The city that taught the world Chinese food, ran China's foreign trade for a century and still starts the day with tea. Five days, planned.
Photo: Tim Wu, CC BY-SA 4.0
Guangzhou, which the English-speaking world used to call Canton, has been a port for more than two thousand years. It began as Panyu in 214 BC, became the capital of the independent kingdom of Nanyue ten years later, and from 1757 to 1842 was the only place in China where foreign merchants were allowed to trade. The tea, silk and porcelain that Europe wanted all passed through here, and when the system collapsed after the Opium War the trade drifted to Hong Kong and Shanghai. The city shrugged and carried on, which is very Guangzhou.
It isn't a pretty city and it doesn't pose for you. Eighteen and a half million people, arcaded shophouses next to glass towers, and a language, Cantonese, that most Chinese visitors from the north can't follow either. What it does better than anywhere is eat. This is where dim sum grew up in the teahouses, and a morning of yum cha is the best single lesson in how the city lives. Five days is the right length because the sights are modest and the heat and traffic wear you down. We wrote a looser, more opinionated portrait of the city earlier; this guide is the day-by-day version.
The plan keeps each day in one district. Day one is Liwan, the old merchant quarter, with Shamian Island and a night cruise. Day two is the temples and the cathedral of the old walled city. Day three is Yuexiu Hill, Sun Yat-sen and a tomb from the second century BC. Day four is the new town and Canton Tower, and day five is a day trip to Foshan. Start on a Wednesday if you can: the Nanyue museums and the Guangzhou Museum close on Mondays, the Chen Clan Hall shuts on a Monday or a Tuesday, and a Wednesday start keeps all of them out of your week. The price is that Foshan lands on a Sunday, so leave early. The rules that trip up first-time visitors to China (visas, payments, the blocked internet) are in the tips at the end, and Hong Kong and Guilin are the natural next stops.
Every stop from the plan below, colored by day. Pick a day to see its route.
Tea and dim sum in the old west, the arcades of Shangxiajiu, the Chen Clan Hall, Shamian Island, then the Pearl River after dark.
A granite cathedral, an old mosque and a Chan temple, then the Nanyue palace garden and Beijing Road after dark.
Sun Yat-sen's memorial hall, the Five Rams and the Ming city wall, then the tomb of a king from 2,000 years ago and tea with mooncakes.
The Guangdong Museum, the opera house and the river bridge by day, then Canton Tower at dusk and hot pot.
Metro to Foshan for the Ancestral Temple, the Ip Man and Wong Fei-hung halls and Lingnan Tiandi, back in Guangzhou by evening.
Everything today is in Liwan, the district locals call Xiguan, "Westgate", the old merchant quarter outside the city wall. Start early: the best dim sum is gone by late morning.
Yum cha means "drink tea", and it is the Guangzhou way to start a day: a pot of tea, a shared table, and small baskets of food arriving on trolleys or a tick-sheet. Teahouse owners added snacks to the tea, the snacks became dim sum, "touch the heart", and the old formula was one pot of tea with two pieces. Plenty of locals still sit for hours over little more.
Tao Tao Ju at 20 Dishifu Road opened in 1880, closed in 2018 for a long restoration and reopened in February 2021. Locals argue about whether the food still matches the building, so treat it as theater with decent dumplings. Order shrimp dumplings (har gow), siu mai, rice-noodle rolls (cheung fun) and a custard bun, and tap two fingers on the table to thank whoever pours your tea.
Walk off breakfast along Shangxiajiu, which opened as a pedestrian street in September 1995. It is a shopping street first, and the shopping is not why you are here. The reason is the qilou, the arcaded shophouses whose ground floors form a covered sidewalk that keeps off both sun and rain. They line the street and most of Xiguan, and they are the best answer to Guangzhou's climate that anyone has come up with.
Look up rather than into the shops, and come back after dark, when the lights go on. Prices are lower than on Beijing Road.
