Hong Kong (China)
Hong Kong is the most vertical city on earth wrapped around one of its most beautiful harbours, and the rare great city where a skyscraper skyline, a jungle-green mountain and a fishing village on stilts all fit into a single day.
The Peak Tram has hauled visitors up the side of Victoria Peak since 1888 for the view every postcard copies; the Star Ferry still crosses the harbour for a few dollars, as it has for well over a century; the Tsim Sha Tsui waterfront lines up the whole Hong Kong Island skyline across the water; and a cable car glides over Lantau's mountains to the giant bronze Buddha at Ngong Ping. This guide books the city properly — the Peak at the right hour and the queue-beating ways up, cable car days that dodge maintenance closures, Disneyland on the right date under tiered pricing, Ocean Park's pandas and cable car, timed galleries at the Hong Kong Palace Museum and the closing days at M+ — and pairs it with the free Hong Kong locals love: incense coils in Man Mo Temple, fortune sticks at Wong Tai Sin, the evening crush of Temple Street, the Dragon's Back ridge above the South China Sea and a seafood lunch on car-free Cheung Chau. Then it matches you to the right hotel, from the Peninsula's lobby afternoon tea and the Rosewood's harbour-front glamour to the Mandarin Oriental in Central, a quiet sanctuary above Admiralty, a glass-bottomed rooftop pool in Wan Chai and the best-value harbour views in town, because in a city this dense the right address changes everything.
Victoria Peak & the Peak Tram
The view that defines Hong Kong: a historic funicular hauling you up a hillside so steep the skyscrapers seem to lean, then the whole harbour, Kowloon and the hills beyond spread out from Sky Terrace 428. Go late afternoon and stay for the lights.
Star Ferry
The best-value boat ride on earth: a green-and-white ferry chugging across Victoria Harbour between Tsim Sha Tsui and Central for a few Hong Kong dollars, as it has since 1888. Ten minutes of skyline, sea air and pure Hong Kong.
Big Buddha & Ngong Ping 360 Cable Car
A 25-minute cable car ride over Lantau's mountains and the South China Sea to the giant bronze Tian Tan Buddha, 268 steps above Po Lin Monastery. The best day trip from the city, and one of the great cable car rides in the world.
Hong Kong Disneyland
The compact Disney park on Lantau, home of World of Frozen, the only Frozen-themed land of its kind when it opened, plus the Castle of Magical Dreams, Iron Man and Ant-Man rides and Toy Story Land. Short queues on weekdays make it the easiest Disney day in Asia.
The view that defines Hong Kong: a historic funicular hauling you up a hillside so steep the skyscrapers seem to lean, then the whole harbour, Kowloon and the hills beyond spread out from Sky Terrace 428. Go late afternoon and stay for the lights.
The best-value boat ride on earth: a green-and-white ferry chugging across Victoria Harbour between Tsim Sha Tsui and Central for a few Hong Kong dollars, as it has since 1888. Ten minutes of skyline, sea air and pure Hong Kong.
The front-row seat to the world's most famous skyline: a free harbourside walk from the old clock tower past the Cultural Centre to the Avenue of Stars, with Bruce Lee in bronze and Hong Kong Island lit up across the water.
A 25-minute cable car ride over Lantau's mountains and the South China Sea to the giant bronze Tian Tan Buddha, 268 steps above Po Lin Monastery. The best day trip from the city, and one of the great cable car rides in the world.
The compact Disney park on Lantau, home of World of Frozen, the only Frozen-themed land of its kind when it opened, plus the Castle of Magical Dreams, Iron Man and Ant-Man rides and Toy Story Land. Short queues on weekdays make it the easiest Disney day in Asia.
Hong Kong's own theme park, split across a headland by a cable car with sea views: giant pandas including Hong Kong-born twin cubs, a huge aquarium, thrill rides on the Summit and Old Hong Kong street food on the Waterfront.
Asia's great museum of modern art, design and architecture, in a striking Herzog and de Meuron building on the harbour at West Kowloon. Big rotating exhibitions, a free roof garden with skyline views, and late opening on Fridays.
Treasures from Beijing's Forbidden City in a modern harbourside building: imperial paintings, porcelain, jade, bronzes and costumes on loan from the Palace Museum, shown with real flair in West Kowloon.
Kowloon after dark: a street of stalls, fortune tellers, Cantonese opera singers and clay-pot rice in Yau Ma Tei, and a few stops north, the Ladies Market crammed with bargains in Mong Kok. Free, loud, neon-lit and delicious.
Giant incense coils hanging in the smoky half-light of a mid-nineteenth-century temple on Hollywood Road, dedicated to the gods of literature and war. Free, atmospheric and surrounded by antique shops and the galleries of Old Town Central.
Hong Kong's busiest temple, where the deity who "makes every wish come true" draws crowds to shake fortune sticks among red pillars and golden roofs. Free, colorful and a minute from the MTR.
