The Gongbei crossing is one of the busiest land border crossings in the world, processing tens of thousands of pedestrians daily between Zhuhai and Macau. The district that has grown around it — the Gongbei Commercial Street and the underground shopping areas of Gongbei Palace — has the particular frantic character of all border towns: goods from Macau and Hong Kong on sale alongside Chinese products, restaurants open at all hours, and a crowd that includes day-trippers, shoppers, workers, and tourists in roughly equal proportion.
Walking to the border gate itself gives a view of the Macau skyline and an immediate sense of the economic and cultural proximity of the two territories. The covered market streets south of the main boulevard are good for inexpensive shopping and food. The crossing is open to travellers with valid Chinese and Macau documents; for most international visitors, it is straightforward with a valid passport.