Zhuhai travel guide

Zhuhai is 137 km from Guangzhou, in the Pearl River Delta, so most visitors travel via Guangzhou and Zhongshan to reach Zhuhai.

Zhuhai Jinwan Airport is located on Sanzao Island, next to the Aerospace City. It has flights to more than 20 major cities across China, with nearly 200 flights a week to destinations nationwide.

Intercity trains run from Guangzhou South Station to Zhuhai Station, with a departure roughly every 12 minutes. The journey takes about 1 hour and the fare is ¥70. Departures run from 6:10 to 22:34.

Zhuhai is served by the Jingzhu Expressway (京珠高速), the Western Coastal Expressway (西部沿海高速) and the Jiangzhu Expressway (江珠高速), with direct express coaches linking it to all cities and counties in Guangdong.

Zhuhai's city buses are unmanned: pay by coin when you board. No change is given. The fare is ¥1.

Zhuhai taxis come in two classes. Class 1 taxis charge ¥12 for the first 2.5 km, then ¥3 per km. Class 2 taxis charge ¥10 for the first 2.5 km, then ¥2.6 per km. A 30% surcharge applies at night. If a driver takes a longer route or overcharges, you can file a complaint through the official WeChat account “Zhuhai Traffic” (珠海交通) of the Zhuhai municipal transport authority.

Getting from Shenzhen to Zhuhai is very convenient, taking just over an hour. Luxury high-speed ferries from Jiuzhou Port in Zhuhai run directly to Hong Kong's China Ferry Terminal and HK-Macau Ferry Terminal.

Zhuhai's cuisine draws on the flavours of Jiuzhou and the four seas, embracing and borrowing from many traditions. Fresh seafood, local snacks and overseas dining styles bloom together like a garden of a hundred flowers, making Zhuhai a true paradise for food lovers.

Restaurants line Zhuhai's streets, and at dinner time every eatery is packed. The Portuguese-style Western food here is also distinctive and memorable.

Romantic Oysters, Deyuelou Dining Co., Ltd.;

Cheese-Baked Oysters, Shishen Seafood City;

Colourful Butterfly and Coiled Dragon, Dongfang Fishing Harbour at Zhonghan Hotel;

Fishermen's Song at Dusk, Zhuhai Resort Hotel;

Secret-Recipe Double-Shell Crab, Yili Grand Restaurant;

Golden Eel and Yellow Eel, Donghai Fishing Village Dining Co., Ltd.;

Huadiao Wine Crabs, Haiwan Grand Hotel;

Golden Soup Prawns, Yijingwan Grand Hotel;

Birds over Emerald Waves, Junyuelai Grand Hotel; Black Bean Pigeon Fish, Yili Grand Restaurant.

After dark, the crowds at Gongbei Port come and go, and the lanes beside the port are lined with shops. It may be a little chaotic, but it is lively. Zhuhai blends Chinese and Western character, and its charm is complex and hard to put into words; only by getting close can you slowly come to appreciate it.

Zhuhai is a city where you need to walk to appreciate its charm. You don't have to visit every attraction, but simply strolling its streets gives you a sense of how different it is from other cities. Spend a day wandering from Xiangzhou to Jida and on to Gongbei, and you will have seen most of Zhuhai.

Hotels and guesthouses in Zhuhai offering similar standards are a little cheaper than those in Guangzhou and Shenzhen, and the surroundings are often more pleasant. For city-centre stays, Gongbei and Xiangzhou are best, as transport there is convenient. Notably, Zhuhai's hotels are mostly garden-style or villa-style, with elegant, secluded settings and fairly reasonable prices.

Zhuhai is rich in aquatic products. Its main local specialties include Dieshi oyster sauce, Zhuhai roe crab, Huangjin phoenix eel, Hengshan powdered kudzu, Baiteng lotus root powder, water duck, Qianwu soft-boned mullet, Nanping crispy grass carp, Baijiao peanut worm, woven crafts, Xiaotuoshan tangerine, Huangyang lychee, Wanzai fresh flowers and more.

Zhuhai has entertainment venues of every kind, making it a true entertainment hub. The simplest and most rewarding night-time pastime is to stroll along Lovers' Road with a companion, or to take a boat with friends to see the night view of Macau.