Hong Kong travel guide

Victoria Peak

On the Peak Tram, running since 1888, the climb is so steep that the towers outside seem to lean backwards, and at the top the city opens out below you: Central’s skyscrapers, the harbour and the hills of Kowloon beyond. For a quieter look, the flat Lugard Road path circles the summit with the same view through the trees. The tram climbs from Garden Road from 7:30 AM to 11 PM; queues are shortest in the morning, and on a hazy day the view is better after dark.

Star Ferry

Star Ferry boats have crossed Victoria Harbour since the late 1800s, each named something-Star, with wooden benches whose backs flip over so you can always face the way you’re going. For the price of a snack you get the island’s towers stacked against green hills on one side and Kowloon on the other, in under ten minutes between Central and Tsim Sha Tsui. Pay with Octopus, sit on the upper deck, and take it in both directions, once by day and once after dark.

Tian Tan Buddha

Finished in 1993, the Big Buddha is a 34-metre bronze figure seated on a lotus throne high on Lantau, often half in cloud. Climb the 268 steps up from Po Lin Monastery for a view over green peaks and sea, then come down for the monastery’s simple vegetarian lunch. The Ngong Ping cable car from Tung Chung, about 25 minutes over the bay and hills, is the scenic way up, but it closes for scheduled maintenance a few times a year, so check before you go.

Tai O

Families of the Tanka boat-dwelling community built their stilt houses over the tidal creek here, and walkways still lead between them past salted fish drying in the sun and tubs of pungent shrimp paste, a local speciality. Small boats run short trips out to look for the pink-tinged Chinese white dolphins offshore, though sightings are far from certain. It is a short bus ride from Ngong Ping, so pair the two.

Man Mo Temple

Built in 1847 on Hollywood Road, the temple honours Man, god of literature, and Mo, god of war, so students come to pray before exams beside people asking for luck in business. Giant spiral incense coils hang from the ceiling, each burning for days or weeks and filling the dim hall with a sweet haze. The antique shops and Cat Street stalls are a few minutes’ walk away.

Tai Kwun

For more than 150 years this walled compound held Hong Kong’s Central Police Station, magistracy and Victoria Prison, where the young Ho Chi Minh was held in 1931, and since 2018 it has been restored as courtyards, galleries and restaurants, with two new art buildings by Herzog & de Meuron. It is free to walk in, and the parade ground, shaded by an old mango tree, is a quiet place to sit in the middle of the city.

M+

Opened in 2021, M+ gathers Asian design, architecture and art on the West Kowloon waterfront, from Chinese contemporary painting to the whole interior of a 1980s Tokyo sushi bar by the designer Shiro Kuramata. Its tower carries a huge screen of lights facing the harbour, and the roof garden looks across the water to Hong Kong Island. It is closed on Mondays. The Hong Kong Palace Museum, showing treasures lent by Beijing’s Forbidden City, is a short walk away and closes on Tuesdays instead.

Temple Street Night Market

Named after the Tin Hau temple partway along it, this Kowloon street fills at night with stalls of cheap goods, fortune tellers reading palms under bare bulbs, and sometimes amateur Cantonese opera singers. The seafood restaurants set plastic tables out on the pavement for clams in black bean sauce and clay-pot rice. It comes alive after dark; go for dinner rather than shopping.

Dragon’s Back

The trail follows a rolling ridge, the dragon’s spine, above the island’s quiet south-east coast, with the South China Sea and the Shek O headland on one side, green hills on the other, and sometimes paragliders drifting overhead. It drops through woods to finish at Big Wave Bay or Shek O beach, where you can swim and get a cold drink. Allow three to four hours, carry water, and avoid it on very hot or stormy days.

Dim sum

Yum cha, “drinking tea”, is a Hong Kong ritual of the morning and lunch: a round table of bamboo steamers holding translucent har gow pleated round whole prawns, open-topped siu mai, slippery rice-noodle rolls and fluffy char siu buns. Tap two fingers on the table to thank whoever refills your cup, and leave the teapot lid ajar when you want more hot water. At busy places you take a number and share tables; tick what you want on the paper order sheet.

