Guangzhou

Shamian Island, Baiyun Mountain and a Pearl River evening cruise

Plan two to three days in Guangzhou. Spend one in Liwan's old Canton on Shamian Island and at the Chen Clan Academy, one in Yuexiu's temples and on Baiyun Mountain, and one evening on a Pearl River cruise past the Canton Tower. A fourth day fits Foshan or the Chimelong parks in Panyu.

Three districts hold nearly everything a visitor wants, and they line up from west to east. Liwan is old Canton: the colonial mansions of Shamian Island, the carved halls of the Chen Clan Academy and the lanes near Yide Road. Yuexiu holds the old temples and the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall. Tianhe is the new city, with the towers of Zhujiang New Town facing the Canton Tower across the Pearl River.

• Old Canton: Begin with morning tea, walk Shamian Island, then ride the cheap public ferry along the river; it beats a taxi. The back alleys here can only be explored on foot.
• Yuexiu and the hills: Pair the temples of Yuexiu with Baiyun Mountain just north of the centre, where forest trails climb to the top and a cable car spares the less energetic.
• Night on the river: Pearl River cruises leave Dashatou, Tianzi and Xidi piers in the evening and last one to two hours, passing the light show at Bai-E-Tan.
• Out of town: Central Foshan is 45 to 60 minutes away on the Guangfo Line. Zhuhai is about 45 minutes by train from Guangzhou South, and Kaiping a 2-hour bus ride from Fangcun. Families should budget a full day for the Chimelong parks in Panyu.

Two or three days covers the core. A fourth makes room for Foshan or the safari park, and anyone in town for the fair should book hotels as soon as the dates are fixed.

Fast trains reach Shenzhen in under an hour and Beijing in about eight.

Canton Fair weeks, spring gloom and the dry autumn in Guangzhou

Visit Guangzhou from October to December, when it is dry, sunny and comfortable, with October the brightest month. Avoid the Canton Fair weeks in mid-April to early May and mid-October to early November unless you are attending. Spring is grey, and the April to September monsoon brings heavy rain, 33 °C highs and typhoons.

The calendar that matters most here is commercial. The Canton Fair fills the city twice a year, from mid-April to early May and from mid-October to early November. If you are not going to the fair, those are the weeks to avoid.

Spring is the grey season. March gets only 17% of possible sunshine, the lowest of the year, and the city sees noticeably less sun overall than Shenzhen or Hong Kong. Expect overcast skies until the monsoon arrives in April.

The monsoon runs from April to September. Rainfall peaks in June near 365 mm; highs hold at 33 °C through July and August, and typhoons can arrive in summer. Schedule outdoor sights for the morning and keep afternoons for museums and malls.

October to December is the reward: dry, sunny and comfortable, with October the brightest month of all. In winter, the flower fairs held in the days before Chinese New Year are worth timing a trip around. Cold snaps are mild by northern standards; the snowfall of January 2016 was the first in 87 years.

Yum cha, siu mei and slow-cooked soups in Guangzhou

Guangzhou is the capital of Cantonese food, and the day starts with yum cha: one pot of tea and two pieces of dim sum, stretched over hours. Order siu mei such as char siu and roast goose, white cut chicken, four-hour soups and live seafood, and finish with double-skin milk or ginger milk curd.

The local slogan shi zai Guangzhou means eat in Guangzhou, and the day starts with yum cha. The formula is yi zhong liang jian: one pot of tea, two pieces of dim sum. Regulars stretch it over hours with a newspaper. Big tea houses list well over a hundred kinds of dim sum, so tick a few at a time and order more as you go.

Siu mei hangs in shop windows across the city: char siu barbecued pork, roast goose and crisp roast pork. White cut chicken comes lightly poached with a ginger and spring onion dip; most Cantonese restaurants have their own signature version, and Qingping chicken is one of the best known.

Cantonese cooking keeps flavours clean and rarely uses chilli. Soups simmer for four hours or more and are a pillar of the cuisine. At seafood restaurants you choose your fish or lobster live from the tanks. Finish with tong sui, the sweet soups and puddings; double-skin milk and ginger milk curd are the two Guangzhou classics. Around Xiaobei in Yuexiu, home to much of the city's African community, a few restaurants serve African dishes.

For drinks, herbal tea shops such as Wong Chun Loong sell bitter liang cha, while Zhujiang is the local beer. Cantonese is the first language here, less mixed with English than the Hong Kong version, but Mandarin works everywhere; a m goi (thank you) is always appreciated.