Last updated on December 11th, 2019 at 11:08 am

I’ve never been to China before. So my first ever trip to Guangzhou (广州市), China is a milestone for me. If this will be your first trip to Guangzhou too I’m going to show you what you can expect through my experiences. From traveling to Guangzhou Baiyun international airport to Guangzhou’s city center at night and eating.

So the city of Guangzhou is 119 mile from Hong Kong in Southern China. It’s a city known for mass producing most of the products you’re wearing and using at this very moment. Which is why my wife and I was also going to the 124th Canton Fair for business. Nonetheless, I was super excited for my first ever visit to Guangzhou, China.

And it’ll be a special trip. Because my parents were originally from Guangzhou before immigrating to the USA.

As an American and even for Thais in my wife’s case we first had to get a China visa. Which depending on which blog you read could be easy. Or it could rather difficult. Luckily while we were applying for our Chinese visa in Bangkok we didn’t have any issues at all.

The Great (Fire) Wall of China

As a digital nomad, China’s great firewall could really hamper one’s efforts to share or write about their experiences in China on location. In China, if you plan on taking selfies plus food porn and posting them up on Facebook and Instagram you’ll be disappointed.

Only Chinese manufactured social media platforms function in China. This means Line, Instagram and Facebook apps won’t work as all are blocked by the firewall. But WeChat app which is China owned does.

Here’s your options for all you social media addicts

If you’re using your home countries’ mobile service provider with free or affordable international roaming then you’ll be fine. So if you’re from the United States and you’re using a service provider like T-Mobile you can post on your choice of social media inside China freely.

It’s a different story for your computer though because you can’t install SIM cards into one. Instead you’ll need a Virtual Protocol Network (VPN) which essentially disguises your computer’s IP address and fooling the great Firewall. In essence, a VPN makes it look like your computer is not in China.

You can try using installing ExpressVPN on your computer which I heard has good results in China to post photos and experiences on Facebook. Or even watch Netlflix when you’ve got a lot of down time.

Best Area to Stay in Guangzhou for Your First Visit – Beijing Road

So I did some extensive research for myself on which area I should stay in Guangzhou. I found out Beijing Road location is the best, in terms of convenience for finding transportation, food and walking distance to local attractions.

For instance the hotel or rather the serviced apartment I stayed at is called Nomo Beijing Road A Mall Apartments. It’s located inside a mall so plenty of food options. And the Gongyuanqian 公园前站 train station is underneath the hotel with a shopping arcade. Can’t get any better than that.

Now that you know how to post on social media in China, lets get down to the nitty gritty of visiting Guangzhou for your first time.

Starting with how to get from Baiyun international Airport to the city at night.

Getting from Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport to the City after Midnight

I arrived into Baiyun airport a little after 11pm. Which left me with not a lot of choices for getting to the city. Actually I was only left with one choice which is metered taxi.

Because Guangzhou metro subways stop service by 11pm. The Guangzhou airport bus also stops service around that time also.

We landed a little after 11pm. After getting through passport control and retrieving my luggage we were out of the airport by midnight. Luckily, metered taxis waiting outside of Baiyun airport are a plenty. While I was there there were lines of taxis waiting for tired passengers eager to get to their hotel rooms for shut eye.

Are Taxis from Airports in Guangzhou Reliable?

I stayed in Guangzhou for about 6 days. Throughout those six days I’ve used taxis at least once a day. Every driver turned on their meter. No one tried to force a flat rate on me. And through google maps I followed the routes to my destination. None of the taxis made serious route deviations to run up the meter.

Though I should also add that Google maps is not that reliable in Guangzhou. I’ll get into that later though.

From my experience, Guangzhou taxi drivers are reliable. Except that one taxi driver that was drifting asleep during stop signals. And when he’d wake up, he’d start singing. What a great way to stay awake.

Metered taxi fare from Guangzhou Baiyun airport to the Nomo Beijing Road A Mall Apartments, the hotel I was staying at cost me 145¥, including the 15¥ tollway. About $20USD for a 30 minute trip. It’s not as expensive as my home city of New York. Though not as cheap as Bangkok, Thailand.

Not complaining though as the ride was convenient and hassle free. Especially in the middle of the night where transportation options are limited.

I already read elsewhere that metered taxi rides to Guangzhou from the airport cost roughly 120¥ so it’s on par with my experience.

