothes.
  • SEG computer market for electronics and computer goods.

Tips:

  • Bargain hard and only for the ones you intend to buy. If you just window shopping, remember to tread carefully to avoid angering the shop owner or invoking the forcing shopping or curse shouts after you don't buy the things once the owner agree on your bid price.
  • A calculator will be handy since locals most of the time cannot speak English.

Nightlife:

Where should I color my night life in Shenzhen?

There two famous streets in Shenzhen famous for the large cluster of bars and clubs, respectively located in Huaqiao City and Sea World Square of Shekou District of Shenzhen.

Others:

Useful Resources:

Emergency Numbers:

  • Fire: 119
  • Police: 110
  • Ambulance: 120
  • Traffic: 122

Other Useful Numbers:

  • Shenzhen Tourist Bureau: 82003200
  • Consumer complaints: 12315
  • Price complaints: 12358
  • Quality complaints: 12365
  • Travel Quality Complaint: 822003220
  • Railway Station Complaint: 61382072
  • Airport Quality Complaint: 27776426
  • Weather Forecast: 121
  • EMS Service Information: 185
  • Time check:117