toolboy

My wife and I will be traveling to Guangzhou in the end of November. I would appreciate any recommendations on where to stay and what to see. We have approx 4 days in Guangzhou and 2 in Hong Kong.
Thanks!

cjbryant

Guangzhou is a highly industrial city with little for visitors unless you are there for business (e.g. to have goods manufactured at a local factory) or are in the happy process of adopting.

So if one of the above is not your purpose, you might want to rethink your schedule to allow more time in Hong Kong.

In terms of hotel accomodations in Guangzhou, hopefully you're not going the very first of November as hotel rates will still be high as the Canton Fair (huge trade show)ends 30 October.

If you can provide some sort of budget for your hotel in Guangzhou and HK you'll get better responses.

In terms of sites to see, there are lots of great threads of suggestions for Hong Kong if you search this board and the destination guides for Hong Kong and Guangzhou are a good place to get a sense of the opportunites (note that I would ask the posters here about hotels as IMHO the hotel listings it the destination guides are lacking).

There are some wonderfully knowledgable posters on this board who would likely provide more specific suggestions for Hong Kong is you shared the types of activities (shopping, cultural - performing arts, museums, etc, types of food) you are most interested in.

There isn't much to see in Guangzhou (it's one of the few places in China I've visited that doesn't offer tours per se). The Tomb of the Southern Yue Kings is fairly interesting as is the Quingping market. Shamian Island has a few interesting craft type shops and colonial buildings.

I am in Guangzhou a couple times a year for business and my favorite "local" activities are good inexpensive foot massages and adventurous eating.

Cicerone

I agree that Guangzhou is an odd place to pick for a holiday versus Hong Kong, its like staying 4 days in Newark and 2 in New York (and I am from New Jersey so can’t help but do mean the slight to Newark ). If you have a conference or other business there OK, but the city essentially did not exist 15 years ago, it was farmers’ fields, so there is not a lot to see or do. The shopping is crap, IMO, actually bad tailoring and lots of knock off goods. I would not go there for the shopping at all, and would not even suggest making the trip unless you are there on business. What is your hotel range? Really the best hotel is probably going to be the White Swan. Go to http://www.whiteswanhotel.com or lhw.com

I would encourage you to spend all your time in Hong Kong. If you are looking for some type of cultural event or shopping for some particular item, let me know, I can probably suggest where to find it in Hong Kong.

Otherwise, if you have to be in Guangzhou, the only other thing I can recco that you try to do is get down to Kaipíng which is about 2 hours (85 miles) southwest of Guangzhou, to see the diaolóu (often called, somewhat erroneously, “watch towers”) there. These were built by returning overseas Chinese in the early part of the last century and are quite something. I have been trying to get there myself for a trip, as I have only seen pictures at a recent Asia Society dinner and they look fascinating. You can bike around the area and look at them, you can apparently only go in one or two if any, but very interesting indeed. From Hong Kong it is an overnight trip, and I can’t seem to convince anyone to go, I am trying to get the Asia Society to run a trip soon, but from Guangzhou you should be able to get a bus or even hire a taxi for the day quite cheaply. Some articles can be found at the Frommers.com website and at http://www.kaiping.gov.cn/test/diaolou/eng; http://www.chinaculture.org/gb/en_cu...ent_79330.htm; and http://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/1688 . If you do this, please post a trip report!!!

Cicerone

If you do to Guangzhou, or just want to read a very interesting book about China generally and the Guangdong area in particular is God's Chinese Son: The Heavenly Kingdom of Hong Xiuquan, by Jonathan D. Spence. Hong Xiuquan, the man who started the Taping movement based on Christian principals, and eventually lead to the Taping Rebellion, was from the Kaiping area. Its very interesting and sobering as it is estimated that 30 million people died over the course of the Taiping Rebellion.

Cicerone

Sorry, the bit above about “farmers’ fields and bad tailoring refers to Shenzhen, I am having some mental lapse today... Guangzhou is of course an old city which was one of the first treaty ports (i.e., Canton), but it does not have a lot of preserved history. It's still an odd place to pick out of all the Chinese cities you could choose, but IMO is a much better place to visit than Shenzhen as it does have some history. Click on “Destinations” above and see what Fodors ahs to say about it.

I still would recco 4 days Hong Kong and 2 in Guangzhou if you have to; and would recco trying to get to Kaiping too.

Kathie

I was in Guangzhou a number of years ago and found few things of interest to the traveler. It is a highly industrialized city as others have said. Still, I found a couple of things that were well worth a visit. There is a Han Dynasty tomb right in the middle of the city (a block from The China Hotel, two blocks from the trade center) that is really remarkable. The tomb and small museum are really amazing. There is also a display of porcelain pillows (the largesy collection in the world) in conjunction with the museum. Just a few blocks away is the Orchid Garden. There weren't many orchids in bloom when I was there, but there is a teahouse on a small island in the lake and they had the most extensive assortment of high-end Xixing teapots I've seen anywhere. They also had quite an assortment of teas.

kaneda

I spent several hours wandering around Guangzhou and liked it but not a second day. I would say one day and grab a bus into Hong Kong which certainly needs more than 2 days.

USNR

If you could somehow swap Guilin for Guangzhou, you would be doing yourself and your wife a favor. So scenic, smaller, lots to see and do -- Guilin is breathtaking. In Guangzhou, if you insist on going there, we recall The White Swan as a very fine hotel. In HK, the Renaissance Hotel is in a good location, near the Ocean Terminal and the shopping along Nathan Road.

Shanghainese

Not quite sure what dictates your 4 & 2 days but please do not spend more than 1 in Guangzhou, I've been there 1/2 dozen times and was bored after the 1st day.

Cicerone: How fun to compare Guangzhou with Newark and I totally agree with you. But there are some lovely places in NJ, we stayed in Morristown and shopped at Short Hills mall, and the NJT train ride to Manhattan was less than an hour. Next time we'll do a side trip to Lambertville and check out the antique shops.

Cicerone

Yes, yes whole swathes of NJ are lovely, but you would not stay in Newark when you could be in New York is my point.....

cjbryant

Cicerone I love the NJ / NY analogy

toolboy

Thanks for all your input. The reason for Guangzhou is business. But we have already changed our plans from 4 in Guangzhou & 2 in HK to 3 in each. I'll try for 4 in HK, but don't want to risk insulting my business partner. We're staying at the Conrad in HK.