From Hong Kong take the subway (Called the MTR – Mass Transit Railway) to the north, to Lok Ma Chao station (Lokmachao) 落馬洲. There’s a very useful app that will guide you. If you don’t have a smartphone don’t worry, the signs are all in English and the station staff speaks good English.

In settings, you can download the whole language databases for Chinese Mandarin and English into your phone, but sadly this is only on Android. This tip saves you not only data but the frustration of discovering nothing Google is reliable in China. Google has some Chinese government relationship problems 😉 but respect to Google for not selling out on privacy like Microsoft and Yahoo.

Here’s how to run Google translate offline (caching the languages):

1. Get on Wifi to avoid mobile data costs (unless your on an unlimited plan)

2. Android phone, open Google Translate

3. Click settings icon, it looks different on different versions

4. Select “Offline languages” from the menu, which will take you to a screen listing all the languages currently available to cache offline.

5. Tap the pin icon on the languages you want. English and Chinese mandarin (simplified).

This English language official app from the MTR corporation even tells you how long it will take from your current location and the best points to change train. The user design and speed of the app are good. Download the app from Apple or the play store for  Android.

There is also a free tourist version which includes the specific subway exit information for attractions around HK. So if your planning to stay in Hong Kong a few days, get that app!

This app is free and can be useful in planning your set off time. This shows live wait times at the borders. Combine this with the MTR app and you get a better idea of an expected travel time. Especially useful on Chinese holidays. However, no such app for China side, but this border crossing route is (in my years of experience) much faster than LoWu.

You just click the location within the app to see estimated wait times. You can download this app from Apple or the play store for  Android.

A large travel agent called China Highlights offers hotels, flights, and train ticket bookings. They released their own app which offers easy in-app train ticket booking and payment. Once purchased you collect it from the train station with a reference number on or before the day of departure. You can also request to have it posted to a mainland Chinese address or Chinese hotel, not including Hong Kong. Naturally, they take a fee, but the ability to deal with a team with good English and easily bag a ticket on the dates you need is priceless! In the past, we only could book train tickets 10 or 7 days in advance in person at a station in China. This coupled with the new high-speed trains opens up more options for travelers You can download this app from Apple or the play store for  Android.

As part of my tourism consulting in China, I did consult in the design of this service and app, but I receive no benefit or commission for recommending it. I just know the team who are behind the app are awesome people, you’re in safe hands dealing with them!

1. Pen – for the customs slips

2. 5 or 10 RMB notes – for buying subway tickets in the ticket machines in Shenzhen.

3. Passport with China Visa

4. Train ticket booking reference no. (No need to print this out, showing your phone is enough)

On exiting, the electronic subway gates at Lokmachao you’ll instantly be able to see the HK border immigration desks ahead, it’s that easy.

Travel Tips:

You’ll need your exit slip and passport. If you’ve lost the white exit slip part (given to you when you arrived into Hong Kong) don’t panic! Grab a new one from desks at the side and back of that hall, and just fill out a new one. Where it asks “Flight or Train No.” write down “MTR Lok Ma Chao to Shenzhen”.

Once your passport has been bent backward, turn inside out, scanned, stamped, pressed, and origami’ed into a little bird, follow the signs towards Shenzhen, it’s not far, and all inside the same building. Just follow the other people. You’ll soon cross an (enclosed) border bridge, the river below is no man’s land, and you’ll arrive at the Shenzhen border in a few minutes. Just like Hong Kong the border and subway share the same building. Stay left and you’ll see the overhead blue sign for foreigners. Fill in an arrival slip and stand in line. Once stamped into China just follow the signs to the Shenzhen subway. This will contain the Chinese characters for subway, which are 地铁.

This is the only tricky bit; you have just to follow the signs, but they are not consistent in their language or wording, they change the routes and signs often. China’s rapid development mean things change fast. It should be towards the left and down one level as you come out of customs. At least at the time of writing this, June 2015. (update, also the same 2017)

In a worst case scenario just show people this Chinese:

The subway station at this border house has only one line, the RED, LINE 4, this is called the Longhua Line 龙华线, and to make things very easy; you’re at the end of the line. The subway station name is Futian Checkpoint.

Just ride the line north towards Qing Hu 清湖. You can’t go wrong, it’s the only direction you can go. Here’s a useful section of the map:

Just to reconfirm, on this map you’re be at the bottom of the red line and will ride north, up to the Shenzhen North Railway Station. No changes required.

If you need help or reassurance you can always use this Chinese to ask:

Inside the station select the station, it defaults to 1 person 1 way, enter a 5 RMB note and change and a plastic token comes out.

Travel Tips:

It’s a good idea to first enter the security check and buy the ticket inside because the ticket machines outside the security area area crowded.

The token is placed over the sensor to enter the gates and dropped in a coin slot at the destinations to exit the gates.

Once you arrive, you’ll need to follow the signs and hunt around a little for the signs to the north train station.

China likes to use all sorts of inconsistent signage for everything from parks to government offices. In this case I’ve seen signs displaying: CRH, China Rail High Speed, North Station

北站，高铁站，候车站，高铁 etc….

Don’t worry it’s fairly close, and normally just down a level by escalator, here’s something you can show people that will get you there.

Outside the station, there are lines for the security check to enter the station area. If you have used the recommended China Train Booking App to order your ticket and opted to collect it at the station, it’s best to allow plenty of time to line up. You’ll need the passports for everyone you are collecting tickets for, plus the reference no. for your ticket collection. No need for a paper print out, you can just show you phones email.

The ticket collection counter we have used Ticket Hall A; it was next to the escalator we came down from the border house and had a very large sign in English. If you can’t see it just walk out into the large square in front of the railway station and turn and look backwards directly at the train station, it’s on the left side.

In the unlikely event you have trouble finding it, this might be useful:

You probably won’t need this Chinese, but it is nice to have. Once you have your tickets, go through security gates, showing the ticket and your ID. The passport no. will be on the ticket, so ensure you’ve not changed passport since booking. Go through the X-rays and you’ll arrive in the large station hall.

There is a toilet with Chinese characteristics 😉 under the McCafe escalator. Please bring soap, hand gel, toilet paper, air 😉  Toilets are better on the trains, so if you can wait, wait.

High speed trains, also called bullet trains, board about 20-15 minutes before departure. Even if you have a VIP or 1st ticket everyone will board together through the same gates in the main hall. When boarding they form 2-3 lines for blue tickets (automatic machine issued) and 1 line for pink tickets (old school offline tickets) bought at train stations or ticket offices. The gates only accept the colour ticket for that line. This is useful to know, as you don’t want to try and fight across 2 lines of gates with your luggage when you get to the front.

Travel Tips:

In summary, if time is on your side and you have booked a train departing in the mid to late afternoon, you can remove stress and find this fairly easy. If you’re aiming at a midday train and a last-minute kind of person, or someone easily stressed, you might find this way too much hassle. In that case, it might be better to fly to a destination directly from HK, especially during an official holiday.

I have explained Hong Kong to Shenzhen North Railway Station in detail, as a resource for you to take with you. This article in some ways might make traveling from Hong Kong to Shenzhen North Station seem more complex than it is.  I normally prefer to keep things short, but in the end decided everyone is different, and we want to offer as much detail and help as possible to cover all types of people and some eventualities. So print this out, download it, bookmark or copy and paste it into your yellow notes app.

Have you done this before? Can you share some tip, or do you have any questions about getting to the north station?

Do you have any tips, or different ways you get from Hong Kong to Shenzhen North Station? Please share with us all in the comments.