Star Ferry harbour crossing
Why this is the first thing I do every time I land in Hong Kong.
Read MoreVictoria Peak tram
A closer look at one of Hong Kong's most rewarding experiences.
Read MoreSai Kung coastal trails
Where to go next once you have seen the headline sights of Hong Kong.
Read MoreHong Kong compresses more contradiction per square mile than anywhere I know: hillside hiking trails within sight of the world’s densest skyline, dim sum trolleys clattering past hedge fund towers, Cantonese opera drifting from a temple courtyard two streets from a Chanel boutique. The Star Ferry crossing costs almost nothing and remains, for my money, the best harbour view on earth, junks and container ships sharing water beneath Victoria Peak’s green shoulder. I like arriving hungry and leaving fuller than seems physically reasonable — a city that treats eating as civic identity, from Michelin-starred kitchens to the cha chaan teng on the corner serving milk tea thick enough to stand a spoon in. It’s a place built for movement, and it rewards the traveller who keeps moving too.
Chapter One
Harbour and heights
The tram up to Victoria Peak still runs on the same steep angle it has since 1888, and the view from the top — Kowloon’s grid glittering across the water, ships threading the harbour below — earns every tourist cliché written about it. I prefer descending on foot, down through the Mid-Levels escalator streets and into Sheung Wan, where dried seafood shops perfume entire blocks and old tenements stand next to third-wave coffee bars without apparent tension. At night, take the Star Ferry from Central to Tsim Sha Tsui simply for the ten minutes on the water; the skyline’s nightly light show is more impressive from the middle of the harbour than from any rooftop bar charging for the privilege.
“Hong Kong is a city that never quite decides whether it belongs to the mountain or the sea, and thrives on the argument.”
Chapter Two
Markets, temples, trails
Hong Kong is seventy percent country park, a fact that surprises people who only picture Central’s glass towers. The MacLehose Trail’s eighth section, along Sai Kung’s coastline, gives you empty beaches and hexagonal volcanic rock formations less than an hour from the MTR. Back in the city, Temple Street Night Market earns its name after dark, fortune tellers and seafood stalls under strings of bare bulbs, while Man Mo Temple’s coiled incense spirals burn for weeks at a time, filling the air with sandalwood smoke. I always end a Hong Kong trip the same way — a final dim sum breakfast, har gow and cheung fun, before the airport express.
The Short List
Do not miss in Hong Kong
At a glance
Hong Kong in numbers
- Capital
- Hong Kong (SAR)
- Language
- Cantonese and English
- Currency
- Hong Kong dollar
- Best time
- October to December, dry and mild
Did you know
Hong Kong has more skyscrapers over 150 metres tall than any other city in the world.