Top 10 Things to Do in Guangzhou

The tree-canopied sandbank in the Pearl River was the foreign concession quarter during the colonial era and retains an extraordinary collection of French and British neo-classical buildings now converted into boutique hotels, cafes, and consulates.

Yum cha — the Cantonese ritual of tea-drinking accompanied by rotating carts of har gow, char siu bao, cheung fun, and turnip cake — reaches its apex in Guangzhou; Lianxianglou and Panxi Restaurant have been serving it to multiple generations since the early 20th century.

Built in 1894 as a study hall for the Chen clan, this extraordinary complex of 19 buildings is encrusted with 284 decorative friezes of carved stone, wood, brick, and ceramic depicting folk tales, historical scenes, and mythical creatures in astonishing detail.

The largest park in central Guangzhou encompasses the Five Rams Sculpture — symbol of the city — ancient Ming-era city walls, a museum of Guangzhou history, and several traditional Chinese gardens in a green hillside oasis above the urban sprawl.

An evening cruise along the Pearl River passes beneath lit bridges and past the glittering waterfront of Tianhe and the Haizhu wetlands, with the Canton Tower's shifting colours reflected on the water — a genuinely spectacular way to see the modern city.

The city's oldest commercial artery — where excavated sections reveal layers of road surfaces from the Song, Ming, and Qing dynasties beneath your feet behind glass panels — is a living archaeological site doubled as Guangzhou's busiest shopping street.

China's largest Gothic cathedral — built entirely from granite between 1863 and 1888 and nicknamed "the Stone House" — rises above Yide Road with twin 58-metre spires that guided ships into Guangzhou's harbour for over a century.

The largest art museum in southern China holds an exceptional collection of Lingnan School paintings — the distinctly Cantonese style blending Chinese brush techniques with Western oil-painting influences — alongside ancient bronzes and contemporary Chinese works.

Named by the poet Su Dongpo for the six banyan trees he admired in the courtyard (now replaced), this ancient Chan Buddhist temple founded in 537 AD shelters a striking flowery pagoda of nine tiers that has guided pilgrims to Guangzhou for 1,500 years.

The tree-canopied sandbank in the Pearl River was the foreign concession quarter during the colonial era and retains an extraordinary collection of French and British neo-classical buildings now converted into boutique hotels, cafes, and consulates.

Yum cha — the Cantonese ritual of tea-drinking accompanied by rotating carts of har gow, char siu bao, cheung fun, and turnip cake — reaches its apex in Guangzhou; Lianxianglou and Panxi Restaurant have been serving it to multiple generations since the early 20th century.

Built in 1894 as a study hall for the Chen clan, this extraordinary complex of 19 buildings is encrusted with 284 decorative friezes of carved stone, wood, brick, and ceramic depicting folk tales, historical scenes, and mythical creatures in astonishing detail.

The largest park in central Guangzhou encompasses the Five Rams Sculpture — symbol of the city — ancient Ming-era city walls, a museum of Guangzhou history, and several traditional Chinese gardens in a green hillside oasis above the urban sprawl.

An evening cruise along the Pearl River passes beneath lit bridges and past the glittering waterfront of Tianhe and the Haizhu wetlands, with the Canton Tower's shifting colours reflected on the water — a genuinely spectacular way to see the modern city.

The city's oldest commercial artery — where excavated sections reveal layers of road surfaces from the Song, Ming, and Qing dynasties beneath your feet behind glass panels — is a living archaeological site doubled as Guangzhou's busiest shopping street.

China's largest Gothic cathedral — built entirely from granite between 1863 and 1888 and nicknamed "the Stone House" — rises above Yide Road with twin 58-metre spires that guided ships into Guangzhou's harbour for over a century.

The largest art museum in southern China holds an exceptional collection of Lingnan School paintings — the distinctly Cantonese style blending Chinese brush techniques with Western oil-painting influences — alongside ancient bronzes and contemporary Chinese works.

Named by the poet Su Dongpo for the six banyan trees he admired in the courtyard (now replaced), this ancient Chan Buddhist temple founded in 537 AD shelters a striking flowery pagoda of nine tiers that has guided pilgrims to Guangzhou for 1,500 years.