Things to Do in Guangzhou.
We'll do our best to coordinate dim sum, dinners, and drinks with you whenever we can. But when we inevitably get whisked away by family duties and wedding prep, here are some of our favorite spots and things to do in Guangzhou to keep you busy.
— A & K
Dim sum
& Cantonese
classics.
You did not fly across an ocean to skip dim sum. Plan for at least one long, slow morning of tea, baskets, and the trolley. The Cantonese invented this; everywhere else is a remix.
A 140-year-old dim sum hall and the most iconic version of old Guangzhou you can sit down inside of. Carved wood, brass teapots, and lotus paste buns the way they have always been made.
Multiple locations
Michelin-starred Cantonese tucked inside the Four Seasons — which means it's a 90-second elevator ride from the wedding. Convenient and genuinely exceptional. Book ahead.
Zhujiang New Town
Traditional Cantonese soups — slow-simmered, herbal, deeply restorative. Highly recommended by friends; we haven't been ourselves yet. Report back to us.
Zhujiang New Town
Street food
& late night.
Dim sum is the daylight version; the streets are the soul. The best meals in Guangzhou cost ¥30 and come on a paper plate.
Wonton noodles done right — thin egg noodles, paper-skinned shrimp wontons, a broth that smells like the back of someone's grandmother's kitchen. A classic. Worth the queue.
Snacks, dumplings, sugar cane juice, claypot rice, fried squid on a stick, and the unbottled energy of old Guangzhou after dark. Go hungry. Don't plan dinner.
Wherever you wander in Liwan or Yuexiu, follow the crowd and the smell of claypot rice.
Cocktails
& cafés.
Guangzhou's bar and café scene has gotten very good, very fast. You can have a serious cocktail at 10pm or a serious flat white at 10am, in rooms that look like they belong in a magazine.
A speakeasy regularly ranked among Asia's best bars. Hidden entrance, brilliant menu, a place that takes the form seriously without taking itself seriously. Reserve.
A gorgeous, creative cocktail bar — ingredient-driven drinks built like small pieces of theatre. Dim and bamboo-shadowed, the kind of room you settle into for a second round you didn't plan on.
Specialty coffee, beautifully designed — high ceilings, hand-thrown ceramics, a roaster that takes itself seriously. The pourover is what to order.
A secluded courtyard café hidden behind a quiet door — stone paths, mossy planters, and a koi pond at the center that the whole room is built around. Order a tea, sit by the water, lose an hour on purpose.
Guangzhou
Part café, part photography studio, styled like an American canyon — rust-red walls, sculpted sandstone arches, dry desert light. Equal parts coffee bar and shoot location; come for the latte, stay for the backdrops.
Guangzhou
Neighborhoods.
The best way to see Guangzhou is on foot, neighborhood by neighborhood. They each feel like different cities; that's the point.
Guangzhou's Brooklyn. Tree-lined streets, indie cafés, vintage shops, and a slow creative energy you don't expect from a city of 18 million. A perfect Saturday afternoon.
N.01
A revived old-Guangzhou block of narrow lanes, grey-brick courtyards, and indie shops — anchored by the famous moon bridge, the most photographed half-circle in the city. Best at dusk, when the lanterns come on and the bridge becomes a full moon in the water.
N.04
Our home base for the wedding — modern, polished, full of skyscrapers and malls. The Guangzhou of the future. Don't miss K11 Art Mall (K11购物艺术中心), our favorite spot for shopping, art, and food all under one roof.
N.05
A small island of European colonial architecture, leafy and quiet. Like stepping into a different city — and a different century. Great for a hung-over morning walk.
N.07
Day trips.
Guangzhou is well-placed for nearby adventures — high-speed rail makes most of southern China a half-day window. If you're flying this far, stay long enough to stack a few of these.
Fifty minutes by high-speed train from Guangzhou South Station. An entire other world for the day — different currency, different language, different sky. Easy in, easy out.
Guangzhou South Stn
Via Hong Kong, or by ferry. Portuguese colonial charm meets the world's biggest casino strip. Egg tarts in the morning, neon at night.
Ferry / via HK
Thirty minutes away. Traditional Cantonese culture and martial arts heritage — Bruce Lee and Ip Man country. The Ancestral Temple is the centerpiece.
UNESCO World Heritage and one of the strangest landscapes in southern China — surreal early-20th-century watchtowers rising out of farmland, built by returning emigrants. For guests who want something off the beaten path.
UNESCO site
Send us photos. Tell us what you ate. We want to hear about all of it.