The perfect Hong Kong weekend break: tranquil Dapeng, Shenzhen - history, hikes, and some of China’s most beautiful beaches
To the east of the border city’s concrete jungle and within easy reach of Hong Kong, Dapeng Ancient City is a laid-back walled village nestled in a wooded peninsula with nearby a geopark, hiking trails, and superb beaches
With all the brashness of a new city, and gleaming skyscrapers running along Hong Kong’s northern fringe, Shenzhen might seem an unlikely place for a weekend trip to admire historic Chinese architecture, and head to a beach beneath wooded hills.
Yet go east, and you can explore the Dapeng Peninsula, which lies within the Special Economic Zone but is a place apart, clearly rooted in rural Guangdong province.
The main town, Dapeng, is separated by low hills from Shenzhen’s urban sprawl, and occupies a basin on the peninsula’s east coast. It’s named after a giant mythical bird, the peng, which also lends itself to another name for Shenzhen – Pengcheng, meaning Peng City. There’s a laid-back atmosphere here, with locals on scooters cruising along tree-lined avenues.
Along a highway just east of the town, a sign indicates “Nuclear Power Bridge”. Beyond lies the Daya Bay Nuclear Power Plant, which was highly controversial when it was built in the 1980s – with a million Hongkongers signing a petition against its construction, and a discovery of too few reinforcing bars around a reactor, leading to an atomic industry report titled “Hong Kong fears Chinese Chernobyl”.
A thin strip of beach lines the nearby coast, with small hotels, suggesting attempts to develop a resort here. In itself, the beach is unlikely to tempt too many visitors to the area, but Dapeng does have a main attraction: Dapeng Ancient City.