Hong Kong's favorite hike: a grassy ridge with sea views on both sides, rising and dipping like a dragon's spine above Shek O, ending at the surf beach of Big Wave Bay. Free, easy to reach by bus and the best proof that this city is mostly green.
Hotels we would book ourselves, from splurges to good-value bases.
Tsim Sha Tsui
The Grande Dame of the Far East since 1928: a fleet of green Rolls-Royces at the door, afternoon tea with a string quartet in the gilded Lobby, harbour-view rooms in the tower and a rooftop bar designed by Philippe Starck.
Check rates →Tsim Sha Tsui / Victoria Dockside
The glamorous newcomer on the Kowloon waterfront: residential-style rooms with harbour views, eleven restaurants and bars including the DarkSide and the Legacy House, Asaya spa, and the art-filled Victoria Dockside on the doorstep.
Check rates →Admiralty
A calm, design-led sanctuary above Pacific Place in Admiralty: André Fu's limestone-and-timber rooms, every one with harbour or city views, an intimate scale and some of the most generous rooms in the city.
Check rates →Central
The legendary hotel of Central since the 1960s: the Captain's Bar, Man Wah's Cantonese cooking with harbour views, a celebrated cake shop and the Star Ferry a short walk away. Classic Hong Kong glamour, polished and current.
Check rates →Wan Chai
A stylish mid-range base in old Wan Chai, wrapped in a golden dragon facade, with 138 rooms, a glass-bottomed rooftop infinity pool cantilevered over the street and a rooftop bar with views across the city.
Check rates →Tsim Sha Tsui
The best-value harbour views in Hong Kong: a well-run YMCA hotel next door to the Peninsula on Salisbury Road, with harbour-view rooms, indoor pools, a climbing wall and a location most luxury hotels would envy.
Check rates →Lantau Island / Disneyland Resort
The biggest hotel at Hong Kong Disneyland Resort, themed on the age of exploration, with gardens inspired by four corners of the world, a pool, character dining and a free shuttle to the park gates. The family pick on Lantau.
Check rates →Tsim Sha Tsui East
The smartest value in Tsim Sha Tsui East: a design-led teaching hotel owned by a university, with harbour-view rooms, a living green wall, a rooftop pool, free minibar snacks and Cantonese dining on the top floor.
Check rates →Wan Chai
A 66-room boutique hotel in Wan Chai styled after the Star Ferry, with porthole mirrors, brass lamps and green-and-white interiors, an Italian restaurant downstairs and the harbourfront and convention centre a short walk away.
Check rates →Central
Tiny, stylish rooms at a budget price in the most expensive part of Hong Kong: Ice House Street in Central, steps from Lan Kwai Fong, SoHo, the Mid-Levels Escalator and the Peak Tram.
Check rates →Causeway Bay
A calm, residential-style boutique hotel on Leighton Road in Causeway Bay: generous rooms by Hong Kong standards, residences with kitchenettes, and Victoria Park, Times Square and the trams on the doorstep.
Check rates →Causeway Bay
A budget design hotel on Sun Wui Road near Victoria Park: very small but clean, bright rooms, a playful lobby and a 24-hour front desk, with Causeway Bay's shops and food a short walk away.
Check rates →Jordan
An 87-room boutique hotel in Jordan, a short walk from Temple Street Night Market and Jordan MTR, with bright, colourful rooms and studios that give good value between Tsim Sha Tsui and Mong Kok.
Check rates →Mong Kok
A practical, good-value 285-room hotel on the western edge of Mong Kok, with family quad rooms, a free in-town shuttle bus, and the markets of Mong Kok and Olympic MTR station within walking distance.
Check rates →Mong Kok
A 42-floor tower above Mong Kok MTR and the Langham Place mall, with an outdoor heated pool, a large contemporary Chinese art collection and the acclaimed Cantonese restaurant Ming Court.
Check rates →The practical primer for a first trip: arrival and the Airport Express, the Octopus card and MTR, money and tipping, weather and typhoon signals, etiquette, and which headline sights to book ahead.
Tsim Sha Tsui, Central, Admiralty, Wan Chai, Causeway Bay, Mong Kok or Lantau? How to pick the right base for your trip, with our hotel picks for every budget.
A day-by-day plan for a first visit: Central, the Peak and the Star Ferry on day one, Kowloon temples, markets and museums on day two, and Lantau's Big Buddha on day three.
How to eat your way through Hong Kong: dim sum etiquette and what to order, the cha chaan teng and its milk tea, roast meats and wonton noodles, street snacks, seafood and the night markets.
Month by month: why autumn is the sweet spot, how to handle summer heat and typhoon signals, the festivals worth planning around, and the holiday weeks to avoid.
How to escape the city: Lantau's Big Buddha and Tai O, Cheung Chau and Lamma by ferry, hikes and beaches, and how to do a day trip to Macau by ferry or the bridge bus.
