Zhongshan - National Garden City of China

Anyone ever been to Zhongshan, near Macao and Hong Kong? From the sounds of China Travel Guide, it sounds pretty nice: "Zhongshan has received a series of honors, such as being nominated the National Clean City and National Garden City of China. In addition the city has been the recipient of the Habitat Scroll of Honor Award of the United Nations."

And just how hot does it get all the way down there?

 
James

I lived in nearby Zhuhai, passed through Zhongshan a number of times. My impression was a pleasant but utterly unremarkable town.

An online guide to the area is: http://wikitravel.org/en/Pearl_River_Delta

Thanks for the response Pashley. Was it really as beautiful as some websites make it sound? Lots of parks, clean air, access to nature, etc.?

Thanks for the response Pashley. Was it really as beautiful as some websites make it sound? Lots of parks, clean air, access to nature, etc.?

Zhuhai is. Huge amounts of greenspace, miles of seafront with Lover's Road along it and park from road to sea. Several large inland parks as well. Good Western food, at least one expat-run bar, decent Indian & Xinjiang food, all sorts of Chinese seafood, lively nightlife including great outdoor bars and hordes of streetwalkers, some incredibly hot.

Zhongshan, I dunno. I've only driven through. My impression was a pretty ordinary Chinese city.

I'd say go if you have a decent offer. It definitely isn't the sort of massively polluted hellhole some Chinese cities are. At worst, you'll find it boring and go to Zhuhai a lot. That's maybe half an hour or a bit more on a city bus. For all I know, Zhingshan is actually better than that.

There's a bullet train link under construction Zhuhai-Zhongshan-Guangzhou; when it is done the whole route is supposed to take under an hour. That would give you lots of extra options. I do not know when that will be, or if it has already happened.