Walk west along Enning Road, a street of arcades built mostly in the 1920s and 1930s, about 1.1 km long and the longest surviving arcade street in the city. Yongqing Fang is the block of restored buildings on it, whose first phase opened in October 2016: old brick houses turned into cafes, craft shops and snack stalls.
The reason to come is the Cantonese Opera Art Museum at 127 Enning Road, free and set beside a creek in a Lingnan-style garden. Cantonese opera is the local art, sung in Cantonese. Honest verdict: Yongqing Fang is polished and a bit staged, but it shows how the old merchant quarter was laid out.
Despite the name, the Chen Clan Ancestral Hall wasn't only a shrine. The 72 Chen clans of Guangdong paid for it between 1888 and 1894 as a place where their sons could lodge and prepare for the imperial exams, with money from Chens abroad. It later became a school and today houses the Guangdong Folk Art Museum. The complex has 19 buildings, nine halls and six courtyards on a strict north-south axis.
The prize is the decoration. Eleven ceramic ridge crests run along the roofs, the biggest, on the main hall, carrying 224 figures, and the inner walls are covered in carved brick, wood and stone panels. Spend your time looking up. It is the best-preserved piece of Cantonese craft in the city, and often full of tour groups.
Shamian means "sandy surface", and for centuries it was a sandbank in front of the city's trading quarter. In 1859 Britain and France dug a canal on the north side, which turned the sandbank into an island, and the Qing government split it into two concessions: about three-fifths British, two-fifths French. The two bridges to the mainland shut at 10pm, guarded by Sikh and Vietnamese troops. The concessions ended in 1943.
Now it is the calmest place in the city, with vehicles restricted, tree-lined walks and colonial mansions from restored to crumbling. Walk the main avenue end to end, look at the Our Lady of Lourdes church, which the French finished in 1892, and stop for a coffee. It is touristy but not crowded. Qingping Market, a short walk east, sells dried herbs for Chinese medicine; its back alleys can show live animals, which some find hard to see.
The Pearl River is the reason the city exists, and the best way to understand it is from the water. Evening cruises leave from several piers, including Xidi Pier near Shamian, Tianzi Pier near the center and Dashatou Pier to the east. Boats run an hour or more along the lit old riverfront and past the towers of Zhujiang New Town, with a light show near the White Swan Pond.
It is touristy, but the skyline is the point. Pick a cruise that goes the full length and sit on the open deck.
Today stays within a few metro stops of Yide Road and Beijing Road. The cathedral may close at lunch, so go first, and book the free Nanyue palace slot ahead for the afternoon: the site closes at 17:30 and last entry is 17:00.
Locals call it the Stone House, Shishi, and the Sacred Heart Cathedral is one of the few cathedrals in the world built entirely of granite, walls, pillars and twin towers included. French missionaries laid the foundation in June 1861 and finished in 1888, after 25 years. The twin towers rise nearly 53 meters, and the nave has 14 side chapels.
Most of the 19th-century stained glass was destroyed in the Cultural Revolution, and the roof was rebuilt between 2004 and 2006. The new glass has English inscriptions instead of Latin and French. It is a working cathedral, the seat of the Archbishop of Guangzhou, so be quiet during services.
Take the metro back west for lunch at the flagship of Guangzhou Restaurant, 2 Wenchang South Road, one of the city's old Cantonese banquet houses. Its signature is Wenchang chicken, a version of white cut chicken, poached so the meat stays tender and served with a dip of ground ginger and spring onion. The other classic is roast suckling pig.
Order a spread for three or four: the chicken, greens, a soup and fried rice. Cantonese cooking prizes the natural flavor of the ingredient, so don't ask for chili sauce.
The Huaisheng Mosque, at 56 Guangta Road, comes with a myth. Old Chinese Muslim manuscripts credit Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas, a companion of the Prophet, with building it in 627 CE. Modern scholars find no evidence he ever came to China and date it to the Tang or Song dynasties. Either way, it records a trading link with the Arab world more than a thousand years old.
