广州市

Why this place

Guangzhou has been China's southern trading port for two thousand years — Arab, Indian and later European merchants all came here first, which is why the city feels different from the rest of China. It is the home of Cantonese cuisine, Cantonese opera and the yum cha tradition, and it has kept its old river-quarter architecture alongside a very modern skyline in Zhujiang New Town.

What to see

• Shamian Island and the old concession quarter, with its colonial buildings under banyan trees
• The Chen Clan Ancestral Hall — the finest surviving example of Cantonese decorative architecture
• Yuexiu Park and the Zhenhai Tower, with the Five Rams statue and the old city wall
• Zhujiang New Town and the Canton Tower, for the modern city across the river
• The Temple of the Six Banyan Trees and the Huaisheng Mosque, one of the oldest in China
• Xiguan's old lanes, with the arcaded shophouses (qilou) of the trading city

What to eat

• Dim sum (yum cha) — the morning tea tradition, ordered from carts and steamer baskets
• Roast goose and char siu — Cantonese roast meats, done better here than anywhere
• Rice-noodle rolls (changfen), congee and claypot rice, the everyday repertoire
• Sweets and double-skin milk in the dessert shops of Xiguan

How to plan

Three days: the old city and Chen Clan one day, food crawling one day, Shamian and the new town one day.

Best time

October–December and March–April; summers are hot, wet and long

Practical tips

• Eat breakfast at a teahouse at least twice — it is the best introduction to the city
• Guangzhou's metro is excellent; the old city is walkable but hot in summer