Why Guangzhou Should Be on Every Traveller’s Map

When I told friends back home that I was moving to Guangzhou, most of them looked confused. “Is it near Beijing?” one asked. “Is it like Hong Kong?” another wondered. Now, after living in this city for more than a year, I can tell them with confidence: Guangzhou is nowhere near Beijing; it is nothing like Hong Kong; and it is one of Asia’s most underrated travel destinations. Here is why every foreign traveller should put this southern Chinese metropolis on their map.

The Food Alone Is Worth the Flight

Before coming here, I thought I knew Chinese food. I was wrong. Guangzhou is the undisputed capital of Cantonese cuisine, and the so-called “Chinese takeout” found in many parts of the world barely scratches the surface of what you can eat here.

The first time local friends took me for morning tea — what they call yum cha — I was completely overwhelmed. Steam-filled bamboo steamer carts rolled through the hall, each carrying something I had never seen before: crystal-clear shrimp dumplings, honey-glazed barbecued pork buns, and chicken feet — food I was too nervous to try at first, but now order every single time.

This ritual is about far more than eating. It is a way to slow down. Tea is poured; you tap your knuckles on the table to thank someone for refilling your cup; conversation flows freely. Nobody hurries you. Coming from a culture where coffee is often drunk on the go, this was a revelation to me.

Yet dim sum is only the beginning. Guangzhou has entire streets dedicated to food. On Baohua Road, I have had silky rice noodle rolls for breakfast, rich beef brisket noodles for lunch, and late-night stir-fried rice noodles from street-side stalls. That wok hei — the smoky, seared flavour produced by a screaming-hot wok — still haunts my dreams. Some of my best meals in this city have cost less than US$3. How many major cities around the world can you say that about?

History Is Not Locked Behind Glass

I have visited historic sites in many countries, yet so often they feel preserved and sealed off from everyday life. Guangzhou is different.

Wander through the streets of old Xiguan, lined with arcade-style buildings known as qilou — structures with upper floors supported by pillars, creating covered walkways that provide shade and shelter. These are not museums. They are homes, shops, and restaurants, still in use a century later. Laundry hangs from second-floor windows. Elderly people set up folding tables under trees to play Chinese chess. History here is not something you simply observe. It is something you walk through.

Then there is Shamian Island, a small sandbar in the Pearl River that was once home to foreign concessions. Walking along its quiet, tree-lined avenues, you could swear you had stumbled into a European city: Baroque façades, Gothic churches, and colonial-style verandas. Yet shop signs are in Chinese, and jasmine hangs in the air. It is a strange and beautiful collision of worlds, a reminder that Guangzhou has traded with the outside world for more than two thousand years.

As a foreigner, seeing this long history of exchange felt oddly reassuring — people like me have been coming here for centuries.

A City That Welcomes Outsiders

Let’s be honest: moving to a new country can be daunting. But Guangzhou surprised me with its warmth. Perhaps because it has long functioned as a major trading port, foreigners are hardly a novelty here.

Not once have I felt that I was being stared at or made to feel unwelcome. When my broken Cantonese made market vendors laugh, they smiled and patiently corrected me. When I got lost in the old town’s maze-like lanes, a teenage girl walked ten minutes out of her way to show me the correct bus stop.

The city is also remarkably traveller-friendly. Its metro system is clean, affordable, and extensive, with English signage throughout the system. I can pay for almost everything with my phone — street snacks, taxis, and even temple donations — although I admit it took me a while to adjust to a society where cash is rarely necessary.

English is not widely spoken, but with translation apps, plus the universal language of pointing and smiling, I have never gone hungry or truly felt lost.

Scenery That Took Me by Surprise

I expected nothing but a concrete jungle. I had not bargained for Baiyun Mountain: a lush expanse of greenery within the city limits, where I can hike for hours and gaze out over the sprawling metropolis below.

I had not expected the Pearl River to become my favourite nightly ritual: strolling along its banks and watching the Canton Tower — that impossibly slender, twisting structure — light up in rainbow hues, its reflection rippling across the water like a neon dream.

Nor had I anticipated ancient temples tucked between skyscrapers, incense curling upwards as the hum of the city softens beneath the sound of chanting.

The Real Reason I Stayed

If you asked me to pick one favourite thing about Guangzhou, it would not be the food, for all its brilliance. It would not be the history, deep as it is. It would be the sense of ease this city gives me.

Guangzhou demands nothing from you. It does not try to impress you with grand monuments or flashy displays of wealth. It simply lives — loudly, deliciously, warmly — and invites you to live alongside it.

I have been to plenty of cities where I felt like a tourist, constantly performing the role of someone seeing things for the very first time. In Guangzhou, I feel like a participant.

I have my regular breakfast stall, where the aunt remembers my order. I have my favourite riverside bench, where I read on Sunday afternoons. I have friends — local and foreign — who call me up to grab hot pot.

So, to any foreign traveller wondering whether Guangzhou is worth visiting: it absolutely is. Come for the food, stay for the history, and let yourself be surprised by its warmth. You may arrive as a tourist, yet you might leave, as I did, feeling as though you have found a second home in the most unexpected of places.