The minaret, Guangta, "Plain Pagoda", is a plain 36-meter tower that doubled as a lighthouse and was the tallest building in the city until the early 20th century. The mosque was rebuilt in 1350 and again in 1695, after a fire.
Guangxiao Temple is older than most of the old city around it. The site was once a residence of a king of Nanyue, and the Ming emperor gave it its present name in 1482. Its fame comes from Huineng, the sixth patriarch of Chan (Zen) Buddhism, who is said to have been ordained here in 676, when his hair was buried under the Bodhi tree. The octagonal Hair Burying Pagoda beside it is one of five surviving Tang pagodas in Guangdong.
Look for the two iron pagodas, from 963 and 967, described as the oldest existing iron towers in China. Most halls were rebuilt after fires, so the age is in the details. If you have time, the Temple of the Six Banyan Trees is a short walk away: first built in 537, with a Flower Pagoda that dates in its present form to 1097.
Under the old center of Guangzhou lies the palace of the Nanyue kingdom, whose capital Panyu was set up by General Zhao Tuo in 204 BC. A large stone-built pool, the first of its kind found in Lingnan, and a winding stone channel were named among China's top ten archaeological discoveries in 1995 and 1997. The channel is the earliest and best-preserved Qin-Han royal garden found so far, and the site was an official seat in every dynasty after.
Entry is free, but everyone must reserve a real-name slot on the museum's WeChat service account, and overseas visitors scan a QR code at the gate. You enter at 316 Zhongshan 4th Road and leave from the west gate at 374 Beijing Road, which puts you on the shopping street.
Beijing Road is the pedestrian street that has long been the city's main shopping spine. Glass panels in the pavement show the layered surfaces of earlier roads, found during a renovation, from the Tang dynasty to the Republic of China era. Guides count about eleven layers.
Above ground it is a crowded mix of fashion chains, snack stalls and neon, more expensive than Shangxiajiu. Dafo Temple, a Chan Buddhist temple more than a thousand years old, is nearby. Come straight after the palace for the contrast: from a king's pond to a shopping crush in one exit.
The hill at the north of the old walled city holds the day. Yuexiu Park is open from early morning, the memorial hall from 8am, and the Nanyue King Mausoleum needs a timed reservation, so book it before you go. The Guangzhou Museum in the tower closes on Mondays.
Sun Yat-sen is honored on both sides of the Taiwan Strait as the founder of the Republic of China, and Guangzhou was his base. This memorial hall went up between 1929 and 1931, paid for by donations from local and overseas Chinese. The octagonal hall spans 71 meters without a single supporting pillar and seats 3,240 people.
It stands on the site of the presidential palace attacked in 1922, with his statue at the entrance. Today it works as a theater, so it is the building and the gardens you come for, not an exhibition. An hour is plenty, and the park behind it leads straight up the hill.
Yuexiu Hill formed the northern end of the old walled city, and Yuexiu Park around it covers 860,000 square meters of hills, lakes and paths. Locals use it for morning exercise, so come early.
The Five Rams Statue is the city's emblem, built in 1960 from more than 130 pieces of granite. The legend says five immortals rode rams into the young city, taught the people to grow rice and ended a famine, which is why Guangzhou is nicknamed the City of Five Rams. About a kilometer of the 1380 Ming city wall survives in the park, up to ten meters high.
The Zhenhai Tower, also called the Five-Story Pagoda, crowns the hill. A guard tower was first built here in 1380, and the legend says Zhu Liangzu, a Ming official, saw yellow and purple air over the hill and built it to break the feng shui and stop a new emperor rising. It has been destroyed and rebuilt five times, and the present building is 28 meters high.
It has housed the Guangzhou Museum since 1928, with exhibits on the city's history, and the real attraction is the view from the upper floors over the old roofs to the towers of the new town.
