Destinations
In-depth guides with real prices, honest opinions, and perspectives no foreign travel writer can share.
Hong Kong Island
The financial heart and cultural centre. Victoria Peak, Central nightlife, Wan Chai culture, Stanley waterfront, and Aberdeen harbour.
Aberdeen
Aberdeen Harbour still holds hundreds of sampans and junks — take a local lady's sampan tour through the typhoon shelter for HKD 80 and see the floating village from water level. The Jumbo Kingdom floating restaurant closed but Aberdeen's working-harbour character remains authentic in ways Central has long forgotten.
From $50/day
Causeway Bay
Times Square, SOGO, and Hysan Place pack more retail into fewer blocks than almost anywhere in Asia — but the best reason to come is the food. The side streets around Lockhart Road and Sugar Street have some of HK's best Japanese restaurants outside Japan, and Victoria Park's morning tai chi and Sunday market are free and excellent.
From $70/day
Central District
Hong Kong's financial heart where Norman Foster's HSBC headquarters faces I.M. Pei's Bank of China in permanent architectural conversation. Ride the world's longest outdoor escalator through SoHo's restaurant district, drink at Man Mo Temple's incense-clouded altar, and take the HKD 2.70 Star Ferry to Kowloon at dusk.
From $80/day
Stanley
The south side's most relaxed neighborhood — Stanley Market's covered lanes sell reasonably priced clothing and trinkets, Murray House was dismantled stone by stone and rebuilt here from Central, and the waterfront bars fill on Sunday afternoons with the kind of crowd that has nowhere else they need to be.
From $50/day
Victoria Peak
The harbour view from 552 metres is the definitive Hong Kong image — ranks of skyscrapers falling to the water with Kowloon behind. Take the Peak Tram for the ride (it tilts at 27 degrees and you think you're going to fall backwards), walk the 3.5km Peak Circle trail at dawn, and skip the tourist tower altogether — the platform view is free.
From $60/day
Wan Chai
Where old Hong Kong markets survive alongside the contemporary arts district — the Wan Chai wet market at 7am, the Hong Kong Arts Centre, heritage blue Cantonese shophouses on Stone Nullah Lane, and Lockhart Road's storied bar strip that appeared in the 1984 James Clavell novel. One of HK's most layered neighborhoods.
From $60/day
Kowloon
The densest, most vibrant part of Hong Kong. Night markets, museums, the best dim sum teahouses, and TST waterfront views.
Mong Kok
The most densely populated square kilometre on earth — Ladies' Market, Flower Market, Goldfish Market, and Fa Yuen Street all crammed into blocks where 43,000 people live per square kilometre. The best dai pai dong street food in Hong Kong is found in Mong Kok's back alleys at midnight.
From $50/day
Tsim Sha Tsui
The Avenue of Stars runs along the Tsim Sha Tsui waterfront with the most dramatic skyline view in Asia — best at 8pm for the Symphony of Lights laser show. The Star Ferry crossing to Central costs HKD 2.70 and is one of the world's great short journeys. The Peninsula Hotel lobby tea is a Hong Kong institution.
From $70/day
New Territories
Wild Hong Kong — the MacLehose Trail, Sai Kung coastal wilderness, UNESCO Geopark hexagonal rocks, and seafood villages.
Outlying Islands
Car-free calm. Big Buddha on Lantau, seafood restaurants on Lamma, and the ancient stilt village and pink dolphins at Tai O.
Lamma Island
30 minutes by ferry from Aberdeen, no cars, and a 1-hour walking trail between the two main villages. The outdoor seafood restaurants at Sok Kwu Wan serve fresh local catch at tables over the water — whole steamed grouper, garlic prawns, and cold Tsingtao on the harbour as the day ferries sail past.
From $50/day
Lantau Island
Hong Kong's largest island holds the 34-metre Tian Tan Buddha on a mountain plateau, the fishing village of Tai O on stilts over tidal channels, and Cheung Sha's long, nearly empty beach. Take the Ngong Ping 360 cable car for the aerial approach to the Buddha — it's 25 minutes of harbors and hills.
From $60/day
Tai O
Tai O is the Hong Kong that the rest of the city replaced — a fishing village of houses on stilts over tidal channels, shrimp paste drying in the sun, and narrow lanes where the pace hasn't changed in generations. The boat tours for Chinese white dolphins (pink when adult) run daily and sometimes deliver.
From $40/day
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