Here’s a truly amazing city you may not have heard a lot about, Shenzhen China. I had the fantastic privilege of living in Shenzhen for nearly two years. As an avid runner, I found a beautiful lake park near my home to run, and I’d love to tell you about it. So if you’re visiting, here’s where to run in Shenzhen China.
Imagine a huge Chinese city of around 15 million people. A modern, dynamic metropolis with top-class infrastructure. Right on the Chinese mainland border with another fabulous city, Hong Kong.
Parks and gardens everywhere, beautiful tree-lined streets and boulevards. This city that has been ranked second on the list “top 10 cities to visit in 2019” by Lonely Planet.
If you are visiting this thriving, bustling city, would you expect to find great places to run? You bet, and I found a gem of a running park that I’d love to tell you about.
Shenzhen is one of my favourite cities in the world, as you might have already gathered, and I had the most wonderful time living and studying there for nearly two years from 2018 thru 2019.
As luck would have it, near my home was a fantastic lake park with running, walking, and cycling tracks all the way around.
My time living and running in Shenzhen was full of surprises, and if you are planning on going there, take your running shoes.
Here’s where to run in Shenzhen China.
But before I tell you about the running park, here are a few reasons why you should put Shenzhen on your ‘must see’ list.
Some Interesting Facts About Shenzhen.
- Shenzhen is an international city in much the same way as Hong Kong, you’ll find nearly everything written in English as well as Chinese, from street signs to the subway, getting around in this city is not hard at all.
- Described as China’s Silicon Valley, this city is a global hub of technology design and manufacture. Two of China’s, and the world’s biggest tech companies are based here, Huawei and Tencent. The immense volume of products manufactured here, is shipped out to the world via the third-busiest container port in the world.
- Formerly just a tiny fishing village, Shenzhen didn’t even become a city until 1979. It became one of the world’s fastest-growing cities in the 1990s and 2000s. The cityscape now is a sea of skyscrapers, indeed the Ping An building is China’s second tallest and the fourth tallest in the world. It has an observation deck at the top which affords some stunning views. Shenzhen is now China’s 7th largest city, but it is China’s richest, with a higher per-capita income than even Beijing.
- All the public buses and taxis in the city are electric, the first city in the world to achieve such a milestone.
- The subway system is truly a marvel, beautiful modern clean trains and subway stations. Some of the best I’ve seen anywhere in the world in terms of design, functionality, and cleanliness. There are over 6 million trips per day taken on the subway system. And of course, Shenzhen has many links to China’s legendary fast train network. Taking one of these intercity fast trains is a must-do for any visitor, and so much better than flying.
Shenzhen Highlights.
- The food, don’t get me started about the food. Since Shenzhen is in the south, in Guangdong Province along with Guangzhou (formerly Canton City), the traditional style of food is Cantonese. However, over the years, people have come from all over China to work in the ever-expanding manufacturing industries here. Consequently, these people have brought cooking styles from all over China. You can find the most amazing Chinese cuisine here. From noodles, dumplings, steamed buns and hotpot to the myriad of rice dishes. It’s all here and it’s all delicious.
- Shenzhen has mountains, parks, and beaches. There are some truly beautiful parks within Shenzhen, some of them absolutely huge and others that are just small suburban parks. There seems to be a park of some sort every few blocks. All of them lush, green and well maintained.
- Wutong Mountain is Shenzhen’s tallest peak and is part of a beautiful national park. There are many walking and running paths and trails here. Bordering on Shenzhen reservoir, there are many scenic views, even all the way to Hong Kong.
- For beaches, there is Dapeng to the east of the city. Dapeng has 18 large and small beaches. There is also the ancient Dapeng Fortress, built in 1394, as well as the traditional village, a glimpse into ancient China.
The list of Shenzhen attractions goes on. There’s amazing shopping, botanical gardens, theme parks and of course trips to other wonderful places nearby such as Guangzhou, Guilin, Macau and of course, Hong Kong.
But let’s get to the running park I want to tell you about.
Lake Lixin Gardens and Running Park.
Home base for me whilst living in Shenzhen was the suburb of Fuyong, a couple of subway stops past the International airport. About a fifteen-minute walk from there is the beautiful Lake Lixin reserve and gardens.
Wangniuting Mountain
Adjacent to the lake there is a small mountain called Wangniuting Park with excellent stairs and walkways to the top. Fantastic for stair running, it’s a great way to give the calves a solid workout.
This mountain has great views back over the lake and, from the other side, over Shenzhen International airport. Similarly, it’s really lovely of a nighttime, seeing the lights of the suburbs below.
This area is really scenic with well-made stairs, paths, and a man-made waterfall. All well maintained with good toilet facilities. Of an evening, the local ladies will come here for dancing exercise, as they do in various places around the lake.
I made a video about a stair running workout I used to do here.
Lake Lixin
Back to the lake.
Lake Lixin is actually a small reservoir, it’s 8.3k around and there’s walking, running and cycling paths all the way around.
All the paths are beautifully constructed and maintained, there’s also stairs up the various hills and wonderful boardwalks everywhere.
