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Sprawling Shenzhen is composed of numerous districts. Luohu and Futian are the "downtown" districts, with most of the major shopping areas and hundreds of hotels. A foray outside the sprawl of Shenzhen proper is worth the trip if you have the time; Yantian and Longgang are the closest destinations for beaches and atmospheric historical buildings.
Futian, Shenzhen's commercial hub, is where Shenzhen's gourmands go for a night of gastronomic pleasure. The Zhenhua Road area has scores of excellent restaurants competing for the patronage of Shenzhen's very discriminating diners. The Shekou neighborhood in the Nanshan District is known for its many outdoor bars and restaurants. It's well known by locals for for Sea World Plaza, a pedestrian mall with alfresco restaurants, low-key bars, and a completely landlocked oceangoing vessel (now transformed into a bar, hotel, and nightclub complex).
This is Shenzhen's most popular—and perhaps strangest—tourist attraction. It's pretty cheesy but young kids might get a kick out of it. Essentially, it's a decommissioned Soviet-era aircraft carrier that a group of business executives bought in the late 1990s. Parked in perpetuity on the top deck of the ship (which is as long as three football fields placed end to end, and gets wickedly hot in the summer) are several Soviet fighter planes and helicopters.
With miniature versions of more than 130 of the world's most famous landmarks, Window of the World is one of China's biggest and busiest homegrown theme parks. Divided into five geographical areas connected by winding paths and a monorail, it includes—not at all to scale—the Taj Mahal, Mount Rushmore, the Sydney Harbor Opera House, and a 108-meter-high (354-foot-high) Eiffel Tower that can be seen from miles away. There is also a fireworks show at 9 pm on weekends and holidays.
