Reading Time: 8 Minutes
Written and photographed by Mark Knoff-Thomas.
Auckland to Guangzhou (or GZ for short) is one of those satisfying pacific-rim routes where you arrive and know you’ve landed somewhere completely different – and about 100 years into the future, and 100 years in the past – all at once. Historically known as Canton, this southern China city is a big, warm, river-connected metropolis: the richness of the Cantonese language with chef ’s-kiss food culture. The busy port city’s history was once the frontline of the Opium Wars, but today Guangzhou is one of China’s posterchildren that impressively showcases transformation, seamless transit and city-wide electrification.
Guangzhou’s story begins a very long time before the skyscrapers dominated the skyline. It has played a role as a major southern gateway for trade for centuries, and still plays a key role as a major port and commercial connector. The port is the 5th busiest in China, and in the top 10 globally – it handles 500 million tonnes of cargo and 26 million 24 foot containers annually (Auckland – 4 million and 780,000 respectively). The trading legacy is partly why the city feels so confident and outward-facing. Its awash with busy markets – commerce is everywhere, and there is a deep cultural confidence that shows up in the architecture, food, and the overall vibe of daily life here.
Fuelling the port is the fact this city is a global apparel manufacturing powerhouse. In fact most brands worldwide – large and small, will have some elements of their product range made in Guangzhou. From Tier 1 luxury to every day sport and streetwear to boutique designers and fast fashion and everything in between. The scale of the wholesale and retail scene is actually staggering, and at times a bit overwhelming. One wholesale mall I noticed had 8 levels of just underwear!
China’s meteoric manufacturing growth has been so strategically, and cleverly planned that different cities across the nation specialise in different products with the whole supply chain of parts for said product in each city.
This means the scale and speed at which production happens is rapid and hence China’s enormous growth. For example: Guangzhou – clothing; Yiwu - everyday consumer goods; Shenzhen – electronics; Shantou – toys; Shanghai – vehicles and machinery etc.
If you come to Guangzhou for one reason, make it the food. Cantonese cuisine is famous for clean flavours and freshness. The signature experience, one we all know and love, is yum cha – tea plus dim sum. It’s a social ritual.
Many of us will be familiar with Newmarket icon Pearl Garden in Teed Street. Think of Guangzhou
as yum cha ground zero. But beyond dim sum, Guangzhou is where you see the broader Cantonese “greatest hits” – roast meats hanging in windows, delicate soups, seafood done simply, and late-night noodle shops that seemingly never close. If you’re a foodie, you should visit these 4 main areas:
1. Old-city/ Xiguan in the Liwan district – old-school favourites, traditional long-established Cantonese restaurants.
2. Beijing Road Pedestrian Street for a bustling blend of retail and hospo – very diverse food offerings for all tastes.
3. Tianhe for modern restaurants, dessert cafés, and international options.
4. Pearl River/ Zhujiang New Town for bougie dining with skyline views.
One of the biggest shifts in this city is how much urban transport has been electrified. The city’s push has been substantial: Guangzhou has put nearly 12,000 electric buses and around 10,000 electric taxis into use, as part of their broader transport electrification efforts. For visitors, that translates into fume-free streets that are very quiet – apart from all the horn honking! You’ll also see charging infrastructure everywhere. Electric scooters (of the motorbike variety) can be challenging to navigate - similarly to Bali they are ridden on footpaths everywhere and deathly silently. Good to just be aware.
This is a proud a river city. The Pearl River is a dazzling, neon-lit urban artery that defines the city’s nightlife - blending historic charm with futuristic wow factor. The nightly light show adorning the major buildings along the river is mesmerising. The nearby Canton Tower is the city’s headline icon with a profile that looks like a sci-fi sculpture. Design-wise it may have taken some inspiration from the Pompidou Centre in Paris, with its external structural skeleton. The tower is 600 metres high making it one of the world’s tallest towers. Our own Sky Tower comes in at 328m. On top of the tower is a bit of mad fun in the form of a Bubble Tram. It’s a ring of gondola-like spherical cabins that rotate along a track. It gives outstanding panoramic views across the city and over the river. It gets busy, but its best to go near sunset and watch the city transform into a glittering circuit board of colour and light.
If you fancy a bit of retail therapy, you will need to be prepared to be paralysed by the choice – there is so much of everything and on the largest scale imaginable. A few areas worth a look are:
• Shanxiajiu Pedestrian Street $-$$$
• Tee Mall $$-$$$$
• Beijing Road Pedestrian Street $$-$$$$
• Zhujiang New Town $$$-$$$$$
Guangzhou also makes a brilliant “two cities, one trip” base because Hong Kong is just a short high-speed rail trip away. There are frequent trains from the gargantuan Guangzhou South station (and also Guangzhou East) to Hong Kong’s West Kowloon, with typical non-stop journey times in less than 60 minutes travelling at 320km per hour…
This opens up more options: do Guangzhou for food + history + infrastructure, then slide into Hong Kong for harbour views, hikes, and another level of shopping and dining – all without having to deal with airports. A similar Cantonese vibe but different. Just beware, getting into Hong Kong is the easy part, but going through customs to come back to mainland China is a bit more chaotic and involves an arrival card, which oddly you don’t need to do when arriving directly from NZ.
Getting around GZ is incredibly easy. It’s a very walkable city, e-bikes are available to hire everywhere, DiDi (like Uber) has an array of vehicle choices – from cigarette smokey ones, to huge vans that come complete with massaging seats! And then of course the metro system. Colour coded and numbered making it stress-free language-wise.
A SIMPLE 4-DAY “BEST OF” PLAN, PLUS ALLOW
• Day 1: Orientation, then Pearl River walk + first Cantonese dinner.
• Day 2: Morning yum cha, in the old-city wandering Xihuan, then Shamian Island and Taikoo Hui at night.
• Day 3: River cruise then Canton Tower + Bubble Tram (sunset), explore Zhujiang New Town via metro.
• Day 4: High-speed train day trip to Hong Kong; return late.
Guangzhou has evolved into a bustling modern mega-city – it has a deep history, amazing architecture, superb food, cutting edge fashion, futuristic infrastructure, a great climate. It hasn’t always been an obvious holiday destination, but it is well-worth a visit and deserves far more attention than it gets.
It’s a city that feels both deeply Cantonese and unmistakably next-generation. Superb. China Southern operates daily non-stop flights from Auckland to Guangzhou Baiyun with a flight time around 12 hours.
KNOW BEFORE YOU GO:
On your smart phone, download Alipay, you will need to verify your identity with your passport to activate the App. And if you don’t have one already, get a digital travel card (I used Wise). You can connect the travel card with Alipay, and you will use it literally everywhere for everything – shops, trains, market stalls etc. Alipay is not just an app, it’s a digital eco-system, with multiple services within it.
If you want to operate any western social media apps on your phone while in China, you’ll need to use a VPN. Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Google etc will not function properly in China without a VPN. VPNs may sound confusing, but trust me it just made everything function. (And I have no idea how they work, or even what they are!)
OTHER RECOMMENDED DOWNLOADS:
Trip – I found it very easy for non-metro train travel, and airport transfers
Amap – a local map app - Google and Safari maps are quite limited WeChat – another payment system, but also a very common way to connect with people/ businesses.
Google or Apple Translate. In terms of language, do a crash course in Mandarin, but remembering many of the older people in Guangzhou will likely speak Cantonese.
This article was written for the Autumn/Winter 2026 edition of NEWMARKET. magazine, to view the latest issue, click here.
Tags: travel
