Tranquil Shamian Island was the Franco-British trading post of Canton. It is depicted by a wealth of Victorian and Second Empire-style edifices (offices, villas, churches, including Our Lady of Lourdes) and lined by banana trees. Most have been converted into bars, restaurants and luxury hotels and the ambience is gloriously peaceful. Watch the grown-ups exercising, the children playing near-by, while others sit at a terrace. Ideal to wander aimlessly around.