Meeting Point

Hotel Pickup

The glass dome

A cultural plaza five minutes from Houhai station, with a curved glass ceiling that pours soft light down into the atrium. The best free photo spot in Houhai, and almost nobody stops here. There's usually an exhibition on upstairs.

Talent Park — coffee from the sky.

We order the local way: it flies in, five minutes in the air, and drops into a locker by the lake. Then a robot makes you an espresso while you watch, two minutes a cup. Skyline on one side, water on the other.

INNO100

Kickstarter's first authorised offline store in China — over a hundred brands you've read about but never touched. Strap on an exoskeleton, try AI glasses that translate in real time, ask a robot to dance.

Houhai's landmarks

The 392-metre "Spring Bamboo Shoot", the dome of the Spring Cocoon, and a cube-shaped headquarters wrapped in 360° of LED screen. Photo stop, ten minutes, worth it.

Lunch at the bay's biggest mall

Cantonese, Sichuan, Japanese, or something you've never heard of; I'll steer you. Afterwards, a walk down a pink-paved street that exists purely to be photographed.

Driverless taxi to Shekou

Nobody in the driver's seat. The wheel turns itself. Twenty-five minutes across Nanshan, and yes, everyone films it.

Dessert at the top of the old street

Ginger milk curd — warm, silky, with a sharp little kick. Or mango pomelo sago. Plastic stools, shared table, no English menu.

Shekou wet market & the old neighbourhood

The oldest community in Shenzhen and still the most alive: live seafood in tanks, roast meat hanging in windows, herb tea stalls, old men playing cards in the shade.

Sea World & the art centre on the water

A white building by Pritzker laureate Fumihiko Maki, shaped like a ship docked at the harbour — mountain behind, sea in front. We go up to the roof terraces and end looking at the water.

End at Sea World

Stay for dinner by the harbour if you like — this is where Shenzhen actually eats.

Ending Point

Sea World