Is Guangzhou LGBTQ-friendly?

For a couple, Guangzhou works best if you keep affection for the hotel room and the taxi. Shamian Island, the former British and French concession on the Pearl River, is the calmest place to walk together in the evening. After the afternoon rain, the avenue under its banyans smells of wet leaves, and wedding photographers outnumber police. The reading at 1pm today was 33.5°C, with a feels-like of 38.4°C. Go after 7pm, when the granite paving stops throwing heat back at you. Most locals will read two people of the same sex walking close and sharing a cold sugarcane juice as friends, and that ambiguity protects you on Shamian, though it is also the cost: few strangers there will see you as a couple.

Dinner is where the foodie and the history buff can meet. Book a Pearl River night cruise from Tianzi Pier near Beijing Road: a seat on a standard boat currently costs about 120 to 180 CNY each, roughly US$18 to US$27 at 6.69 CNY to the dollar. The route passes Canton Tower while its lights change colour. On Saturdays the upper deck is loud with tour groups, so go on a Tuesday or Wednesday and stand at the stern rail, where the engine hum covers your conversation. Skip the dinner-cruise buffets, because the food tends to arrive lukewarm and you will eat better on land. For a quiet anniversary, a dim sum supper in the lakeside pavilions of Panxi Restaurant in Liwan Lake Park is the better choice.

Split up for part of the next day. The history buff can start at Huaisheng Mosque on Guangta Road, which Chinese Muslims trace to AD 627 under the Tang dynasty, and from there it is a 10-minute walk to Guangxiao Temple and the Temple of the Six Banyan Trees, both protected as national heritage sites. Meanwhile the foodie can take Metro Line 1 to Changshou Lu and eat their way along Enning Road, where the congee stalls smell of ginger and roast-goose fat. Meet at 5pm at Sacred Heart Cathedral on Yide Road: the stone nave stays cool even when the street outside is baking, and nobody there looks twice at two people sharing a pew.

Book a king room in an international chain in Tianhe or Zhujiang New Town: front desks there treat same-sex couples with the same flat politeness they give business travellers. Budget hotels in Yuexiu sometimes set their system to one guest per bed, which can mean an awkward conversation in Mandarin at midnight. Google, Instagram and WhatsApp are blocked in mainland China, so set up a roaming eSIM before you land and your maps and messages will work from the airport onward.