Virtually the entire area is landscaped with trees, gardens, and lawns. There’s even a bookstore and coffee shop with wonderful views back over the lake. Perfect for a relaxing escape from the busy city with a nice coffee or milk tea.
What Sort Of Running Can You Do Here?
Sprinting
There is a dedicated oval running track near the basketball courts which can be used for sprint work. Also, there are a few long straight sections within the park for sprinting also. Even though it can be quite busy some days with a lot of people walking, you can generally find a lonely pathway somewhere that you can use.
Hill Running
Most of the area around the lake is fairly flat, but near the main entrance are some fairly large hills. Once again, these hills are beautiful treed areas with well-made paths leading to the top. These paths are ideal for Hill Running. Some short and sharp, others quite a distance and provide a usable gradient that affords a good uphill workout.
Stair Running
The hilly areas of the park have a lot of stairways which you can use for stair climbing. Atop the biggest hill, there’s a nice lookout that has stairs leading to it from various directions. There are short steep stairways as well as longer ones. Actually, there is quite a network of stairs here, and it’s possible to design an excellent workout whereby you can use gradually longer sets of stairs which eventually get you to the summit.
TIP: A good tip to remember too is that in China, unlike Australia, New Zealand and the UK, they drive on the right and therefore also keep right when walking, running, and cycling. You don’t want to crash into people by forgetting.
Long-Distance Running
As I mentioned before, the lake is 8.3 kilometres around. This makes it ideal for distance training. As a casual run, one lap of the lake will give you a nice workout. The tracks are well-made and there are plenty of twists and turns, some hills, a few small stairs and lots of great scenery.
There will be groups of ladies doing their dancing routines to loud Chinese music at various points around the park in the mornings and evenings.
Running clubs will be going for runs, especially Sunday mornings.
Kids will be playing on the many large paved squares in the park and lots of people will be walking in the gardens.
There was even an old Chinese gentleman writing beautiful Chinese calligraphy with a large brush and water on the pavement. I loved this, it was pure artwork, such an amazing talent.
Enjoy a walk along the many boardwalks and elevated viewing platforms.
A strip of trendy shops will sell you ice creams, coffee, food etc.
At various points around the lake you’ll find modern, clean toilets. People will be playing badminton, practising marching, playing soccer, there are even a few karaoke singers and of course many runners and cyclists.
It’s easy to see why I loved running here, with so much happening but also so much opportunity for serious running workouts when required. I did my training here for two Melbourne Marathons. Training in the heat and humidity set me up well for the cool early marathon start in Melbourne.
Training at this park is fantastic, one lap, two laps, three laps, all great workouts. I made a video of the park, take a look.
Shenzhen Weather.
Springtime is really beautiful here, there are so many different types of flowering trees. It’s also less humid than in summer. As you can imagine, being in the south of China right next door to Hong Kong, it can get pretty hot and humid here in summer.
There were times when I could barely manage two laps of the lake due to the sheer exhaustion brought on by the heat and humidity. I swear I’ve never sweated like this anywhere else, absolutely soaked and dripping.
However, wintertime is very mild, no ice and snow like the north of China. Most days in winter are around 16 to 25 degrees, maybe one or two coldish days, so very conducive to long-distance running.
How to Get to Lake Lixin Shenzhen.
Fuyong is 1.8k from the Shenzhen City centre and is easily accessible via subway or taxi. If you are staying elsewhere in the city and want to simply go for a day trip, that’s perfectly doable via the extensive subway network. If you want to stay a night or two there are plenty of accommodation options.
There is a new Courtyard by Marriott hotel just five minutes walk from the subway station, this hotel looks amazing and has had many excellent reviews. The rates seem very reasonable too for such a luxury hotel. They also have an airport shuttle service. The hotel is also part of a large shopping mall complex if a little shopping is on the agenda too. Getting to Lake Lixin is just a 15-minute walk from here.
Jump on to Line 11 on the metro, Fuyong is two stops past the airport. Take exit ‘A’, when you come up to street level walk straight ahead to the intersection (Fuzhou Ave and Bao’an Ave).
If you are going to the Courtyard by Marriott, cross the road and keep walking straight ahead along Bao’an Ave for about five minutes. You’ll see a large shopping plaza on your left, there is a Starbucks and a Burger King at the front. Just past there alongside the mall is the Marriott.
If you are going straight to Lake Lixin, at the intersection, cross over then turn right and cross the intersection. Walk straight ahead along Fuzhou Ave up the hill for about 10 to 15 minutes and you will come to another large intersection with traffic lights. Cross over, you are now at the lake. Walk ahead for about 200 metres until you come to the entrance on the left.
Wrapping It Up.
No doubt that Shenzhen is one of the world’s greatest cities. So well-designed, modern and exciting. There is so much to do here.
For runners, Lake Lixin is just a small example of the great places to run here. There are new parks, public areas and other great running places being opened all the time.
If you have the time, Hong Kong is just across the border to the mainland and also has some great places to run.
Go ahead and have fun! Enjoy this wonderful place, and of course, greater China.
Happy running
Steve