I can’t remember specifically where the metered taxi line is at Baiyun airport but there are many signs in English pointing the way. Like most airports around the world you’ll get approached by taxi touts while making way to the official airport taxi stand.

Taxis in Guangzhou run 24 hours. You’ll find less past midnight but I wouldn’t worry. On our return flight to Bangkok we had to check out of our hotel 1am in the morning. And we did’t wait long to find a taxi.

Other than taxis, traveling around Guangzhou is super easy, especially on foot.

Getting Around Guangzhou

Guangzhou, just like Seoul, Taipei and Osaka is a real joy to explore on foot. The sidewalks are flat and spacious. The vehicles obey traffic lights. There are many street signs in English and finding the places we wanted to go to was easy.

Beijing Road is the main avenue in the city of Guangzhou. If you get lost, just find Beijing Road to reorient yourself and find where you need to go.

Only problem is if you’re using Google or Apple maps for directions you’ll see it’s a total gamble. Meaning the directions you find on it may not lead you to your destination.

This happened to me on numerous occasions.

I was looking for a Citibank and even on the Citibank app via Google or Apple maps I still couldn’t locate the branch.

Another example, according to Google maps the hotel I was staying at was actually 465 meters off from the actual location. Luckily the taxi driver knew the exact location of the hotel we were staying in.

Then on Trip Advisor I was trying to find this Szechuan restaurant for an hour following Google maps. Only to discover that I’m not at the right location. From hindsight, what I will do the next time I’m back in Guangzhou is to call the places to check 1) if they’re still there and 2) where the exact location is.

Guangzhou metro subway train fares are cheap. And so efficient with frequent train arrivals. It simply is one of the best ways to get around the city. I used it to get from my hotel to the station near Canton Fair which is about 7 miles away. The train fare was only .70 cents or 5¥.

Subsequent times I’ve used the trains I’ve never spent more than 5¥ per train ride. The ticket machines are in English with plenty of English signs and maps leading the way. Station stops are also announced in English.

A Few Places We Visited on Foot

Like I mentioned already, Google maps is unreliable in Guangzhou for finding most businesses. However, it’s reliable for finding long established city attractions. And I visited them easily on foot.

Chen Clan Ancestral Hall

For the short week we were in Guangzhou we went to Chen Clan Ancestral Hall located in the center of the city. My last name is Chan. But it’s the same as Chen when written in Chinese 陳 so in a way, I’m visiting my roots and paying homage to my ancestors

The Chen Clan Ancestral Hall also houses old and new artwork. With many antiques spread throughout the compound. You can easily visit all of the exhibits in about 30 or 40 minutes. It was nice to sit outside in the huge open courtyard and just think about what what life was like in the past. Certainly worth dropping by especially if you’ve got the Chen name.

There is an entrance fee of 10¥ and you have to show your passport. Normally I don’t bother carrying my passport around for fear of losing it. But in China, best to have it with when you’re out and about.

Temple of the Six Banyan Tree

This attraction is actually a lot closer to where we were staying. There’s a tall pagoda called Temple of the Six Banyan Tree. There’s a lot of history in this area which I won’t go into on this post. But you can find plenty of info about it here.

Also not a big huge attraction but cool place to pop in and take a look. Entrance fee to the main temple grounds is 5¥ and you can go up the pagoda for an extra fee of 10¥. Which I would’ve done if I knew we could go inside and up to the top.

Overall walking around and exploring the city of Guangzhou was pleasant. We here in early November and the weather was cool and crisp.

I would’ve explored more of Guangzhou but I was here mostly to check out the 124th Canton Fair for business. So I spent some days checking factories and so on. And still a lot of walking.

All this walking of course is going to build up an appetite. It’s time to eat! And in Guangzhou, there’s no shortage of good food.

Only thing is, we gotta find a restaurant with English menus!

Eating Out in Guangzhou

You’re not going to have a problem finding good food in Guangzhou. You are however, going to have a hard time finding a restaurant with English menus. Although I can speak Cantonese, I cannot read or write it.

Though the ability to speak Cantonese helps somewhat. But most locals in Guangzhou speak Mandarin. Which I cannot understand. Yet they can understand my Cantonese.

So I’m bit of an oddball whenever I’m talking and interacting with the locals. My point is, if you want to eat inside local restaurants there will be a language barrier. I guess you can always point at the actual food or photos of food which helps.

For anyone that doesn’t want to deal with the language barrier in Guangzhou there are plenty of McDonald’s, KFC, Pizza Huts, Starbucks and many more international fast food chains.

