The final part will be brief, as I „only” spent a few hours in Shenzhen. However, even during this short time, I was able to experience being in a futuristic city.
I departed from Shanghai back to Budapest and booked my flight ticket in a way that allowed me to visit Shenzhen. I had a 10-hour transfer, dedicating about 5-6 hours to the city center. I left my backpack at the airport storage for just 8 yuan. It’s located in section „A” of the departure hall and is open 24/7.
From the airport, Metro Line 11 takes you to the city center, about a 40-minute journey. Tickets can be purchased from vending machines just like in other major cities.
There were two main places on my itinerary. First, I went to the viewpoint in Lianhuashan Park, from where you can take the most beautiful pictures. From here, you can see Shenzhen’s futuristic skyline. It’s about a 15-minute uphill walk from Children’s Palace metro station to the viewing terrace. Since the weather is quite tropical, the high humidity makes the walk quite exhausting.
I deliberately planned my afternoon-evening so that darkness would fall while I was on the viewing terrace. The view is wonderful in daylight, but the real „show” begins in the dark. I felt a bit like I was in the movie Blade Runner. Just look at these pictures:
I walked down to the main road via a different route, through the eastern part of the park. From Children’s Palace metro station, a wide pedestrian path leads to the city’s iconic square, Citizen Square. This is where that „curved” roof is located, which is also visible from the viewpoint. From here, you get the best close-up view of the LED show appearing on the buildings.
Since I spent a lot of time here, I only had enough time on the main street, Huaqiang Road, to walk along it. I traveled by Metro Line 2 to Huaqiang North station and walked to Huaqiang South. This street is the world’s largest electronics market, where you can buy almost anything. Since it was evening, not everything was open, but I didn’t want to buy anything anyway. During the day, it’s hard to resist shopping. 🙂
At the end of the street, at Huaqiang South, you can board Metro Line 11, so I could travel to the airport without transfers. I picked up my backpack from storage and checked in.
Although you can’t get to know a city of this size in just a few hours, it was perfect as the 5th stop on my journey! And here we truly get a taste of the future, because Shenzhen is really another dimension…
