Hi everybody thanks for all the info!!
I'm going to Hong Kong in 3 weeks and had NO plans to go to China (main land), I keep hearing that is easy to go from koowloon.
Is it feasible to go for one day? two days?What is the easiest way? train, bus.. Do I need a visa? (American citizen) can I get a visa at the border? any help is very welcomed/

you can go for the day if you wish....we only went to the shopping town whose name escapes me....you need a visa and you get it quite quickly at the border...just take the train, its very easy....it was not that great of an experience but ok...

there are so many things to see in HK, i find it hard to leave...

macau is an interesting 2 day trip if you want to go overnite someplace

Bob, China now requires all visas in advance. You can get a visa in Hong Kong, but it takes a bit of your time. I personally wouldn't take time away from HK to go to Schenzen.

Macau is a nice day trip or overnight.

Correct. Americans cannot get a visa at the border. And a visa is too expensive (~US$50) for a one- or two-day trip, unless you MUST go.

You can SEE China from various points in northern parts of Hong Kong, if you just want to see all the highrises in Shenzhen.

I also recommend going to Macau. Interesting place for an overnight trip. You can also SEE China easily from Macau.

whilst it sounds like rhkkmk is talking about shenzhen (to be semantic) perhaps he means Lowu (bugger, i've forgotten now too but its something like that).

don't do the bus. just don't. With the train you have two options 1) local train service which takes you to Lowu and shenzhen. You'll get off the train and you'll walk across the border. Its fairly cheap (i think HK$35) from kowloon. If you wanted to go further into the mainland than that (eg guangzhou) then once you have crossed the border you get onto another train and I think thats about RMB60. The otehr option is to get the direct train to guangzhou but also might stop at one or two places on the way. Its a more comfortable train and in less than 2 hours you'll be in guangzhou. the cost is about RMB200. A little less for the cheaper seats and a little more for the other seats.

ON both options paying ahead can help but is generally not necessary. If you do the direct train to guangzhou then you'll go through customs or whatever its called at the hong kong end and when you get off the train in china and its here that you'll need your visa. My cousins applied for a visa on the saturday and had to pick it up on the monday. Oh and the direct train leaves from Hom Hung (not the mtr which is a small walk away).

there is another way. you can catch a ferry to take you to shenzhen for about RMB80(????) but the port it takes you to is still about 1 hour taxi drive from the city centre. You can get the ferry to guangzhou too and i think the cost is a bit more than HK$200 and i think that service only runs 3 times a day. It too will require a bit of a taxi drive to get to the city (guanzhou has, arguably, a few city "centres&quot

if you want to do some shopping then it might very well be worth it.

Shenzhen is the name of the special economic zone, which is a fairly large municipality. Lowu is the area within Shenzhen that's immediately across from Hong Kong, centered upon the train station. That is also where the huge shopping center with all the fake goods is.