Guangdong Province's 

Description : A Chinese replica of Hong Kong without the interest of the original but with the high cost.

What you can do : Cross the border / Look up at the skyscrapers (2 seconds) / Take a bus out / Make some shopping before going back to HK, the activity of most of the visitors

What you may not like : The feeling of being in a huge supermarket for HK visitors

How long ? 10 minutes to take a bus out

Accommodations : Very expensive / Limited choice / Avoid : stay in cheaper Hong Kong or Guangzhou

Hotels  << Get precise info, book online and save money !

Backpacker's Tips :  Mike Clark, UK (April 04)
« Alright, I'm not a backpacker, but all of your comments on Shenzhen are obviously written by people who poked their nose over the border and then left. It's a bit like flying into Newark, walking out of the airport and then writing a review of New York. Yes, the lower part of Lowu is there to rip-off the Hong Kong Chinese and anyone else daft enough to go there. Much of the rest of the city is an imitation of Singapore.
Which leaves the old part of Futian centred aroound Shangbu Road and Huaqingbei Road. If you have any interest at all in what China is turning into, or what Hong Kong was like 30 years ago, then go and have a look. There are restaurants from every province at prices about a quarter of Hong Kong's and with much better food (I lived in Hong Kong for 18 years), and frequently better to western tastes than in the home province - they can afford better raw materials here.
Foreigners are rare here and so is English - Putonghua is universal and Cantonese quite common. During my first stay of six weeks last year I saw one big nose per week, but this year it's up to about five. Shenzhen is a city of immigrants at 80% of the population and young 70% of the population between 20 and 35 - my local Cantonese restaurant is run by a 23 year old Muosos woman from Yunnan. If you have some education and are self-confident then you head for Shenzhen. They may be waitresses, but they're the best damned waitresses in China in their opinion, and the best paid. The peope are friendly and if you make eye-contact and smile, then you can spend an hour walking a block. Don't try that in Lowu.
If you've come in from Hong Kong, and can afford it, try staying at the Hotel Difu on the corner of Zhenhua Road and Huafa Road (double room RMB240, or suite RMB330). Then spend an evening in the DJ disco - just ask the waitresses where to find it. No entry charge, beer at RMB8, but take your own bottle opener. If you don't enjoy yourself there, then you're dead.
Then go and look at China's past, but remember what the future looks like. »

Backpacker's Tips :  Anonymous (Sept 01)
«One person was fined HK$3000 for bringing 6 copied DVD back to HK. This is part of HK's policy to clean up its act. The risks of getting caught remains low however...  Less risky : buy books ! Much cheaper than in HK !  By the way, the HK$ can be used in Shenzhen. No need to buy RMB. »  

Backpacker's Tips :  Anonymous (Feb 01)
« I find that you are unfair about the interest of Shenzhen. This town has developed over the last few years to the point that the shopping does not interest HK people only. Tourists enjoy it as well ! Prices are ridiculous and copies extraordinary. Much better than one can find in Thailand. And it is only 1 hour away from HK... 
A friend living there told me about an address 5mn away by taxi where prices are even cheaper than in the commercial center by the border. For example, copies of DVD cost HK$10 instead of HK$20. The choice of titles is amazing »  Note : buying copies of goods is illegal so we do not recommend it. This is however part of the attraction of Shenzhen (not to say of Asia)

Bus Schedules :  Luohu Bus Station, ground floor, in the right building when you exit the border

Trains   << click there

The trip from HK to Guangzhou via Shenzhen : SS / L&R / HK$33 + Y60 / 30mn + 2 hrs

Very fast and comfortable. You start with a smooth KCR's ride from HK (30mn). Once at the border, enjoy the special treatment of having a passport : go through the formalities in 10 minutes while the HK Chinese have to wait for half an hour. Out in China, walk 3 minutes to the bus station (on your right, ground floor) and catch a 4 stars mineral water-karaoke-video's bus to Guangzhou. You will be there in the time of a bad movie, using the modern highway.