Shuangyue Bay: Where You Come to Lie Flat by the Sea

If all you want is somewhere to properly rest, Shuangyue Bay fits the bill. It’s in Huizhou, about two hours door-to-door from Shenzhen’s Nanshan — not far, but far enough to leave the city’s pace behind. There’s no must-tick hardcore attraction here; the whole point is to lie flat and watch the sea — zone out on the balcony, spend one lively evening on the beach, and eat some not-too-expensive seafood. Below I’ll separate the experience from the logistics.

At a glance

• Location: Shuangyue Bay, Huizhou
• Time needed: two days, one night (from downtown Shenzhen)
• Getting there: high-speed rail + taxi (about 2 hours door-to-door from Shenzhen’s Nanshan)
• Budget: around RMB 1,000 (two people, transit + lodging + meals)
• Effort: 1 star
• Good for: couples on a photo trip, families vacationing with elders and kids
• Season & weather: summer is hot and harsh; better to avoid the peak summer months
• Highlights: watching the sunrise over the sea from a guesthouse balcony, fireworks and barbecue on the beach, cheap seafood, and more

Watching the sea and the sunrise from the balcony

My favorite part of the whole trip was sitting on the guesthouse balcony watching the sea. Grab some snacks and an ice-cold cola, settle into the beach chairs on the balcony with the person beside you, and look down at the sand and the endless ocean — the sea breeze sweeps all your tiredness away. You might end up like me, wishing time would just freeze right there.

The bigger surprise comes the next morning, when you can watch the sun rise over the horizon straight from the balcony. As it grows from a bright speck into a red disc, the air warms and the sky brightens — you feel time moving without ever checking your phone, and it’s the kind of thing that makes you linger.

Fireworks and barbecue on the beach

Before coming, setting off fireworks on the beach was something I’d never imagined — in my mind, seaside resorts wouldn’t allow that kind of mess (though the sand at Shuangyue Bay is actually fairly clean). I’d always pictured the seaside at night as quiet, nothing but the sound of waves in the dark, that sense of being cut off from the world. But the beach at Shuangyue Bay is lively: lots of people laughing and messing around, some setting off fireworks, some grilling skewers and drinking, some on company outings.

That street-fair buzz on the beach at night actually brings a kind of Lunar-New-Year contentment. I suspect plenty of people feel what I felt in that moment: I really have to bring my parents here when I get the chance.

Taking in the whole bay from the viewpoint

While at Shuangyue Bay I stumbled onto a viewpoint. Once I got to the top, I finally understood why it’s called Shuangyue (“Double Moon”) Bay — the coastlines on either side both curve like crescent moons, with only a narrow strip of land between them. You can see the shape clearly on a phone map, but I didn’t expect to take in both crescents at once from the summit — a happy accident of the trip.

Seafood that isn’t too pricey (compared to Shenzhen)

There are so many seafood restaurants around Shuangyue Bay, and the competition is so fierce, that prices overall run noticeably lower than in Shenzhen. I didn’t eat all that much and can’t really judge the quality, but it felt like decent value. Here’s a Meituan group-buy deal to give you a sense of it.

The detailed plan

What to arrange in advance

• High-speed rail tickets: get off at Huidong South Station; it’s half an hour from Shenzhen North, second-class seat RMB 39.
• Guesthouse: the east side of the bay faces the sunrise, the west side the sunset — book according to preference. Guesthouses usually label their “sunrise rooms”; a higher floor gives a better view. Our sunrise room was RMB 345, for reference.

The itinerary

1. Saturday morning: Leave from Shenzhen North, take the half-hour train to Huidong South Station, then taxi to the guesthouse (a bit over half an hour, about RMB 100), arriving around 10:00. Check-in usually isn’t ready yet, so leave your big bags at the front desk, head down to the beach for photos and a wander, and find a nearby seafood restaurant for lunch. Around 13:00, once you’ve eaten, go check in.
2. Saturday afternoon: Summer is hot, so rest and nap at the guesthouse in the afternoon, then grab some snacks and drinks and enjoy the music and sea breeze on the balcony. Around 17:00, head out by taxi to the Shuangyue Bay viewpoint (you can set your destination to the Sea Turtle Museum). When you arrive, take a motorbike taxi up to the viewpoint (RMB 50 round-trip for two — walking up takes half an hour, too long), then come down for dinner. Note that traffic is terrible at this hour, so don’t take a regular taxi; just take a motorbike taxi back into town to eat (RMB 40 for two). After dinner, head back to the beach below your guesthouse to set off fireworks (sold right on the beach, fairly cheap), maybe grab a late-night snack, then return to rest.
3. Sunday: Get up early for the sunrise (look up the day’s sunrise time in advance and set an alarm), then go back to sleep; afterward, check out around 12:00. Have lunch at a nearby restaurant, then taxi straight to Huidong South Station for the train back to Shenzhen, arriving around 16:00.

Going further

• Water sports: jet skis, deep-sea fishing, diving, and more — they look fun and thrilling, but we were short on time and skipped them.
• Sea Turtle Island: because of how we’d scheduled things, we arrived too late and it had already closed, so we didn’t get to see the turtles.