Your essential guide to Shenzhen

SEE

Two cultural destinations unite at the Museum of Contemporary Art & Planning Exhibition – three, if you factor in the building, by avant-garde Austrian architects Coop Himmelb(l)au. A twisting, impressively dynamic structure in glass, stone and chrome, its gallery spaces show temporary exhibitions of contemporary art and design.

TASTE

Forget bubble tea: instead, make like Shenzhen’s young and hip, and sip a speciality coffee. In the Futian District, close to Lianhuashan Park, tiny Cui Ye Dao Street is now home to seven independent coffee shops, where aficionados linger over their brew of choice.

SWOOP

Swap downtown Shenzhen’s busy streets for the green and pleasant Lianhuashan Park (AKA Lotus Hill Park), with its lake, peach grove and outdoor plaza, where local families gather to fly kites. Inspired to do the same? The hotel’s team can arrange a two-hour kite-flying experience for Fans of M.O.

DINE

Huang Jing Hui – Chef Fei to those in the know – is a master of Cantonese cuisine, with two Michelin stars to his name. At the hotel’s sleek restaurant, The Bay by Chef Fei, he revisits dishes from the Ling Nan and Teo Chew regions of Guangdong, and serves up some stellar dim sum.

STROLL

Half an hour’s drive from the hotel, the vast Xianhu Botanical Garden sits at the foot of Wutong Mountain. Spend a peaceful morning strolling its gardens, past pagodas, a boating lake, and all manner of exotic plant life, from glossy-leafed bonsai trees and delicate orchids to huge, otherworldly cacti.

DISCOVER

Since 2005, creatives have staked their claim to OCT Loft, a former factory complex that once made televisions. Now, it’s the city’s design quarter, and a hub for local artists and creatives. Don’t miss Old Heaven Books, a bookstore, café and record label, and Penny Black Jazz Bar, where musicians often jam.

DRINK

Open the fully functioning fridge at the unassuming H-Store convenience store and descend into The Haploid, a whimsical, neon-lit basement bar. Its signature drinks are famously inventive, including one disguised as a house plant, with Oreo-crumb soil. In the mood for something simpler? They also mix terrific classic cocktails.

EXPLORE

On the Pearl River estuary, Shekou was the place where Shenzhen’s future was sealed in 1979, when it became a designated economic development zone. Stroll the waterfront, head to the V&A-backed Sea World Culture & Arts Center, or take a seat outside the Korean-owned Green Wood Café for excellent coffee and even better cakes.

CREATE

On the periphery of the city, Dafen Oil Painting Village is known for churning out copies of iconic paintings (think Van Gogh’s Sunflowers) with eerily accurate brushstrokes. But, as its accomplished painters have gained confidence, many have renounced replicas for their own, original paintings. Browse their canvasses or sign up for an art class.

SURF

The waves that ebb and flow on the powdery sands of Xichong could just as easily belong in Hawaii. Instead, they are just over an hour by car from Futian and the hotel. It’s easy to see why this beach is beloved by the small, laid-back community of surfers who congregate here. Rent a board and join them.

EXPLORE

Stroll the labyrinthine streets of Baishizhou, one of Shenzhen’s largest and last urban villages, for a glimpse of how this city started out: as a series of close-knit neighbourhoods, buzzing with traders peddling their wares. Worked up a thirst? Stop for a local craft beer at Peko Brewing Co.

CLIMB

Take to the hills for spectacular vistas of the city and bay – and, on a clear day, across the Pearl River estuary to Zhongshan in the west. Follow wooded hiking trails and crystalline streams, and soak in the serene hillside temple at Shenzhen Phoenix Mountain Forest Park. The sunsets from here can be spectacular.

To understand the scale of Shenzhen’s four-decade transformation from fishing village to super-sized metropolis, take to the sky from the hotel’s rooftop helipad. Fly over the heart of the city – and Shenzhen Bay on its western edge – for an overview of its dizzying scale.

- The concierge team at Mandarin Oriental, Shenzhen.