85 amazing things to do in Hong Kong
Every guide to Hong Kong opens with the same landmarks, and the big ones do earn their spot. But these 85 are the places I'd actually walk you to: the icons worth your time, plus the quiet corners and viewpoints that never make the lists.
A Symphony of LightsFree · 30 min★ Tip: The best spot is the Tsim Sha Tsui waterfront between the Star Ferry pier and the Cultural Centre; arrive fifteen minutes early to claim the front railing. Heavy rain can cancel the show, so check the tourism board site before… Directions
Get TicketsAirport Express e-Ticket (Kowloon / Hong Kong / Tsing Yi)€9An e-ticket for the Airport Express, the fastest way between Hong Kong International Airport and the city: a direct train to Tsing Yi, Kowloon and Hong Kong stations, with the run to Hong Kong station taking about 24 minutes. DirectionsBarker Road and the Old Victoria Hospital★ Tip: read the foundation stone under the fig tree. It carries the 1897 jubilee date, not the 1921 date of the building standing behind it, and that gap is the whole story. Directions
Battery Path and Government Hill★ Tip: this is the quietest way from Central up to Garden Road, and almost nobody uses it. Everyone else is queuing at the lights on Queen's Road. Directions
Get TicketsAlternative Hong Kong: Caged Home Walking Tour€32A walking tour of the side of Hong Kong the skyline hides: the subdivided flats and caged bunks of Sham Shui Po, and why some two hundred thousand people have lived in spaces smaller than 100 square feet. Directions
Blue House (Wan Chai)Free · 30 min★ Tip: Come mid-morning, then walk the block: Pak Tai Temple is a minute uphill, and the Wan Chai wet market on Wan Chai Road is downhill for a cheap lunch. Directions
Bowen Road Filter Beds★ Tip: the whole thing is still down there under your feet. Both the reservoir and the filters were open to the sky until the 1950s, when they were roofed over and the park was put on top. Directions
Bruce Lee Statue★ 4.5 · Free · 15 min★ Tip: Shoot him from the left with the IFC tower over his shoulder, then again after dark; the statue is a two-minute walk east of the Cultural Centre, so it slots into the Symphony of Lights evening without a detour. Directions
Canton RoadFree · 1-2 hours★ Tip: walk through Harbour City to the Ocean Terminal Deck at the far end. It is free, it is open to the sky, and it gives you the harbour and the Island skyline from the middle of the water. Almost nobody who comes here to shop ever… Directions
Cat Street (Upper Lascar Row)★ 3.9 · Free · 30 min★ Tip: Assume most of the street stalls are reproductions and enjoy them as such; the shops on Hollywood Road above are where the real antiques and the real prices are. Directions
Get TicketsVictoria Harbour Evening Cruise with Drinks€12An evening cruise on Victoria Harbour aboard a yacht, with a drink in hand and the skylines of Hong Kong Island and Kowloon lit up on both sides. Directions
Central Market★ 4.1 · Free · 45 min★ Tip: Use it as the lunch stop before the escalator: the food court on the ground floor and the terrace upstairs are cool and cheap, and the exit on Queen's Road leads straight to the escalator's first step. Directions
Central Star Ferry Pier★ 4.4 · HK$5 (weekdays, upper deck) · 30 min★ Tip: Take the upper deck and stand at the stern when leaving Central so the island skyline fills the view; do the crossing once in daylight and once after 8pm, when the Symphony of Lights is playing. Directions
Central-Mid-Levels Escalators★ 4.1 · Free · 45 min★ Tip: Step off at Hollywood Road for Man Mo Temple and Tai Kwun, and at Staunton Street for SoHo; ride it after 10am or you will be walking against the flow. Directions
Chater Garden★ Tip: the statue of Queen Victoria that once stood across the road was shipped to Japan in 1942 and came back after the war. It now stands in Victoria Park, which is where the park got its name. Directions
Chi Lin Nunnery and Nan Lian Garden★ 4.6 · Free · 1.5 hours★ Tip: Do the garden first and the nunnery halls second, well before 4:30pm; the restaurant behind the waterfall is the quietest lunch in Kowloon, and Wong Tai Sin Temple is one stop away. Directions
