First built in 1380 as a military watchtower, the red-walled Zhenhai Tower (镇海楼, Zhènhǎi Lóu) is now home to the Guangzhou City Museum, which ascends through the history of the city a floor at a time. Imaginative displays offer more style than substance, but the views from the top are worth the climb.
Guangzhou City Museum
Guangzhou
Contact
Address
Lonely Planet's must-see attractions
2.48 MILES
Don't depart Guangzhou without an amble through the concession-era gem that is Shamian Island. The central east–west drag is a time-warp boulevard of…
1.45 MILES
An all-in-one ancestral shrine, Confucian school and ‘chamber of commerce’ for the Chen clan, this compound was built in 1894 by the residents of 72…
-
12.3 MILES
The 11th-century Zumiao temple is believed to be the site where Cantonese opera flourished. The art is still performed today during festivals to entertain…
-
Qingping Chinese Medicine Market
2.51 MILES
Just north of the channel that divides Shamian Island from the city, this tumbledown market is a sensory delight, with open-fronted vendors arranged…
3.92 MILES
Designed by Zaha Hadid, southern China's premier performance venue has transformed the area with its typically commanding, otherworldly aspect. Futuristic…
-
Nanfeng Ancient Kiln Artists' Village
15.11 MILES
This lovely ceramics town of stone-paved paths in Shiwan (石湾, Shíwān) is worth snooping around for its artisans' ceramics workshops and the two ancient …
11.54 MILES
One of Guangdong's four famous classical gardens, this graceful property on the outskirts of the city was built in 1871 by an official of the Qing court…
0.29 MILES
You'll feel like Indiana Jones/Lara Croft (select as preferred) as you descend the two-millennia-old steps into an actual Han dynasty tomb. This was the…
Nearby Guangzhou attractions
0.14 MILES
Not to be confused with the far more impressive Guangdong Museum of Art, this dusty old museum has middling displays of concession-era porcelain, silks…
0.17 MILES
Erected in 1959 in Socialist realism style, this statue on a knoll in Yuexiu Park depicts the symbol of Guangzhou: five mythical rams who bore five…
0.2 MILES
A crenellated roadway between attractions in this hilly park is actually a (heavily restored) slab of Guangzhou's long-departed city wall, built during…
4. Mausoleum of the Nanyue King
0.29 MILES
You'll feel like Indiana Jones/Lara Croft (select as preferred) as you descend the two-millennia-old steps into an actual Han dynasty tomb. This was the…
0.47 MILES
Across from Yuexiu Park is this charming and little-visited garden, with worn stone bridges crossing pools, an orchid display and a quaint little…
0.49 MILES
Whether or not this actually is the grave of Abu Waqas, the man who brought Islam to China in the 7th century and an uncle of the Prophet Mohammed, the…
7. Temple of the Six Banyan Trees
0.77 MILES
This Buddhist temple complex was first built in AD 537 to enshrine Buddhist relics brought over from India and placed in the octagonal Decorated Pagoda …
0.86 MILES
The ‘Bright Filial Piety Temple’ is the oldest temple site in Guangzhou, dating from the 4th century. By the time of the Tang it was well established as a…