In 1983 construction work on a hill in the middle of Guangzhou uncovered a tomb. It belonged to Zhao Mo, who ruled the kingdom of Nanyue from 137 to 122 BC, and it had lain undisturbed for some 2,000 years. Inside was a burial suit of 2,291 jade pieces joined with silk thread, and the remains of 15 courtiers who had been buried with him. The museum opened on the site in 1988.
This is the most unusual museum in the city. You walk into the tomb itself, cut into the rock, and then through galleries of jade, bronze and imported goods that show how far Nanyue's trade reached.
Finish in Liwan at Lin Heung Lau, 67 Dishifu Road, which began as a cake shop in 1889 and is credited with settling the classic lotus seed paste filling of Cantonese mooncakes. Its filling is made from Hunan lotus seeds and has a dark reddish color. It is the taste of Mid-Autumn, which fell on 25 September this year.
The brand has had trademark disputes, so go for the pastries and the old-fashioned teahouse atmosphere rather than for a perfect meal. Order a pot of tea, a plate of dumplings and a lotus paste pastry.
Today is the new city, planned on a grid by the river, and it needs one booking: the Guangdong Museum is free but timed, so reserve ahead. On a Wednesday start this is a Saturday, so book early. East of here in Pazhou is the Canton Fair complex, and on fair days Metro Line 8 is crowded. Come to the tower for sunset, which is a little before 6pm in late October.
The Guangdong Museum is the biggest in the city. The building opened in May 2010 in Zhujiang New Town, said to be inspired by the traditional Cantonese ivory puzzle ball, those carved spheres within spheres. Inside, four floors circle an atrium with a spiral staircase.
The collections cover Guangdong's history, natural history and Lingnan arts and crafts, and its catalog of about 175,000 pieces includes Yixing clay, Dehua white porcelain and Longquan celadon. Don't try to see all of it: pick two floors. Afterwards, walk past the Guangzhou Opera House, designed by Zaha Hadid and opened in 2010, and the Guangzhou Library on the way down to Huacheng Square. They are for looking at, not for going in.
Zhujiang New Town is where the city's office workers eat, mostly in the malls under the towers and around Huacheng Square.
Look for a counter with roast goose, char siu and crispy pork hanging in the window, and a queue of locals. Order roast goose rice, a bowl of wonton noodles or a congee with a side of greens.
Walk down to the river and cross Haixin Bridge, the city's first pedestrian-only bridge over the Pearl River, which links Zhujiang New Town to Ersha Island. The white curves are a photo spot, and the skyline views are good.
Ersha Island is green and calm, with a concert hall and the Guangdong Museum of Art, free with a personal ID, Tuesday to Sunday.
Canton Tower opened on 29 September 2010 for the Asian Games, and for a short time it was the tallest tower in the world. At 604 meters including its antenna it is now China's second-tallest. The Dutch firm Information Based Architecture designed it as two rotated ellipses that pull in at the middle, and locals call it Xiaomanyao, "slim waist".
Decks sit at roughly 430 to 490 meters, and a Bubble Tram of 16 glass cars circles the roof in 20 to 40 minutes. The honest verdict: the top-tier tickets are expensive and a hazy skyline isn't worth it. Ride the lower deck at dusk, then watch the tower light up from the free riverside promenade.
End the day with hot pot. In Guangzhou it comes two ways: a clear, lightly seasoned broth with seafood and vegetables, in line with the Cantonese taste for natural flavor, or Chaoshan-style beef hot pot, where you dunk thin slices of beef for seconds in boiling water. Neither is the fiery Sichuan kind unless you ask for it.
Many places around the tower and in Haizhu serve it. Order a broth, beef or fish balls, greens and rice, and use the dipping sauce counter.
Foshan is close enough to be an extension of Guangzhou, and the Guangfo metro line links them: take Line 1 to Xilang and continue on the Guangfo line, about 45-60 minutes to the center. Leave by 8:30. On a Wednesday start this is a Sunday, so expect crowds on the line and at the temple. English is rare.
