Have you ever wondered why Guangzhou is called the metropolis of merchandises in China? Guangzhou gets this fame since it is the origin of Maritime Silk Road as well as the port city. This advantage promotes the hectic trading and international business activities between Guangzhou and the rest of the world. It is truly a worth visiting city in your tour to China because no matter what you are seeking for, you will find all of them in this fantastic land. Many people come to the city for must-see attractions and explore the abundant local culture and rich history.
Best Places in Guangzhou
Dr. Sun Yat-sen's Memorial Hall
Sunset in this place is compared as beautiful as to the glorious sunset in the Forbidden City. Its main building is listed as the largest synagogue construction in Asia region. The hall is built to commemorate the great revolutionary Sun Yat-sen, who was dedicated to the birth of the Republic of China. He was respected by the people and was called the national patriarch. Traveling to this memorial hall, you can make your way to from display area to the memorial area and enjoy the harmony combination between the modern architecture and old mausoleum styles. Moreover, behind Dr. Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall is a big-size theatre with the capacity of more than 400 people, where tourists can watch Chinese performance items.
Yuexiu Park
Yuexiu Park has the reputation of the largest park and provides tourists with free entrance tickets in Guangzhou. It is the Eight Scenic Spot of the city and invested for extending after the liberation of Guangzhou. This park is supposed as a comprehensively green lung for the atmosphere in the city of Guangzhou. The park is the complex of 3 others architectures including Guangzhou Museum of Art (charming Chinese characteristics), Five Rams Stone Sculpture (legend of name of Goat City or Guangzhou today) and Zhenhai Tower (the best ancient agriculture in Guangzhou). Shortly, they are the most famous sculptures symbolizing for the city. The park serves you with a variety of amenities such as restaurants, swimming pool, shops, gymnasium, and other necessary foundation. This is an ideal place to take a stroll along the park and enjoy fun activities.
Canton Tower
A wonderful modern architecture in Guangzhou is the Canton Tower (also "Supermodel") symbolizing the luxury and prosperous development of this city. The landmark is the highest tower built up to the height of 600 meters. This is compared as a lighthouse in Guangzhou, notably at night. From afar, you may admire its unique design inspired by women’s hip joint with her slim waist in the middle of the tower. Canton Tower provides tourists with amazing entertainment, lots of eateries and other facilities such as shops, exhibition space and 4D theatre. On top of the tower, you can have a view of the whole city, it is such a breathtaking view.
A trip to the Sacred Heart Cathedral
This church is also recognized as the ‘Notre-Dame Cathedral” in East Asia and the Stone House by native people. The Cathedral is the biggest in Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Guangzhou and one of the most magnificent double steeples Gothic architectures in China. The whole structure of the Sacred Heart Cathedral is made of granite from walls to pillars, which makes it as a part of four granite Gothic churches worldwide. What amaze you when coming to this church are splendid granite arches, dark red doors, crystal colorful glasses windows,... When sunlight illuminates through those colored glasses, the church becomes a stunning and sacred place. Once you are in this church, you will find it difficult-free to meditate, all you need to do is take a deep breath and feel the adorable surroundings. This authentic experience will impress your expectation.
Best Things to Explore in Guangzhou
Take a walk to Qing Ping Medicine Market
You may already know about the Chinese name of medicinal plants through newspaper or epics movies. Coming to Guangzhou, tourists should not forget to visit Qing Ping Market, which is a noteworthy destination. This wholesale market is the market of dried ingredients wide-ranging from seahorses to deer antlers. Chinese believe that seahorses can treat asthma, throat infections, pain, and skin infections. Additionally, the local market also supplies customers with a variety of Chinese traditional herbs; moreover, it can be a striking experience for most tourists to learn about the herbal medicines they bought and how to use them precisely for treatment or health promotion. Most of these products are well preserved for long term use, so don’t worry about the expiry date.
Night Cruise on Pearl River
Cruising on this river is a good way to sightsee the whole city from an exotic perspective. Along a poetic atmosphere on a cruise, tourists can contemplate the sparkling city, which is illuminated by thousands of neon lights. You can enjoy famous places such as the Haizhu Square, or the Canton skyscrapers Tower together with twinkling bridges and the reflection of lights on the water. The highlight of this fantastic cruise is the cruising from the White Goose Pool (also called “Night Moon over the Goose Pool”) to Guangzhou Bridge. When you are on the boat, you will discover that Pearl River ranked third longest river in China with more than 2,000 kilometers in length. The river seems to be a ribbon to connect relic sites and modern views of Guangzhou city. Other rivers like the Xi River, the Liuxi River, the Dong River, and the Bei River finally come together to contribute an enchanting scene in Guangzhou. These things contribute to your memorable trip in life.