But if you’re in Guangzhou you must have dim sum!

Dim Sum in Guangzhou, China

In Guangzhou, I recommend having some good old Cantonese dim sum for breakfast. Though you can have it as brunch or even for late lunch because most dim sum restaurants close around 10pm.

Though I usually eat dim sum for breakfast because that’s just the way I had it growing up in New York’s Chinatown. We call it “yum cha” which means “drink tea” which is an essential part of the dim sum experience.

Now you’re definitely going to come across the language barrier issue at a dim sum restaurant in Guangzhou. There’s only one restaurant that I know with English menus. But the menu has numerous spelling errors and translations. Don’t get discouraged.

Remember, a hungry tummy will always find a way.

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  Hong Kong style food is present too...

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  Cool little noodle restaurant we found by accident...

The dim sum restaurant in Guangzhou with English menus is called Dim Sum Chef. It’s a restaurant chain but I can’t find any links to a website. But I found out about it because the hotel I was staying at has a mall called A Mall connected right to it on the 4th floor.

Another good dim sum option in Guangzhou that is also a chain is:

Dian Dou De 点都德  address: Beijing Road branch – 470 Hui Fu Dong Lu, Yuexiu district. There’s one more which is the main branch at: 587 Long Jin Zhong Lu, Liwan district

How to Order Dim Sum

The dim sum restaurants I went to in Guangzhou, every table gets a menu order form. But it’s in Chinese. I could speak Cantonese and relay to the servers that I can’t read Chinese. So I just mouth off the types of dim sum I normally order back in NYC.

And the waiters were friendly enough to help write in my order.

But I also used WeChat to communicate with friends that can read Chinese. I just snapped a photo of the menu and asked my friend to translate for me. So if you know someone who can read and write Chinese this is one way you can order.

Otherwise, I recommend sitting next to a table with customers with lots and lots of dim sum on their tables. Then start pointing out to the servers what you want. Who knows, you’ll probably make friends with the folks sitting next to you too.

Tea Etiquette at Guangzhou Dim Sum Restaurants

Take a look at Luke Martin’s video below inside one of Dian Dou De’s branch. Where you’ll get an idea on what’s it like to enjoy a dim sum meal in Guangzhou. As well the process of tea preparation.

Also notice there’s a bowl and a plate. You eat from the bowl. The plate is there to put things like bones or discarded pieces of food. Don’t ask me why. I mean why do most fancy restaurants have like 3 different forks for different meal servings?

So these are the only two dim sum joints I’ve been to but I plan to check out others after checking out this blogger’s post on where to eat dim sum in Guangzhou.

But really your food options will be endless in Guangzhou. You’ll find something you’ll like, I’m sure of it.

Getting a Massage in Guangzhou

With old age quickly settling in on my bones after all the walking around in Guangzhou I searched out a massage place in the city via Google maps. I know I said it’s a gamble. But, I took a gamble. And my gamble paid off.

I followed Google map’s navigation all the way to Dongxing Blindman Massage Parlor. It was about a 15 minute walk from my hotel location. It turned out it was easy find.

Dongxing is not a fancy shop. It’s a local shop with neighborhood customers. Not a lot of tourists walk in those doors. And they can only speak Mandarin. Luckily they could understand my Cantonese.

While my wife and I went in, there was only one blind masseuse and a few others that could see. So not everyone inside is blind. I’m going to warn you, it’s going to be painful. Because they are trained to use their hands to locate points on your body that needs work on. So, they will continually massage and knead until the knots are gone with their super strong grips

Even after a few days later we were still sore. Not sore in a way where you can’t do your daily routines though. Just enough to let you know what they did worked. And we felt great afterwards. We went for the hour long massage which cost 70¥ per person. About $10USD which is a great bargain.

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  Beijing Road is a very popular local spot for food and shopping...

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  A part of Beijing Road at night which is busy...

Looking forward to My Next Visit to Guangzhou

My first visit to Guangzhou has me feeling impressed. With most of my time spent on business I didn’t have enough time to scratch the surface of the city.

I wish Google Maps worked more effectively in China. I wish I learned Mandarin. Which I’ll try and pick up seeing as I will be visiting Guangzhou more often in the near future.

It’s a fun city to travel to and even with the language barrier you’ll still manage to score a good meal one way or the other. There’s no doubt you’ll have a pretty good experience on your first visit to Guangzhou too.