The Ancestral Temple, Zumiao, was first built under the Northern Song between 1078 and 1085, was ruined near the end of the Yuan and was rebuilt in 1372. It honors Beidi, the Cantonese form of Xuanwu, the Dark Warrior, who is believed to govern the waters of Guangdong. A fitting god for a town in a river delta.
After 1949 it became the Foshan Municipal Museum. The complex also holds a Confucius temple, and lion dance and Cantonese opera are performed there on a schedule through the year. It's busy at weekends, so arrive when it opens.
Inside the temple grounds are two halls to Foshan's martial arts legends, both opened in 2001. Wong Fei-hung is the master who became a folk hero of Hong Kong cinema. Ip Man (1893-1972) taught wing chun from the age of 20, and his students included Bruce Lee.
Expect exhibits and photographs rather than a fight. If you want to see martial arts moving, the lion dance performances in the temple are the nearest thing to a show.
The streets around the temple have Cantonese restaurants, tea shops and dessert counters, and there is a vegetarian restaurant near the temple serving Cantonese-style Buddhist cooking, a good choice for a quiet meal after the crowds.
Keep it simple: a bowl of noodles, a few dumplings and tea. Shunde, nearby, is known as the food capital of Guangdong, but that is a trip of its own.
Lingnan Tiandi is a renovated historic district with Lingnan-style buildings, now cafes, boutiques and cultural exhibitions, right beside the temple. It is polished, and no one would call it authentic, but it is pleasant and calm in the afternoon, and a good place for coffee or a dessert before the trip back.
If you still have energy, Foshan's ceramics are the other claim to fame. The Nanfeng Ancient Kiln, about 4 km from the temple, is said to date from the Ming Zhengde era (1506-1521), and ceramics are still made and sold there. It is a short taxi ride.
Places that didn't fit, ordered by distance. Foshan won the day trip because it is an hour away on the metro; Kaiping is the better trip if you have an extra day.
The city's green lung, a mountain park with forest paths, lookouts and a cable car to Moxing Peak. Admission is a few yuan, and the cable car is around 25 CNY uphill, open roughly 9:00 to 18:00; check before you go. Best on a clear morning.
Getting there: About 10 km north of the center, 30-45 minutes by metro and bus
The Opium War era relics at Humen mark the place where the opium confiscated in 1839 was destroyed, the event that led to the war. Most high-speed trains to Shenzhen or Hong Kong stop here, which makes it an easy half-day for history fans.
Getting there: About 60 km southeast, 30-40 minutes by high-speed train
A city that grew from a border town into a tech center since 1980, and it feels like it. Sights are theme parks and malls rather than monuments, so go for the contrast with Guangzhou. It is mainland China, with the same entry rules, and from here you can cross to Hong Kong.
Getting there: About 100 km southeast, 30-45 minutes by high-speed train from Guangzhou South, around 72-75 CNY
The classic add-on, covered in our Hong Kong guide. You clear mainland exit and Hong Kong entry at West Kowloon station, with no separate border walk. Remember that leaving the mainland ends your stay, and coming back is a new entry, so check the visa rules in the tips first.
Getting there: About 120 km southeast, fastest train under an hour from Guangzhou South to West Kowloon
UNESCO listed the Kaiping Diaolou and Villages in 2007: fortified, multi-story watchtower houses in the villages, built mostly in the 1920s and 1930s, when emigrants' money came home. About 1,800 still stand, of over 3,000 built, largely as defense against bandits. Zili Village has nine towers over the rice fields, and Ruishi Lou, built in 1921, is the tallest, with nine floors. Two hours each way leaves little time on site, so stay overnight.
Getting there: About 150 km southwest, around 2 hours by bus from Fangcun station or 1.5 hours by train to Kaiping South plus a local transfer
The limestone karst of the Li River and Yangshuo, planned in our Guilin guide. A different China, with water, peaks and slow boats. Too far for a day trip.
Getting there: About 400 km northwest, 2-3 hours by high-speed train
Guangzhou is the home of Cantonese food: light, fresh and rarely spicy, with soup, slow-cooked meat and sweets. These are the dishes and drinks not to leave without trying.