Choi Hung EstateFree · 30 min★ Tip: Take the stairs to the car park roof for the classic shot, early in the morning when the courts are empty; Chi Lin Nunnery is one MTR stop away, so do both. Directions
Dragon's Back Viewing PointFree · Half day★ Tip: Go on a weekday morning with two litres of water and finish at Big Wave Bay for a swim; the bus 9 queue back from Shek O is long on Sundays. Directions
Former Murray Building★ Tip: the lobby is open to the public and the arches at the base make the best shade on this whole stretch, which matters in August. Directions
Hong Kong City Hall★ Tip: the twelve sided shrine in the garden holds the names of those who fell in the Battle of Hong Kong, and almost every visitor walks past it without looking in. The door is open. Directions
Hong Kong Palace Museum★ 4.4 · HK$70 · 2 hours★ Tip: Pair it with M+ on the same morning, then go up to the top-floor terraces for the harbour view before leaving; the West Kowloon promenade outside is the best sunset walk in the city. Directions
Hong Kong ParkFree · 45 min★ Tip: Do the aviary first while it is quiet, finish at Flagstaff House for a last-minute tea gift, and note that the Peak Tram lower terminus is right next door on Garden Road. Directions
Hong Kong Zoological & Botanical GardensFree · 45 min★ Tip: Walk down from the Peak on foot and drop in on the way; the upper section with the fountain and aviaries is the prettier half, and the whole place is quietest first thing in the morning. Directions
Instagram Pier (Western District Cargo Area)Free · 45 min★ Tip: Come an hour before sunset and stay for the blue hour, when the Kowloon towers light up across the water; this is still a cargo yard, so wear nothing you mind getting dusty. Directions
Kowloon Park★ 4.4 · Free · 1 hour★ Tip: Come on a Sunday at 2:30pm for the Kung Fu Corner, entering from Nathan Road beside the Kowloon Mosque; the Heritage Discovery Centre inside the park is free too. Directions
Kowloon Walled City Park★ 4.3 · Free · 1 hour★ Tip: See the photographs in the yamen first so the garden makes sense, then walk it; the Thai restaurants of Kowloon City are five minutes away and serve the best cheap Thai food in Hong Kong. Directions
Lan Kwai Fong★ 4.2 · Free · 2 hours★ Tip: Go for happy hour before 9pm when drinks are half price, then walk uphill to the quieter bars of SoHo on Staunton and Elgin Streets; Tai Kwun is two minutes away for a drink in a courtyard. Directions
Lion RockFree · 2–3 hours★ Tip: Start early with plenty of water, take the MTR to Wong Tai Sin and follow the signs up through Lion Rock Park; the last stretch is rocky and exposed, so avoid the midday heat and skip it in rain. Directions
M+★ 4.3 · HK$190 · 2 hours★ Tip: The free zones are worth it alone: the Roof Garden for the harbour view, then watch the facade light up at dusk from the promenade on the Tsim Sha Tsui side. DirectionsMacDonnell Road Peak Tram Station★ Tip: stand here for four minutes and a car will come through. It is the easiest place on the whole walk to photograph the tram at eye level. Directions
Magazine Gap Road Stone Arch Bridge★ Tip: the road's name has nothing to do with magazines. It is the ammunition store the Royal Navy kept where the Asia Society sits today, and the gap above it took the name. Directions
Man Wa LaneFree · 30 min★ Tip: Bring the name you want (they will transliterate it), choose a stone rather than plastic, and come back after lunch: a hand-carved chop takes 30 to 60 minutes. DirectionsMay Road and the Gladdon★ Tip: in the 1930s the Portuguese entrepreneur C. A. da Roza lived here with his family and called the place Solar de Rosas. The name lasted until 1948. Directions
Monster Building (Yick Cheong Building)★ 4.3 · Free · 15 min★ Tip: Enter the courtyard from 1030 King's Road and shoot straight up from the middle in the late afternoon; residents have asked for no tripods and no drones. Directions
