Hong Kong Palace Museum

The Hong Kong Palace Museum opened in July 2022 and brought something new to the city: a permanent window into the collections of the Palace Museum in Beijing, the former imperial palace known as the Forbidden City, whose holdings run to well over a million objects. Here, more than 900 pieces were shown at the opening, and the displays rotate regularly so that the most fragile paintings and textiles can rest. The building, designed by the Hong Kong architect Rocco Yim, reinterprets the layout of a traditional Chinese palace in a modern form, with a central atrium and a sequence of galleries opening onto views of the harbour and the Hong Kong Island skyline. There are nine galleries over several floors. Some cover permanent themes, such as the architecture of the Forbidden City, the life of the Qing emperors and empresses, imperial porcelain and the art of Chinese painting and calligraphy, explained with clear English labels, models and multimedia displays. Others hold special exhibitions, often international loans from great museums around the world in conversation with Chinese art, which carry a higher ticket price than the general galleries. The highlights depend on what is on show, but expect imperial robes embroidered with dragons, jade carvings, cloisonne enamel, scrolls of court painting, clocks made for the Qianlong emperor and ceramics of extraordinary refinement. For visitors who will never reach Beijing, or who have been and want to see the objects up close without the Forbidden City crowds, it is a remarkable experience, and the setting in the West Kowloon Cultural District, beside M+ and the waterfront Art Park, makes it easy to build a whole cultural day around it.

Tickets are timed and sold online in advance, which is the way to go at weekends and during school holidays; same-day tickets are sold at the ticket office while they last. General admission covers the permanent galleries, while special exhibitions need a separate, more expensive ticket, so check what is on before you choose. Children six and under go free, and concessions are available. The museum is open from 10am to 6pm on Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Sundays and until 8pm on Fridays, Saturdays and public holidays, and it closes on Tuesdays (except public holidays) and the first two days of the Lunar New Year, with occasional extra closures such as 30 November 2026. Ticket sales stop an hour before closing. Free guided tours and an audio guide add depth, and the galleries are fully accessible.

Allow two to three hours. Start on the upper floors with the introductory galleries on the Forbidden City and its architecture, then work down through the imperial life and art galleries, and finish with the special exhibitions. Take time at the windows: the museum is designed to frame the harbour and Hong Kong Island like a painting, and the view from the upper atrium is beautiful at sunset. The museum restaurant and cafe offer Chinese and Western food with views, and the shop is strong on books and imperial-themed gifts. Families should look for the children's activities, trails and the hands-on learning spaces.

The Palace Museum sits at the western end of the West Kowloon Cultural District, ten minutes on foot from M+, and the Art Park lawn between them is a lovely place to rest. Remember the different closing days, Tuesday here and Monday at M+, which means Wednesday to Sunday are the days you can do both. From Kowloon MTR station it is about a fifteen-minute walk; Austin station is a similar distance, and taxis drop you at the door. In bad weather the covered walkways and malls around Kowloon station help, and the museum is a perfect rainy-day plan.