Small steamed, fried and baked dishes served with tea, eaten from breakfast to early afternoon. The habit of eating them with tea, yum cha, grew in Guangzhou's teahouses in the 19th century. Start with shrimp dumplings (har gow), siu mai, rice-noodle rolls (cheung fun) and a custard bun; a big menu has over a hundred varieties.
Where to try it: A traditional teahouse such as Tao Tao Ju on Dishifu Road, Lin Heung Lau nearby or Panxi Restaurant beside Liwan Lake. Go between 8 and 10.
Cantonese barbecue, siu mei, is the roast ducks and geese hanging in shop windows. Char Siu is barbecued pork glazed with honey and five-spice, with red lacquered edges, and it comes sliced over rice. Roast goose (siu ngo) and roast pork are the other staples, served by weight with a bowl of rice.
Where to try it: Any siu mei counter with a queue at lunch. Order a half portion if you are alone.
One of the most popular Cantonese dishes: a chicken poached just through, so the meat is tender and the skin slightly firm, then served cold with a dip of ground ginger and spring onion. It is lightly flavored on purpose. Restaurants have their own versions, such as Wenchang chicken.
Where to try it: Guangzhou Restaurant on Wenchang South Road, or any old Cantonese restaurant that makes its own.
A breakfast pair. Congee (zhou) is rice cooked to a smooth porridge with pork, fish or preserved egg. Rice-noodle rolls (cheung fun) are steamed sheets of rice batter rolled around shrimp or beef and finished with sweet soy sauce.
Where to try it: Neighborhood congee shops, open from early morning. Look for steam and a line at the counter.
Dense pastries filled with lotus seed paste, exchanged at the Mid-Autumn Festival, which fell on 25 September this year. The lotus paste filling of the Cantonese mooncake is credited to Lin Heung Lau in the late 19th century.
Where to try it: Lin Heung Lau or Tao Tao Ju, both on Dishifu Road in Liwan, are known for them.
Desserts, tong sui ('sugar water'), are part of every Cantonese meal. Two local favorites are double-layered milk (shuang pi nai), a chilled steamed custard with a skin on top, and ginger milk curd. You will also see red bean, black sesame and tofu pudding in shops all over town.
Where to try it: Dessert shops in the old Xiguan streets, and many dim sum teahouses.
Thin egg noodles in a clear shrimp-and-pork broth with plump wontons, the Cantonese answer to a quick lunch. Some places also fry the noodles with a dark sauce. Portions are small, so order two bowls.
Where to try it: Jianji Noodles on Changshou East Road in Liwan is a long-running name for wonton noodles. Check it's open.
Cantonese hot pot is gentler than the Sichuan kind: a clear or lightly seasoned broth with seafood, fish balls and vegetables, or Chaoshan-style beef sliced thin and cooked for seconds. You cook everything yourself at the table, and the dip is part of the meal.
Where to try it: Hot pot restaurants are all over Haizhu and Tianhe. Ask for a clear broth and pick a place with a queue of locals.
Soup is a core of the cuisine, simmered for four hours or more with pork bones, herbs and dried goods. Restaurants offer a soup of the day. Try it once, even if the herbs smell odd.
Where to try it: Old-style Cantonese restaurants, ordered at lunch or dinner.
Guangzhou was at the center of the tea trade with Europe in the 19th century, and tea is still the drink of the morning. Look also for liang cha, bitter herbal teas sold at counters for cooling the body. They taste like medicine, and that is the idea.
Where to try it: Teahouses for tea, and herbal tea chains such as Wong Chun Loong for the cooling kind.
Tsing Tao and Zhu Jiang are the two major beers, both light lagers, and Carlsberg is brewed locally. Baijiu is the national spirit, a strong grain liquor served at banquets with toasts. Wine is mostly imported.
Where to try it: Zhu Jiang beer in any restaurant. Baijiu mostly appears at banquets.
