Futian Day Trip: Cafes, COCO Park and Shuiwei Night Market

Futian sits at the geographic centre of Shenzhen and it is the district most Hong Kong visitors see first, whether they cross at Futian Checkpoint or ride the high-speed rail from West Kowloon. The trouble is that most of those visitors never leave the underground mall connecting the station to the nearest shopping centre. Futian has a mangrove boardwalk with views of the CBD skyline, a Hong Kong-style bakery selling blueberry buns for three yuan, a cat-friendly speciality coffee shop with industrial-loft seating, two flagship malls within walking distance of each other, and a night-market village with bars, street food and rooftop murals. We spent a recent Saturday walking the lot, starting at Shawei Station in the west and finishing at Fumin Station after dark.

Quick Info: The Route at a Glance

Getting to Futian from Hong Kong

Two crossings put you in Futian within minutes. The fastest is the high-speed rail: board at Hong Kong West Kowloon Station, ride 14 minutes to Futian Station, and you are already standing inside the CBD with direct metro access to Lines 2, 3 and 11. Immigration is inside both terminals, and the total door-to-door time from Kowloon is under 30 minutes.

The cheapest is the metro via Futian Checkpoint. Take the East Rail Line to Lok Ma Chau, walk across to the Shenzhen side, then ride Line 4 one stop south to Futian Station or continue to Shopping Park and Fumin. The checkpoint is the least crowded of the three Futian-side crossings on weekday mornings, though weekends can queue 20 to 40 minutes between 10am and noon. We recommend crossing before 9:30am. A third option is the Huanggang Checkpoint bus from various points in Hong Kong, which drops you near the Shuiwei area and works well if Shuiwei 1368 is your first stop rather than your last.

Stop 1: Xinzhou Mangrove Greenway

Start the morning at Shawei Station, Exit C, then walk eight minutes west to the Xinzhou Mangrove Greenway. This is a 6-kilometre elevated boardwalk running along the Xinzhou River with unobstructed views of the Futian CBD skyline on one side and mangrove wetlands on the other. The greenway won the 2023 China Habitat Environment Exemplary Award and connects a chain of riverside pocket parks with rest areas, exercise stations and a flower corridor.

The boardwalk is at its best before noon when the light is softer and joggers outnumber tourists. Elevated sections lift you above the tree canopy for wide-angle shots of the Ping An Finance Centre and the cluster of towers behind it, while ground-level stretches run through shaded corridors of mangrove and bougainvillea. Several pocket parks along the route have timber benches and exercise stations if you want to stop. Plan 30 to 45 minutes for a one-way walk along the prettiest central section. It is free, unticketed and open around the clock, though the mangrove viewing platforms are most photogenic in early morning. From the southern end of the greenway, it is a 10-minute walk back into Xinzhou Village for lunch.

Lunch: ANNND Cafe (Xinzhou Branch)

ANNND is the kind of cafe that fills up because people actually stay. The ground floor is industrial exposed concrete and raw timber with a double-height ceiling; the mezzanine above has softer lighting and window seats looking down onto the coffee bar. The Xinzhou branch is the busiest of ANNND’s four Shenzhen locations, with over 1,600 reviews, and the draw is the ice bock (冰博克) milk base they use across the menu. Ice bock is freeze-concentrated whole milk with a higher fat content than standard, which makes every espresso drink richer without adding syrup. We recommend the Dirty, which layers espresso directly over cold ice bock milk so you get a two-tone shot that stays creamy even as the ice melts. The Black Forest special blends chocolate and cherry notes into a mocha structure that works better iced than hot.

Snack Break: Huafa Bakery and Give You Some Sweetness

Both of these are inside Xinzhou Village, within five minutes’ walk of ANNND, and they make a natural mid-afternoon detour before heading to the malls.

Huafa Bakery (香港華發麵包饼家)

Huafa is a Hong Kong-style neighbourhood bakery that somehow ended up in a Shenzhen urban village and kept the old pricing. A pineapple bun costs under four yuan, the coconut blueberry bun is a soft sponge roll loaded with blueberry jam and shredded coconut, and everything is baked on site in small batches. It is not a destination bakery. It is the kind of place you walk past, smell fresh bread and walk out with a paper bag of three buns that cost less than a bottle of water.

Give You Some Sweetness (给你一点甜)

Give You Some Sweetness is a mochi specialist with a cult following in Xinzhou Village. Every piece is hand-wrapped to order: soft glutinous rice skin stretched around fillings that range from classic red bean to Oreo ice cream and seaweed pork floss. The ice cream mochi is the move in warm weather. Buy two or three to eat on the walk to the metro.

