Fairy lake botanical gardens or XianHu is one of the best choices for a cheap day out in Shenzhen. Located in Luoho at the foot of Wutong Mountain, this huge green expanse gives a perfect day time getaway from the busy streets and fast pace of Shenzhen life.   Rated as a AAAA tourist site and opened in 1988 it is one of the well known places to see in SZ, and regularly features in the top 10 Trip Advisor things to do in SZ.  

Gorgeous place /image courtesy of Joe Macpherson
Surrounded by nature /image courtesy of Joe Macpherson

Now this place is HUGE.  So be prepared for a lot of walking..  The start of Fairy Lake is a long uphill walk, which is beautiful but can be difficult.  You can take the shuttle bus from the bottom to the top for 3RMB if you didn’t want to walk (recommended).  I chose to get the bus up and walk down at the end.  The bus stops at HongFa Temple, which is a great place to start your visit.

Every direction here has something to see /image courtesy of Joe Macpherson
Lots of signposts around /image courtesy of Joe Macpherson

This is a wonderful little temple with cool traditional style architecture.  It is a new temple built in 1985, but its in traditional style.  Its very busy with people lighting candles and paying respect to Buddha.  I especially loved the orange rooftops, reminded me of Beijing.  The temple has over 40 buildings, and each one is ornately decorated

Hongfa Temple /image courtesy of Joe Macpherson

Lots of options

There is also a butterfly and orchid garden.  There’s a large collection of different flowers and orchids here of all sizes and colours, with butterflies flying round and even interacting with you, it gives a really nice sense of nature and relaxation, and of course lots of picture opportunities. The centre of Fairy Lake is of course the lake itself. It’s a very big lake and its great to walk around, or go on a boat, see the fish and the ducks or just sit and think.  Tucked away near here there is a great little coffee/tea shop.

The lake at the middle of the Botanical Gardens /image courtesy of Joe Macpherson
Nice for a picture but the boats look unsafe /image courtesy of Joe Macpherson
A beautiful coffeeshop /image courtesy of Joe Macpherson

Perfect to get out of the heat and relax a while. After this you have the option to walk the entire lake, which is very relaxing.  In fact there are MANY gardens and sections in this park. There is a petrified forest, a cacti garden, bamboo forest, and many many more.

Cacti Garden /image courtesy of Joe Macpherson
Petrified forest /image courtesy of Joe Macpherson

There are many rest areas around, signposts everywhere so you cannot get lost, ample toilet facilities. Not many places to buy snacks and water though so better to bring your own.

Directions

Line 8 metro to XianHu Road station exit C

 Huangbeiling station exit C then get the bus M182 for 6/7 stops. The LAST stop is XianHu. 

  • CN Name: 仙湖植物园
  • CN Address: 深圳市罗湖区仙湖路160号

Address: 160, Xianhu Road, Luohu District, Shenzhen

Tickets

You need to buy the ticket via a QR code at the entrance, but this is very simple to do with an English option and staff on hand to help. Cost is 15RMB and shuttle bus is 3RMB

For more things to see and do in Shenzhen, please keep following the NowShenzhen official WeChat account for more, or you can connect with me directly.

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