What to do in Shenzhen?
 

I've never been to Shenzhen. Anything fun to do over a weekend? What are the better hotels?

Some may say these are tourist traps but I quite enjoyed the theme parks Window of the World and Splendid China; the latter being more interesting to me as I've seen most of the stuff in Window of the World firsthand. Both parks can be done in a day or less.

Only having been to Shenzhen twice from HK, I mainly shopped/ate at the Lo Wu border complex which is quite nice, and cheap compared to HK.

Thanks. How long does it take to get back and forth between Hong Kong and Shenzhen? What are the fastest options?

It used to be that one had to MTR to Kowloon Tong b4 boarding the KCR to Lo Wu. No longer. You can now catch the KCR from East Tsim Sha Tsui. Kowloon Tong -> Lo Wu was about 30+ mins not incl. the time it took to MTR to Kowloon Tong from the Island (another 15-30 mins). I would guess that TST -> Lo Wu is about 45 mins. Take note that there are lots of stops in between and the trains can get crowded especially during the weekends. The passing scenery of the New Territories is quite nice though.

Once you get to Lo Wu, the border shopping complex is on the other side of a bridge through immigration. A huge plus now is that you no longer have to cab to the theme parks. There is a new subway line that takes you from Lo Wu to Window of the World. Tres cool, me thinks ^

Is there a faster way by boat or helicopter shuttle?

If you're just going to the Lo Wu region of Shenzhen (it's now a large city), the fastest way is to take a taxi from wherever you are in Hong Kong to Sheung Shui KCR (last stop before border). Then take the KCR train for one stop to Lo Wu and cross the border.

Its over crowded, its dirty, its now bloody expensive and a single entry visa costs a fortune.

The best thing to do in Shenzen is get out

There is a nice Crowne Plaza near the theme park...but the park is not that great if you're used to any Six Flags park. We would take out of town guests to Lo Wu for shopping near the border in the five story glass building (forget the name) It's cool that the KCR picks up in TST now. ^

there is a ferry service, central or TST to shekou,
schedule is not very good (as your hotel conceige for info), and shekou is not the center of shenzhen.
but the immigration is smoother by ferry.

haven't heard of helicopter service.

Well I ended up just making a day trip up to Shenzhen. I took the MTR from Central to Kowloon Tong, then took the KCR train up to Lo Wu. I was on a reverse commute so it was easy and immigration was a snap as I have a multi-entry visa. Shenzhen seems like most any other PRC city to me. Slums next to new high rises. I couldn't focus on much when outside as there is a record heat wave going on now. Brutal. The neighborhood where my meeting was held was completely devoid of westerners. We went to lunch at a decent restaurant where I got the star treatment. I guess not too many gweilos go there.

you get star treatment in many chinese restaurants these days -- other cities as well.
being the gweilo obviously gets more stars some times:)