Pick a base on a metro line near your day plan; Guangzhou is spread out.
Best for: First-timers who want the old city and easy metro lines
The political and cultural center, served by Lines 1, 2, 5, 6 and 8, with most hotels. The catch: it is dense and noisy, and the area around the main railway station has a pickpocket reputation.
Best for: Trains, the airport and the tower
The modern business district, with Lines 1, 3, 4, 5 and 6, the Guangdong Museum and the river. A good base for day four and for early trains, with the widest choice of international hotels. The catch: it feels like any business district and is a metro ride from Liwan.
Best for: Slow mornings, old Guangzhou and dim sum on the doorstep
The old merchant quarter, with Shamian Island's quiet colonial streets. You are a short walk from the teahouses, Shangxiajiu and Chen Clan Hall. The catch: fewer big hotels, and many small hostels in the city run without a license, so choose a place that says it hosts international guests.
Best for: Visiting the Canton Fair
Next to the Canton Fair complex, on Metro Line 8, with business hotels. It is the shortest trip to the fair and the most expensive in fair weeks. The catch: it is far from the old city, so stay here only if you are attending the fair.
Pinpoint: click each country on the world map - inside the border for full points, the closer the more you earn.
The practical stuff that makes the first day in Guangzhou easier.
Check this before you book a flight. Ordinary-passport holders from 50 countries can enter visa-free for up to 30 days for tourism, business, family visits or transit: Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, Montenegro, the Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Peru, Uruguay, Bahrain, Brunei, Japan, Kuwait, Oman, South Korea and Saudi Arabia. For most of these countries the exemption runs to 31 December 2026, so check the NIA list if you travel later. The United States is not on it.
Citizens of 57 countries, the United States among them, can instead use the 240-hour (10-day) visa-free transit, with an ordinary passport and a confirmed onward ticket to a third country or region (not China, and not the place you came from). Entry is through one of 65 ports in 24 provinces, and you may travel between the permitted areas, so Foshan and a train to Guilin are fine. Guangzhou Baiyun airport is on the port list, and the Pazhou passenger port and Hong Kong West Kowloon station were added from 5 November 2025; confirm your port on the NIA page. Hong Kong counts as a separate region, so it can be your onward destination, but Hong Kong to Guangzhou and back is not transit. Other nationalities need a visa or a bilateral exemption. Fill in the free online arrival card on the official NIA page before you land.
Alipay and WeChat Pay run on QR codes, and both let foreign visitors link a Visa or Mastercard. Chinese government guidance from 2024 raised the limit for overseas users to 5,000 USD per payment, and small payments need no ID. Set up and test your card before you fly. Bank cards are meant to be accepted at big attractions and three-star hotels, but carry a few hundred yuan in cash, since small places and taxis can be slow with cards.
The UK government lists Google, Facebook, YouTube and X as permanently blocked in China, and WhatsApp and Instagram are widely reported blocked too. A roaming or travel eSIM that routes your data out of the country usually keeps these working without a VPN, while hotel Wi-Fi and a local SIM don't. VPNs need government licensing and the firewall detects many of them, so one that worked at home may fail. Install what you need before you land, since Chinese app stores won't carry it, and download offline maps.
Google Maps works badly here. Use Apple Maps or Amap (Gaode), and show drivers the destination in Chinese characters. Alipay's English interface includes taxi hailing. Guangzhou Metro has taken contactless foreign Visa, Mastercard, American Express and JCB cards at the gates since 12 October 2025: tap the same card in and out. Fares are 2-21 CNY, and bags are screened at the station entrance. Taxis can be hard to find, and during the Canton Fair drivers around Pazhou have been known to skip the meter, so prefer the metro.