Old Supreme Court Building★ Tip: Lady Justice is a replica. The original was taken down in the 1970s and restored, and most people photograph the copy without ever knowing. Directions
Po Lin Monastery★ 4.5 · Free · 1 hour★ Tip: Buy the vegetarian lunch ticket at the ticket office by the steps before you climb, so a table is waiting when you come down; the Grand Hall of Ten Thousand Buddhas behind the main hall is the one visitors miss. Directions
Queen's Road CentralFree · 1 hour★ Tip: turn up Duddell Street, off Queen's Road Central, and climb the stone steps. The four gas lamps at the top are the last working gas street lamps in Hong Kong, they are a declared monument, and they are lit every evening. People… Directions
Shek O BeachFree · 1.5 hours★ Tip: Walk the twenty minutes from Big Wave Bay rather than waiting for the bus, eat in the village rather than on the sand, and expect a long queue for bus 9 on Sunday afternoons. Directions
SOGO Causeway Bay★ 4 · Free · 1 hour★ Tip: Head straight for the basement food hall for lunch or a box of Japanese fruit, then stand on the Hennessy Road corner around 6pm to watch the crossing fill up. DirectionsSt Joseph's College★ Tip: for the first four years this school only took non Chinese pupils, most of them Catholics and Portuguese families from Macau. Chinese boys were admitted from 1879. Directions
St Paul's Co-educational College★ Tip: two Hong Kong firsts started here: the first school to require a uniform, and the first co-educational one. Directions
Tai KwunFree · 1.5 hours★ Tip: Go in the late afternoon: see the prison cells and the heritage rooms, then have a drink in the Parade Ground as the lanterns come on; the Central-Mid-Levels escalator stops right beside it at Hollywood Road. Directions
Tai Ping Shan StreetFree · 45 min★ Tip: Start at the top by Blake Garden and walk down, stopping at the temples first (they are quiet before 10am), then drop onto Hollywood Road for Man Mo Temple and Cat Street. Directions
The Cenotaph★ Tip: stand on the harbour side and line it up with the Old Supreme Court behind it. That is the view the architects designed for, and it only works from one spot. DirectionsThe First Church of Christ, Scientist★ Tip: the stained glass showing the raising of Jairus's daughter was destroyed during the occupation, when the building was emptied and its records burned. What you see now is restored. Directions
The Peak Lookout★ Tip: the terrace at the back is the shaded one, and it is where you want to be after three hours of climbing. The view is from the front, the rest is from the back. Directions
Times Square★ 4.1 · Free · 1 hour★ Tip: The restaurant floors (10 to 13) make an easy lunch stop between the shopping streets of Causeway Bay; the food court in the basement is cheaper and faster. Directions
Tin Hau Temple, Causeway Bay★ 4 · Free · 15 min★ Tip: Come in the daytime (it closes at 5pm) and combine it with Victoria Park next door; the temple's own history board tells the reclamation story better than any guide. Directions
Tsim Sha Tsui PromenadeFree · 1 hour★ Tip: Walk it twice, once in daylight and once after dark; for the light show, take the railing between the Star Ferry pier and the Cultural Centre fifteen minutes before 8pm. Directions
Victoria Park★ 4.2 · Free · 45 min★ Tip: Come at 7am for the tai chi and the joggers, or at dusk when the whole neighbourhood is out; the Tin Hau Temple sits at the north-east corner. Directions
Victoria Peak GardenFree · 45 min★ Tip: Skip the Sky Terrace ticket and walk up Mount Austin Road instead; afterwards, head down on foot past the Zoological and Botanical Gardens rather than queueing for the tram. Directions
Wong Tai Sin Temple★ 4.3 · Free · 1 hour★ Tip: Shake the sticks at the main altar, then have the number read in the arcade (about HK$50 to HK$100, English spoken); Chi Lin Nunnery and Lion Rock are both one MTR stop away. DirectionsZetland Hall★ Tip: read the foundation stone in the outer wall. It carries the 1949 date, and the story behind that date is on the plaque beside it. Directions
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