Shenzhen

This booming manufacturing powerhouse just to the north of Hong Kong was once just a sleepy village on the South China Sea. Today, it shimmers with the glitter of modernist high-rises, ticks over to the mechanised hum of metro trains and beats with all the endless energy you’d expect of one of the nation’s richest and fastest-growing megalopolises. For travellers, this bustling town offers up some of China’s most famous theme parks—ranging from the Vegas-esque Window of The World, complete with its Eiffel Tower and Giza Pyramid effigies, and its to the seemingly endless Happy Valley. These are matched by the city’s cultural offering, which throws up Splendid China and the Folk Culture village and the prestigious collections of the Shenzhen Museum. Then there are the parks, famed throughout China and sprawled out over Lianhua Mountain and the flower gardens of Futian District. Naturally there’s also a hugely eclectic range of activities to pursue elsewhere in the city, and visitors eager to make the most of Hong Kong’s sister city should ask their Shenzen tourist guide about breaking out to the beautiful beaches of the Dapeng Bay, the sprawling expat friendly shopping complexes of Luohu, or the unique settings at Dafen Oil Painting Village, where hundreds of artists are commissioned to churn out works ranging from originals to mostly replicas of the great masters.