Canton Tower

Canton Tower is a hyperboloid: two ellipses, one at the base and one at the top, rotated against each other and joined by straight steel members, which is why the lattice appears to twist and narrows to a waist near the middle. It reaches 600 metres to the tip of the mast and opened in 2010, on the axis that runs across the river through the newer business district. Inside there are several observation levels, an outdoor deck high up, a horizontal ring of glass pods that crawls around the rim like a sideways ferris wheel, and a controlled free-fall drop off the mast. The lighting shifts colour through the evening.

History

The Dutch architects Mark Hemel and Barbara Kuit of Information Based Architecture, working with Arup, won the international competition for the tower in 2004, and ground was broken in 2005. It was topped out in 2009 and opened to the public on 1 October 2010, not yet complete, for the Asian Games that Guangzhou hosted that November; the rooftop observatory opened in December 2011, and for a short time the tower was the tallest in the world, until Tokyo Skytree passed it (Wikipedia, Canton Tower).

What's there

• The twisted lattice - two rotated ellipses joined by straight steel, best seen from the north bank.
• The bubble tram - glass pods circling the rim on a horizontal track near the top.
• The open-air deck - an outdoor level above the enclosed observation floors.
• The drop ride - a short controlled free fall from the mast, ticketed on its own.

When to go

Autumn, from October to December, gives the clearest air and the least humidity, while spring is grey and wet and summer hot and hazy. Sunset slots sell out first and are worth booking, since you get the city in daylight and then lit. Weekday evenings are far quieter than weekends.

Good to know

Ticketing is tiered and the price climbs at every level, with the pod tram and the drop ride charged separately on top, so a full visit costs well over the headline figure. Haze flattens the view for much of the year. Lift queues at peak run long, and the plaza below is a wide treeless expanse with no shade.

Nearby

The riverfront promenade and the towers of the new district face it across the Pearl River.

Key facts