Stop 2: COCO Park (Shopping Park Station)

From Xinzhou, take the metro to Shopping Park Station (Line 1 or Line 4) and surface directly into COCO Park, Futian’s flagship mall and nightlife anchor. The complex covers 85,000 square metres across six floors with 12 internal streets radiating from eight atriums. The signature feature is the sunken outdoor plaza, 6,000 square metres of open-air space that hosts seasonal pop-up events, art installations and weekend markets.

COCO Park Phase 2 opened recently on the opposite side of the street, doubling the total retail area to 120,000 square metres with over 400 brands. The two phases are connected at basement level. For browsing, the original Phase 1 still has the livelier mix of dining and nightlife, while Phase 2 skews toward fashion and lifestyle. POP MART has a flagship store here with blind boxes, exclusives and Shenzhen-only collaborations.

Plan 60 to 90 minutes for a casual walk through both phases. The sunken plaza regularly hosts themed installations that change every few weeks, so check COCO Park’s WeChat account before visiting if you want to time your trip to a specific event. The food court on the basement level of Phase 1 is a solid backup dinner option if you are not up for the night market later, with Japanese, Korean, Sichuan and Cantonese options all under one roof.

Stop 3: Link CentralWalk

Walk ten minutes south from COCO Park, or ride one stop on Line 4 to Civic Center Station, and you reach Link CentralWalk. This is the 83,900-square-metre mall acquired by Hong Kong’s Link REIT in 2021, positioned directly above Futian high-speed rail and metro Lines 1 and 4. The interior is greener than COCO Park: 18,000 square metres of planted terrace and a greening rate above 43 percent.

Link CentralWalk targets young consumers and families. The standout tenants for a casual browse are TOP TOY (a multi-brand toy and collectible shop with blind boxes, model kits and display figures), Miniso (currently stocking a full Chiikawa collaboration including plush toys, socks and slippers), and Ogonblick, a dopamine-bright accessories and stationery store that markets itself to collectors and gift buyers. The mall also has a cinema, pet shop and immersive karaoke rooms. Opening hours are 10:00 to 22:00 Sunday through Thursday, extending to 22:30 on Friday and Saturday.

Evening: Shuiwei 1368 Culture Block

Take Line 4 two stops south to Fumin Station, Exit D, and walk three minutes into Shuiwei 1368 Culture Block. This is Futian’s answer to a European lane-bar district: 11 interconnected alleys inside a former urban village, rebuilt with Lingnan-style arcade architecture, painted facades and rooftop murals. The block sits at the edge of the Shuiwei urban village, which means the polished bars and coffee shops share a postcode with street-food stalls, clay-pot rice shops and late-night barbecue stands spilling onto the pavement.

The atmosphere peaks after 8pm. The main strip is lined with craft beer bars, wine bars, cocktail lounges and small-plate restaurants. Most stay open past midnight. There is no cover charge anywhere and tables are first-come. On weekend nights the alleys fill with a mix of Shenzhen locals, Hong Kong day-trippers and expat residents from the surrounding apartment blocks. Look for the rainbow rooftop terrace and the painted mural alley, both of which have become check-in landmarks.

What makes Shuiwei 1368 different from most Shenzhen night markets is the density of the mix. You can start with a claypot rice for RMB 25, walk 30 metres to a craft cocktail bar charging RMB 68 a glass, and finish at a pavement barbecue stand where lamb skewers cost RMB 3 each. The contrast between the polished bar interiors and the smoky street stalls outside is half the appeal.

For food, the surrounding Shuiwei Village lanes have dozens of street-food carts and sit-down restaurants at prices well below CBD level. Grilled cold noodles (烤冷面), spicy crayfish, satay skewers and claypot rice are all within the block or a one-minute walk outside it.

Practical Tips from Our Saturday

Cross the border before 9:30am at Futian Checkpoint or take the 8am high-speed rail to avoid queues. Pre-install WeChat Pay or Alipay and top up in Hong Kong dollars; every stop on this route accepts mobile payment and cash is essentially unnecessary. The Xinzhou greenway and village section is best done in the morning when the light is better for photos and the cafes are less crowded. Save COCO Park and Link CentralWalk for mid-afternoon when the malls are fully open, then walk the ten minutes between them rather than riding the metro. Shuiwei 1368 is the natural finish: arrive around 7:30pm, eat street food, settle into a bar and stay until you are ready to head back.

The full route takes roughly eight to ten hours at a relaxed pace. If you are short on time, skip the greenway and start directly at ANNND for coffee, then do the malls and night market in a tight four-hour loop. Last metro trains on Line 4 run until around 23:30; if you are still at Shuiwei past midnight, DiDi back to Futian Checkpoint takes about ten minutes.

Read More on HK Expat Club

• Shenzhen for Hong Kong expats: the full cross-border guide
• Greater Bay Area weekend trips from Hong Kong
• Futian Checkpoint cheat sheet
• Qianhai-Shekou day trip from Hong Kong