Cha chaan tengs

These diners grew up after the war, serving Hong Kong’s own cheap take on Western food: milk tea strained through a cloth bag known as a silk stocking, a warm pineapple bun (no pineapple, just a crackly sugar top) split around a thick slab of cold butter, macaroni in broth with ham, and French toast filled with peanut butter and soaked in syrup. Expect to share a table and to be in and out within half an hour.

Roast meats (siu mei)

In the window, lacquered geese, slabs of crackling pork belly and strips of sticky char siu hang above a chopping block, and the cook cuts your order with a cleaver in seconds. Roast goose is the Hong Kong favourite, its skin crisp and its juices running into the rice. A plate over rice makes a quick, filling lunch.

Wonton noodles

Hong Kong’s thin egg noodles are made with alkaline water, some still pressed by a cook bouncing on a bamboo pole, which gives them their springy bite. They come in clear broth with shrimp wontons, often hidden at the bottom of a small bowl so the noodles sit on top and stay firm. Order a second bowl rather than a large one.

Egg tarts

Less sweet than its Portuguese cousin and with no scorched top, the Hong Kong egg tart is a wobbly, bright-yellow custard in either a flaky puff crust or a crumbly shortbread one. The last governor, Chris Patten, was such a fan of Tai Cheong Bakery’s that locals nicknamed them “Fat Patten” tarts. They are best still warm from the bakery oven in the afternoon.

Harder: March to April

Mild but humid, with drizzle and fog that can hide the views and delay ferries.

Best: October to December

Sunny, dry and comfortable, with clear air for views from the Peak and long days on the trails.

Harder: July to September

Typhoons are most likely now. When a storm signal goes up, ferries, buses and attractions can shut at short notice.

How do you get around Hong Kong?

• Transit cardGet an Octopus card, either as a phone app or a physical card, to pay for most transport.
• Mobile OctopusOn iPhone, add an Octopus through Apple Wallet or the Octopus for Tourists app and top it up with a foreign card. It carries the same HK$50 refundable deposit as the plastic card.
• MetroThe MTR covers most districts, including the border stations to Mainland China.
• BusesDouble-deckers are popular and give good views; Octopus is accepted on all buses.
• TramsHistoric double-decker trams run along the north side of Hong Kong Island at a flat fare.
• Airport transferThe Airport Express is the quickest train into the city, and its gates now take contactless bank cards as well as Octopus.
• Bank cardsMTR gates take contactless Visa, Mastercard and UnionPay credit cards at the adult fare; use the same card to enter and exit. They don’t work on Light Rail or MTR buses.

Do you need cash in Hong Kong, and do you tip?

• Carry some cashKeep small notes for markets, small diners and minibuses. Buses take cash only as the exact fare, with no change given.
• Pay in HKDIf a terminal offers to convert to your home currency, choose Hong Kong dollars instead.
• Restaurant tipsMany restaurants add a 10% service charge, so an extra tip is optional rather than expected.

Useful phrases

• HelloNei5 hou2 (你好)
• Thank you (for a service) / excuse meM4 goi1 (唔該)
• SorryDeoi3 m4 zyu6 (對唔住)
• YesHai6 (係)
• NoM4 hai6 (唔係)
• How much?Gei2 do1 cin4? (幾多錢？)
• Thank you (for a gift)Do1 ze6 (多謝)

Local manners

• QueuesQueue in line for buses and trains, and stand on the right on escalators.
• TrainsLet passengers exit before you board the MTR.
• QuietKeep calls and loud chatter low on trains and buses.
• GiftsGive and receive with both hands, and open gifts later.
• VapesSince 30 April 2026, carrying or using e-cigarettes and heated tobacco in public is an offence, and bringing them into Hong Kong is banned.

Useful apps

• Octopus for TouristsAdds an Octopus to your iPhone for trains, buses, ferries and shops, topped up with a foreign card
• MyObservatoryThe Observatory’s own forecasts, rain radar and typhoon signals
• CitymapperDoor-to-door routes combining MTR, buses, minibuses, trams and ferries
• Google MapsWalking directions and offline maps for the hillside streets

Download links for these are in the Hong Kong guide in the Journey app.

Before you book

Check your government’s travel advice before you book.