Want to enjoy the natural beauty while having family fun? Then don't miss these leisure parks.

Fairy Lake Botanical Gardens

Also a base for academic research, the 590-hectare park boasts dozens of attractions of natural scenery and botanical mystery. It is home to more than 4,000 species of plants, including some very rare ones. Here you can find gardens of bamboo trees, desert plants, Cycas trees, gymnosperm plants and aquatic plants. Set in the park is also one of the largest temples in Guangdong Province, Hongfa Temple, which attracts many local and Hong Kong Buddhists. Location: Liantang in Luohu District Tel.: 25738430

Evergreen Resort

This 200,000-sqm resort is Shenzhen's first sightseeing farm and well known for its natural beauty and rural settings. It features over a dozen attractions including a tropical forest, a butterfly garden, fishing pools, a pottery house where you can create your own art works and a few fruit farms where you can lease a patch. Location: Near the Moon Bay (Yue Liang Wan) in Nanshan District Tel.: 26646988

Guangming Farm

It is also an ideal resort for people who seek natural beauty and peaceful rural life in the city. It offers a variety of attractions including fruit farms, dairy farms, fishing pools, an archery club, bungee jumping and outdoor barbeque. The park boasts a 300-meter-long grass skating course with a total area of 60,000 square meters, the largest of its kind in China. It also has Asia's largest pigeon garden. In summer, it is a perfect place to pick fresh litchis, Shenzhen's best known fruits. Location: Guangming Avenue in Bao'an District Tel.: 27400054, 27400076

Waterlands Resort

The resort is a 173-hectare subtropical beach park sitting by the mouth of the Pearl River, which gives visitors a distinctive sea view. Imbedded with many pools and brooks, it features over 10 attractions including a rural village with a traditional winery, a water fun park, a garden of the rare mangrove trees and a museum showing China's history of ecological development. Location: Shajing in Bao'an District Tel.: 27259888

Dameisha and Xiaomeisha Beach Parks

These two parks are decent place to enjoy green mountains, blue sea and golden sand beaches. Dameisha, the bigger one of the two, is a public area, while Xiaomeisha requires a 20-yuan entrance fee. In Xiaomeisha there is an aquarium zoo called Shenzhen Sea World, well stocked with whales, sharks, manatees and showing various aquatic antics. Dameisha features a public garden called Lunar Square with a bar and a restaurant selling Western food. Location: Near Dapeng Bay in Yantian District Tel.: 25062323 (Dameisha), 25060000 (Xiaomeisha)

Lotus Hill Park

This 166-hectare public park, fully forested, is an ideal place for family fun in the heart of the city. The focal point of the park is a viewing square at the top of the Lotus Hill, which got its name from its shape (like a lotus). The square commands decent vistas of Shenzhen and highlights a statue of late Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping, who inspired the creation of the city. Below the hill are a lawn for kite flying and a lake for fishing. Location: By the western part of Hongli Road in Futian District Tel.: 83067950