Shenzhen itinerary for first-timers

Futian is the central business district of Shenzhen and the best place to feel how fast the city has grown. Start underground at Gangxia North, a metro interchange whose vast sculpted ceiling makes it one of the most striking stations in the world, then come up beside the One Avenue mall and walk through Link Central City to the foot of the Ping An Finance Centre, one of the tallest buildings on the planet, with an observation deck near the top.

• Gangxia North Station
• One Avenue
• Link Central City
• Ping An Finance Centre
• COCO Park

Visit the observation deck on a clear day; on hazy mornings the view across to the hills and the bay can disappear.

Huaqiangbei is the largest electronics market in the world, and the reason Shenzhen became the hardware capital of the planet. A long pedestrian street runs between towers of electronics malls, and inside them floor after floor of small stalls sell components, phones, cables, drones and gadgets, often to traders buying in bulk. Even without buying anything it is one of the most fascinating places in the city to wander.

• Huaqiangbei Pedestrian Street
• Huaqiang Electronics World
• Huafa Road
• Electronics malls

The malls are busiest in the afternoon; many stalls close early in the evening, so do not leave it too late.

Dongmen, the 'East Gate' in Luohu, is the oldest shopping district of Shenzhen, with a history that goes back centuries before the modern city. Today it is a dense web of pedestrian streets, malls, wholesale markets and narrow lanes, packed with locals in the evening, and its food street is the place to try snacks from all over China.

• Dongmen Pedestrian Street
• Sun Plaza
• Clothing wholesale market
• Food street

Come hungry and after dark, when the street food stalls are at their liveliest.

OCT Loft is a former factory district in Nanshan turned into the creative quarter of Shenzhen. Its old industrial buildings, shaded by big trees, now hold galleries, design shops, studios and café terraces, and the quiet lanes feel a world away from the towers of Futian. It is at its most relaxed in the morning, before the weekend crowds.

• Converted factory buildings
• Galleries
• Café terraces
• Design shops

Check what is on in the galleries before you go; exhibitions change often and some spaces close one day a week.

Shekou, at the south-western tip of the city, was where the economic reforms that built Shenzhen began. The centrepiece of its Sea World district is the Minghua, a former cruise ship moored here since the 1980s and a symbol of the city's opening-up, now surrounded by waterfront promenades, plazas and shopping streets. A large sculpture of Nuwa Mending the Sky stands by the sea at the end of the promenade.

• Minghua cruise ship
• Sea World plaza
• Waterfront promenade
• Nuwa sculpture

Houhai is the newest skyline of Shenzhen, a business district on the bay where glass towers, LED façades and wide plazas make it feel like a film set of the future. Delivery drones carry food to landing stations here, and Shenzhen Bay Avenue leads between the skyscrapers to the big Shenzhen Bay MixC mall.

• Coastal City
• Drone delivery station
• Shenzhen Bay Avenue
• Shenzhen Bay MixC

Shenzhen Bay Park runs for kilometres along the shore of the bay, with mangroves, lawns and a waterfront path full of joggers, cyclists and families in the evening. The sun sets over the water, and as it gets dark the walk turns inland to Talent Park, a lakeside park surrounded by the lit-up towers of the city's technology companies.

• Waterfront path
• Sunset over the bay
• City skyline
• Talent Park

Arrive about an hour before sunset; the light over the bay and the towers is best just after the sun goes down.