14 Days in Zhuhai

Settle in, then walk or cycle the boulevard past the granite Fisher Girl, raised in 1982 and standing about 8.7 metres over Xianglu Bay, as the evening breeze comes off the strait.

1. zhuhai lovers road
2. zhuhai fisher girl

Morning in the waterfront museum, sunset on Yeli Island watching the 2017 shell-shaped opera house catch the light — the city keeps its best hour for last.

1. zhuhai opera house
2. zhuhai city museum

Cableway up Shijingshan for the city spread, the Qing honour gates of Meixi for the merchant Chen Fang, and Beishan's ancestral halls turned cafe lanes after dark.

1. zhuhai shijingshan park
2. zhuhai meixi archways
3. zhuhai beishan village

A full day on Hengqin Island at the marine park that opened in March 2014 — its whale-shark tank carried Guinness aquarium records at the debut; coasters early, parade last.

1. zhuhai chimelong ocean kingdom

The 1997 New Yuanming Palace rebuilds selected views of the lost garden at full scale; late afternoon, the Wanzi cruise traces the Macau skyline and the bridge from the water.

1. zhuhai yuanming new palace
2. zhuhai wanzi bay cruise

Across the bridge to Qi'ao — boardwalks through the mangrove reserve in the morning, then the village's White Stone Street, tied locally to an 1833 episode of village resistance.

1. zhuhai qiao island
2. zhuhai mangrove boardwalk

North to Tangjiawan — the planned 19th-century lanes of Huitong village and Gongle Garden, the estate of Tang Shaoyi, first premier of the Republic in 1912.

1. zhuhai huitong village
2. zhuhai gongle garden

Haitian Park for the closest look at the 55-kilometre Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge, opened in October 2018 and closed to pedestrians; afternoon on the city beach, night at the food streets.

1. zhuhai haitian park
2. zhuhai haibin beach

The ferry from Xiangzhou pier takes about an hour to Dong'ao; swim at Nansha Bay, walk up to the Qing-era battery of 1717 above the cove, and overnight on the island.

1. zhuhai dongao island

Morning ferry back, then west to Doumen for the Japanese-style Yu Hot Springs, opened in 1998 — an easy soak before the county-town lanes tomorrow.

1. zhuhai dongao island
2. zhuhai yu hot springs

The Republican-era arcades of Doumen old street, then the temple halls on Huangyang Mountain above the town; back to the city by evening bus.

1. zhuhai doumen old street
2. zhuhai jintai temple

A cross-border day, labelled as such — exit-and-entry formalities at the Gongbei or Hengqin ports (Hengqin runs around the clock); carry your documents and check current permit and visa rules before going.

1. macao

Another honestly labelled neighbour day — a run west into Jiangmen's Kaiping for the fortified diaolou towers, UNESCO-listed since 2007, with an early start to be back in Zhuhai by late afternoon.

1. jiangmen

A last market breakfast and a short walk on the sea front, then the intercity rail from Zhuhai station by Gongbei, the HSR to Guangzhou, or the flight from Jinwan airport — November of even years brings the airshow to that field.

1. zhuhai city markets