Book high-speed and long-distance trains on 12306, China Railway's official site and app, which has an English version and registers foreign passports. Verify your passport in the app early. Guangzhou has several stations, and travelers regularly go to the wrong one: Guangzhou South serves Hong Kong and Shenzhen, and Guangzhou East, Guangzhou and the new Guangzhou Baiyun station handle other routes, so read your ticket. For Hong Kong, immigration is handled at West Kowloon station, the fastest train takes under an hour, and a second-class seat costs roughly 185-215 CNY, so check the fare on 12306. Allow extra time for the border checks. Smoking is banned on high-speed trains.
Hotels register foreign guests with the police at check-in, using your passport. If you stay in a private flat, you or the host must register within 24 hours, and since 21 September 2026 this can be done online through the NIA website, the NIA 12367 app or its WeChat and Alipay mini programs. Skipping it can bring a warning or a fine. Choose places that say they host international guests.
The Canton Fair is held twice a year in Pazhou. Spring sessions run from mid-April to early May and autumn ones from mid-October to early November, each in three phases of five days. Autumn 2026 is 15-19 October, 23-27 October and 31 October to 4 November. Spring 2027 dates are not yet published at cantonfair.org.cn. Hotels cost much more in fair weeks, and the best advice is to book two to three months ahead and to stay in Yuexiu or Tianhe rather than next to the venue.
The Nanyue King Museum and the Guangdong Museum are free or cheap but take timed, real-name reservations. Use their official WeChat accounts or mini programs, choose the passport option, and carry the passport itself to the gate, not a photocopy.
Mains power is 220 V with Type A and I sockets, so pack an adapter. Tap water isn't safe to drink; boil it or buy bottled. Tipping isn't customary. The local language is Cantonese, Mandarin works everywhere, and English is rare outside hotels. M'goi (please, thank you) and do je (thanks for a gift) go down well. Typhoon season runs June to September. Emergency numbers: police 110, fire 119, ambulance 120.
Yes. Five days covers Liwan, the old city, Yuexiu Hill, the new town and a day trip. Three days is enough for the main sights: do days one, three and four. With more time, add Baiyun Mountain, Kaiping or a train to Hong Kong.
A morning of yum cha, Shamian Island, the Chen Clan Ancestral Hall, the Nanyue King Mausoleum, Sacred Heart Cathedral, Yuexiu Park and the Five Rams, the Guangdong Museum and Canton Tower, plus the Foshan Ancestral Temple. This plan covers all of them.
Foshan, day five of this plan, an hour away on the metro, for the Ancestral Temple and the kung fu halls. Kaiping is the better trip for UNESCO heritage, but it needs a long day or an overnight. Hong Kong, Shenzhen and Guilin are covered in the extra-time list.
The autumn 2026 session runs 15 October to 4 November in three phases. Spring sessions run from mid-April to early May, but the 2027 dates are not yet published, so watch cantonfair.org.cn. Hotels in Guangzhou get much more expensive in fair weeks, so book early or avoid those dates.
Maybe not. Holders of ordinary passports from 50 countries, including most of Europe, the UK, Canada, Australia and Japan, can enter visa-free for up to 30 days, currently to 31 December 2026 for most. The United States is not on that list, but 57 countries including the US can use the 240-hour transit rule with an onward ticket to a third country. Check the National Immigration Administration site before booking.
Often at hotels, big sights and chain restaurants, but the everyday system is Alipay and WeChat Pay, which take foreign cards if you link one beforehand. Carry a few hundred yuan in cash as a backup. The metro takes contactless foreign cards.
Yes. Violent crime is rare, and the crime rate compares well with big Western cities. Watch for pickpockets in shopping streets and at train stations and use official taxis.
Not much. Hotels and a few sights have English, but taxi drivers and most restaurants don't. Keep your hotel's address in Chinese characters, use a translation app, and learn m'goi and do je.
Find Guangzhou on the map, learn the flag and check how much you really know about China.
The first capital of China, with a wall you can ride and a noodle as wide as a belt. Five days, planned properly.
A harbor city with a car-free colonial island, earthen castles in the hills and a medieval port nearby. Five days, booking rules included.
A treaty port that became a skyline. Five days in China's biggest city, with the entry rules and apps sorted out first.
China