China · Guangdong
Where to Stay in Shantou, Guangdong
Shantou is a city of eastern Guangdong in China, the port of the Chaoshan country, an old treaty harbour and the heart of Teochew culture.
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Where to stay in Shantou
Not every neighbourhood fits every trip — here's what each one is good for.
Where you stay in Shantou turns on the old town or the newer city. The streets of the old town keep the arcades, the little park, and the customs house within a walk, and staying downtown suits anyone here for the heritage. The old arcades line the lanes.
Tea houses fill the corners. Out toward the bay and the coast, the city gives way to the harbour front, the seafood towns, and the green Queshi hills across the water. A room by the bay trades the old streets for the sea views, the busy quays, and the boats of the delta.
The bay opens wide to the sea. Stay downtown for the heritage, or by the bay for the coast. The old port town rings the Chaoshan bay.
About Shantou
Shantou is the port city of the Chaoshan coast.
What is Shantou known for?
On the delta of the Han river in eastern Guangdong in China, it grew as a treaty port of the Teochew people, and it keeps the arcaded streets of its old town, the Teochew opera and tea of the Chaoshan country, the old customs house of the Swatow trade, and the seafood of its busy coast. The warm sea laps the delta. Arcades line the old streets.
What are the main landmarks in Shantou?
The old town is the pride of Shantou. The arcaded streets of the Swatow port, curving around the little park at their heart, make the emblem of the city, downtown. A custom house guards the quay.
The old Swatow customs house stands by the harbour still, while the opera museum, the Queshi hills, and the seafood markets mark the country around Shantou.
What is the history of Shantou?
Shantou opened to the world as Swatow. In the eighteen-fifties the port was opened to foreign trade, and as Swatow it grew into one of the great treaty ports of the south China coast. The Teochew went out to the world.
From this coast the Chaoshan people sailed to Southeast Asia and beyond in their hundreds of thousands, and Swatow became the door of a vast diaspora. The old port kept its own culture. Its Chaoshan people held to their language, their opera, and their gongfu tea, and their food became famous across China.
The city built its arcades. Rows of shophouses with arcaded fronts rose in the old town, and Shantou grew as a special economic zone and a busy port, keeping its old streets, its trade, and its Teochew ways. The old arcades still line the lanes.
Shantou keeps its treaty port on the Chaoshan coast.
Where is Shantou?
Shantou lies on the east coast of Guangdong in China, on the delta where the Han river reaches the sea. The city sits on flat delta land around a wide bay, backed by low green hills, with the Han spreading to the sea and the Chaoshan plain rolling inland. The bay opens to the sea.
Green hills back the delta.
What is the climate of Shantou?
The climate at Shantou is subtropical, warm and humid the year round. Hot wet summers and mild winters cross the coast, with heavy monsoon rains and typhoons off the sea in the summer. The summer brings the typhoons.
Winter stays mild and dry.
How do you get to Shantou?
Shantou lies on the east coast of Guangdong in China, midway to Fujian. Fast trains run to it down the coast from Guangzhou, and the highway follows the shore. Ships work the harbour.
Guangzhou lies west along the coast.
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More cities in Guangdong
Updated August 2026