Lychee Bay Guangzhou: Boat Rides, Sights & Metro

The Yongqing Fang page on this site covers Enning Road, and this page covers the water next to it. Lychee Bay (荔枝湾, also written Lizhiwan and signed as Lychee Bay) is a reopened stream in Liwan, a few minutes on foot from Yongqing Fang. The banks hold old Xiguan houses, banyan shade and stone railings, and the water runs through the middle of them. For the water-town side of Guangzhou, this is the easiest stop in the city.

The scenic area sits on Longxi Road West (龙津西路) in Liwan District; 2026 listings give the address as No. 94 Longxi Road West. Search the Chinese name 荔枝湾涌 or the Wen Pagoda in a map app. English spellings wander between Lychee Bay, Litchi Bay and Lizhiwan.

Green water and stone banks along the Lychee Bay stream in Liwan, Guangzhou — The stream itself is the sight. Walk it from either end, or sit and let the boats go past.

How to get to Lychee Bay

Two ends, two metro stations. From the Enning Road side, take Line 1 to Changshou Lu (长寿路) and walk about ten minutes along Enning Road, passing Yongqing Fang on the way. From the Pantang Road side, take Line 5 to Zhongshanba (中山八), Exit D; guides put that walk inside fifteen minutes. Buses still run down Pantang Road. Route numbers change. For a first visit, give the metro instruction.

The two ends are not the same walk. Changshou Lu puts you at the arcade-house and Yongqing Fang end. Zhongshanba puts you at Renwei Temple and the Pantang Road snack strip. With time, do a loop: in from Yongqing Fang, along the stream, out through Pantang Road with food, and back.

Free waterfront, paid boats

The walkways and Wen Pagoda square cost nothing. 2026 Guangzhou listings mark the area free and put the hours at 10am to 10pm. The stream is open public water, and people are on the banks through the day and evening; treat the listed window as guidance, not a gate.

Boats are separate. Two docks sell rides, the Wen Pagoda dock by the square and a Yongqing Fang dock, and tickets usually let you pick one. Listings put the rowing boats around 100 yuan a head, with the large painted boats higher; travel platforms show tickets from a little over 100 up to about 200. Ask at the dock on the day and do not build the budget around a fixed number. Boat hours are their own schedule, commonly 9.30am to 5pm on weekdays and to 6pm on weekends, with Spring Festival running later. Children under 1.2 metres ride free.

The boats move slowly. Sitting lower than the bank, you see the stone railings, the banyan roots and the old houses from the water side, which the walk does not give you. If you would rather not pay, the bank itself is the attraction; the boat is a paid upgrade, not the point.

Trees and old buildings reflected in the Lychee Bay stream, Liwan, Guangzhou — Banyan shade and old Xiguan blocks along the water. This is what the boat ride shows you from below the bank.

What you see along the stream

The Wen Pagoda (文塔) stands on its own square near the Liang Clan Hall. It is a low brick pagoda from the examination-era city, when scholars came to bow before the exams, and it is the easiest landmark to fix your bearings by. Past it, the Chan Lim Pak Mansion and the Little Painted Boat residence (小画舫斋) hold the Republican and garden-house side of Xiguan, and the former home of General Jiang Guangnai sits nearby with its own history of the 19th Route Army.

On Pantang Road, Renwei Temple is a busy Taoist temple that goes back to the Ming, and its forecourt rarely empties. Liwan Lake Park joins the stream with open lake water, and Panxi Restaurant serves tea and dim sum inside a garden compound that calls itself the largest garden restaurant around. For a long visit, the stream, the temple and the lake make one loop.

Stone railings and green water along the Lychee Bay canal in Guangzhou — Stone railings and slow water. The stream runs through the old city blocks rather than around them.

Why the stream disappeared and came back

The old line about this water is 一湾溪水绿，两岸荔枝红, a bay of green water with lychee trees red on both banks. The name Lychee Bay is older than the district; Liwan District took its name from it. 荔湾渔唱, the fishing songs of Liwan, counts among the old Eight Views of Canton.

Then the city paved over it. The stream spent decades buried as a covered channel under the streets. Ahead of the 2010 Asian Games, the cover came off, the water was reopened, and the banks were rebuilt. That is why the stream reads young even though the name is old. At Dragon Boat Festival, Pantang still races its dragon boats, and the banks crowd up for it; our Dragon Boat Festival page covers that week in the city.

The Lychee Bay stream running between old Xiguan buildings in Liwan, Guangzhou — The reopened stream between the old blocks. The name is centuries old; the open water is from 2010.

Pantang Road snacks

Pantang is water-chestnut country, and the local snacks say so. Water-chestnut cake (马蹄糕) and water-chestnut juice (马蹄爽) are the signatures, with chicken biscuits, beef offal, rice cakes and peanut brittle along the strip. Eating a plate of water-chestnut cake by the stream beats a food court. For a proper sit-down, Panxi Restaurant pours tea and runs the standard Cantonese dim sum list; our dim sum guide covers how that works.

Pair it with nearby Guangzhou attractions

Yongqing Fang is minutes away on Enning Road, and the boat even links the two docks. Do them as one afternoon.
Chen Clan Ancestral Hall is one stop on Line 1 from Changshou Lu, for the Lingnan woodcarving.
Shamian Island sits across toward Huangsha, an easy add-on to the same day.

The 3-4 day Guangzhou itinerary runs the old-city west on its second day, and the best 10 Lingnan attractions list treats this as the water-town stop.

Guangzhou questions, answered

Does Lychee Bay cost anything?

The streamside is free. 2026 listings put the hours at 10am to 10pm. Boats are sold separately at the docks.

How much is the boat?

Listings put rowing boats around 100 yuan a head and the painted boats higher. Prices move between platforms and seasons. Ask at the dock and pay there.

Which metro station is closest?

Two ends. Line 1 Changshou Lu for the Enning Road and Yongqing Fang end, Line 5 Zhongshanba Exit D for the Pantang Road end.

How long do you need?

Two hours covers the walk and the snacks. Add an hour for the boat, and half a day if you fold in Yongqing Fang.

A short plan that actually fits

Come out at Changshou Lu, walk Enning Road past Yongqing Fang, pick up the stream at the Wen Pagoda, and walk it toward Pantang Road. Eat water-chestnut cake on the way, decide on the boat at the dock, and finish at Liwan Lake Park or Renwei Temple. That is a full Liwan afternoon, and it does not invent a ticket booth the area does not have.

The Guangzhou travel guide covers the whole city. This page is only the stream and the streets beside it.

Hours, prices and boat schedules follow 2026 visitor listings and can change on festival days. Bendibao gives the address, the free entry and the 10am to 10pm window. Baidu Baike maps the water system. The Guangzhou ecology bureau site records the Eight Views line, the 2010 reopening and the Pantang dragon boats. The Yangcheng Evening News lists the Pantang snacks. Trip.com and eztravel list the two docks and the boat prices.