Hiking White Cloud Mountain
If you are looking for some places to get out of the bustling city and have risky Chineselike experience, hiking in White Cloud Mountain seems to be the best choice for you. The first impression to tourists is the picture-like scene of the area. This famous mountain will facilitate you with terrific hiking routes. Transport facilities are available among the place to encourage you to keep on your track. Also, there is a variety of activities waiting for you at the destination. Visitors could challenge themselves to get on the top of the mountain either take part in fun local activities. Being at the peak, you will have a breathtaking view, or admire a peaceful picture at the root of the mountain and immerse yourself into the fresh air. Moreover, you can have a chance to contemplate white clouds around the peaks or see the sunset. The best time to travel here should be spring because, in this season, tourists can rejoice blooming blossoms and living scenes.
Local cuisine
Visiting Guangzhou, you will have a chance to try one of the best signature food in Chinese cuisine: Roasted Suckling Pig. As a traditional belief, the sacrifice of the pig could help people to avoid bad lucks and meet with favorable conditions in the business. When you hear or see it for the first time, you may find it hard to eat that kind of food. Don’t worry, you just need a bit brave to little by little, then you will fall in love with this cuisine. There are two options in cooking styles for you. The first way is roasting the pig under low fire, the other is under a big fire with a lot of oil to keep the smooth and crackling outside and tasty tender meat inside. Besides, there are various eateries of Dimsum, eggs tart, rice rolls, … for you to choose.
Best Time to Visit Guangzhou
Autumn
Autumn is undeniably the best reason for tourism in Guangzhou. At this time the atmosphere becomes blissfully cool and perfectly pleasant from later October to the middle of December. The starting of Autumn happens National Day Holiday of China, which is referred to as the “Golden week”. This occurrence is to remember the formation of the People’s Republic of China. A huge number of tourists travel to Guangzhou in this season to enjoy with Chinese people and also discover their attractions. Have you heard about “Guangzhou Fragrance Hill”? If you are looking for the best romantic scene, let’s head to Shimen National Forest Park at the end of October (lasts for 3 months). Going sightseeing fall foliage in a poetic scene of the splendid mountain, in the fair weather, seems to be an unforgettable experience for you.
Winter
It can make you astonishing if you expect that Guangzhou goes through a snowy winter. The truth is that the city doesn’t have severe cold wintertime as many other places in China’s territory. The favorable weather enables the world of colorful flowers to fully bloom and draw the attention of the public. Particularly, this season is convenient for you to learn more about the official flower of Guangzhou: Kapok (Cotton Tree). Local people believe that its characteristics to grow high in the sun lights represents for a strong spirit as Guangzhou people. You could also discover the application of this kind of trees to daily usages as clothes, medicine.
Spring
Spring in Guangzhou always goes with colorful blooming flowers although it possesses a humid climate. During this time, rain and wet may affect your enjoyment in the city. However, the attractive combination of birds' twitter and flowers fragrance will welcome you to go out and pay a visit to good destinations in Guangzhou. One of the magnetic element to the city in particular and China, in general, is the biggest festival: Spring Festival. Extraordinary, when visiting Guangzhou, you can’t forget Guangzhou's Spring Festival Flower Fair. At this festival, people decorate streets with fresh colorful flowers, miniatures; the presentation of the kumquat tree is the representation of wealth (“kum” is gold to Guangzhou residents). Besides, there are various performances aim to liven the spring atmosphere such as lion dancing, firecrackers together with loud music.
Summer
Summer is the peak travel time, while most of the tourists are from domestic. The highest temperature months (varies from 25 to 32.22 ºC) are July and August. You can ease the high temperature off by taking pleasant water activities. Visitors are recommended to bring with umbrellas in case of burning hot or unexpected rain. Nevertheless, the amazing cuisines are waiting for you in Guangzhou this summer. The most distinctive food is Eight Treasure Chinese Winter Melon. This dish is signature made of flavourful soup and the bowl of incredible carved winter melon, which is meticulously shaped, boiled and dipped into cold water for the best appearance. The stunning “architecture” will surely satisfy you in the heat of summer.