Hong Kong Travel Guide
Hong Kong for First-Timers
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.
Hong Kong is one of the easiest big cities in Asia to visit for the first time. English is an official language and on every sign, public transport is fast, cheap and spotless, the streets are safe at all hours, and almost everything a first-timer wants to see is within half an hour of the harbour. What surprises people is the density and the contrasts: towers stacked up mountainsides, temples squeezed between malls, and wild country parks a bus ride from the financial district. This guide covers what to know before you land.
Arriving. Hong Kong International Airport sits on an island off Lantau, and the Airport Express train is the best way into town: about 25 minutes to Kowloon station and under half an hour to Hong Kong station in Central, with free shuttle buses from both to many hotels. Taxis are plentiful and fairly priced, with different colors for different areas (red taxis serve the urban areas, green the New Territories, blue Lantau). Many nationalities can enter visa-free for a period, but check your own rules before you fly. If you are heading to Macau or mainland China as well, remember they have separate immigration controls.
Getting around. Get an Octopus card, the stored-value card used on the MTR, buses, trams, ferries and in convenience stores, or simply tap a contactless bank card or phone on most transport. The MTR covers almost everything, from the Peak Tram terminus in Central to Disneyland and Tung Chung for the Big Buddha. Use the old double-decker trams along the north shore of Hong Kong Island for cheap sightseeing, and the Star Ferry to cross the harbour. Taxis are good value for short trips, especially at night or in the rain; carry the name of your destination written down, since not all drivers speak much English.
Money and tipping. The currency is the Hong Kong dollar. Hong Kong is expensive for hotels and restaurant meals, but cheap for transport, street food and local cafes. Restaurants usually add a ten percent service charge, and tipping beyond that is not expected, though leaving small change is common. Cards and mobile payments are widely accepted, but carry some cash for markets, small eateries and minibuses. There is no sales tax, which makes shopping attractive.
Weather and typhoons. Hong Kong is subtropical. Autumn, from October to early December, is the best season: dry, sunny and comfortable, with clear views from the Peak. Winter is mild and sometimes grey; spring is humid and often foggy; summer, from June to September, is hot, very humid and stormy. Typhoon season runs roughly from May to November. The Observatory raises numbered signals, and when signal 8 or higher is raised, public transport scales back, ferries stop, many attractions close and most businesses shut; the same applies to black rainstorm warnings. If a storm is forecast, keep your plans flexible, follow the Observatory and your hotel's advice, and stay indoors. Storms usually pass within a day or two.
What to book ahead. Most free sights need no booking, but a few paid experiences benefit from advance tickets. Book dated tickets for Hong Kong Disneyland, especially for weekends and holidays, and consider the early entry pass for World of Frozen. Book timed tickets for the Hong Kong Palace Museum, and Ngong Ping 360 cable car tickets if you are visiting on a weekend. Peak Tram tickets can be bought in advance to save time, as can Ocean Park tickets. Remember closing days: M+ closes on Mondays, the Palace Museum on Tuesdays, and the cable car and Peak Tram occasionally suspend for maintenance.
Etiquette and small rules. Hong Kong is polite and orderly. Queue patiently, stand on the right on escalators, and give up priority seats on the MTR. Eating and drinking are banned on the MTR. In temples, be discreet with photos and do not touch offerings. Tables in busy restaurants are often shared, and service in local cafes is brisk rather than rude. Power sockets are the British three-pin type, tap water is generally safe but most people drink bottled or filtered water, and mobile data is cheap.
The essential list. If you see nothing else, see these: the view from Victoria Peak at sunset, reached by the Peak Tram; a Star Ferry crossing at night; the skyline from the Tsim Sha Tsui promenade; dim sum at a busy teahouse; the Big Buddha via the Ngong Ping 360 cable car; Man Mo Temple and Hollywood Road; and Temple Street Night Market for dinner. Families should add Disneyland or Ocean Park; culture lovers, M+ and the Palace Museum; and anyone with a spare half-day should hike the Dragon's Back or take a ferry to Cheung Chau.
How long to stay. Three or four days covers the highlights comfortably; five lets you add a theme park, an island and a slower pace; a week allows a day trip to Macau. Hong Kong also works well as a stopover, with the Peak, the Star Ferry and a night market fitting into a single day. Whatever your length, plan the weather-dependent sights, the Peak and the cable car, for your clearest days, and save museums and malls for the rain.
Staying connected and safe. Hong Kong is one of the safest cities in the world, and violent crime against visitors is rare; the main risks are pickpockets in crowded markets and overpriced seafood if you do not check prices first. Buy a local SIM or an eSIM on arrival or before you fly, since data is cheap and maps make the dense streets far easier to navigate. Public toilets are found in MTR stations, malls and parks. The emergency number is 999. Pharmacies are everywhere, and the public hospitals have emergency departments, though visitors pay non-resident fees, so travel insurance is wise.
A word on the views. Many visitors arrive with one image in mind, the skyline at night from the Peak or the harbour, and then find it lost in haze or cloud. Visibility varies enormously with the season and the weather, so treat the view as something to chase rather than something guaranteed. Check the sky each morning, keep the Peak and the cable car flexible, and when a clear evening comes, drop everything and go. The harbour from the Star Ferry, the promenade or a hotel bar is a good fallback on any night, because the lights cut through the haze even when the mountain behind them disappears.