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Hong Kong: what to see, where to stay and how to get around

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Hong Kong is a mountain coming down to a harbour, and everything built here is built on a slope or on ground made from the sea. The British took the island in 1841 as a trading port and left in 1997. This walk climbs from the water to the peak: market streets from the 1840s, a prison turned into galleries, an eight-hundred-metre escalator, and a funicular running since 1888.

Hong Kong

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A short history of Hong Kong

Before the British there were fishing villages and pirate camps here. In 1842, after the First Opium War, Hong Kong Island was ceded to Britain; in 1860 the Kowloon peninsula was added, and in 1898 the "New Territories" were leased for 99 years. From December 1941 until 1945 the Japanese occupied it. After 1949 millions of refugees arrived from China, and the colony became an industrial centre and later a financial centre. On 1 July 1997 it was returned to China under the principle of "one country, two systems".

The ten best sights in Hong Kong

  1. Victoria Peak
    1
    Victoria Peak

    The view everyone comes for — go at dusk

  2. Tsim Sha Tsui Promenade
    2
    Tsim Sha Tsui Promenade

    The skyline from across the water, free

  3. Mid-Levels Escalator
    3
    Mid-Levels Escalator

    Eight hundred metres of escalator up a hillside

  4. Tai Kwun
    4
    Tai Kwun

    The old prison and police station, now galleries

  5. PMQ
    5
    PMQ

    Married police quarters turned into studios

  6. Tian Tan Buddha
    6
    Tian Tan Buddha

    Thirty-four metres of bronze, up 268 steps

  7. Ngong Ping 360
    7
    Ngong Ping 360

    Twenty-five minutes of cable car over the sea

  8. Dragon’s Back
    8
    Dragon’s Back

    A ridge walk to a beach, an hour from Central

  9. Cheung Chau
    9
    Cheung Chau

    An island with no cars, an hour by ferry

  10. Lamma Island
    10
    Lamma Island

    A walk between two villages, and seafood at the end

sleepntripRoad and rail routesEvery night on the road, our hotel

Whole routes, with a room up to $80 at every stop.

To the routes

What is an audio walk?

Tours in Hong Kong →

A guide in your headphones: open the walk on our site, walk from stop to stop, and at each one your phone tells its story. No guide, no group, and free. This is the first walk in Hong Kong:

The island

Free walking tours in Hong Kong

The island

Hong Kong is a mountain coming down to a harbour, and everything built here is built on a slope or on ground made from the sea. The British took the island in 1841 as a trading port and left in 1997. This walk climbs from the water to the peak: market streets from the 1840s, a prison turned into galleries, an eight-hundred-metre escalator, and a funicular running since 1888.

  1. Graham Street Market · A street market that has traded on this slope since the 1840s — the oldest continuously running in Hong Kong. Developers have taken half of it; the half that is left is still where Central buys vegetables.
  2. Man Mo Temple · Built in 1847 for the god of literature and the god of war — an odd pair, but students prayed to one and the triads to the other. The incense coils hanging from the ceiling burn for three weeks each.
  3. PMQ · Built in 1951 as flats for married police officers, the first public housing to give a Chinese family its own kitchen and bathroom. It is now a hundred design studios, and the flats are kept as rooms.
  4. Tai Kwun · The central police station, the magistracy and Victoria Prison, all in one compound, in use from 1864 until 2006. Restored in 2018 — you can walk into the cells, and the courtyard is free.
  5. Mid-Levels Escalator · Eight hundred metres of covered escalator climbing a hundred and thirty-five metres up the hillside — the longest outdoor system in the world. It runs downhill until ten in the morning and uphill for the rest of the day.
  6. Victoria Peak · Until 1947 Chinese people were barred by law from living up here. The tram has climbed it since 1888, and the carriage leans at twenty-seven degrees — the buildings outside the window appear to be falling over.

Kowloon

Across the water is Kowloon — the name means "nine dragons", after eight hills and an emperor who counted himself as the ninth. It is the crowded, loud, cheaper side, and it also held the Walled City: two hectares in which thirty-three thousand people lived, the densest place there has ever been on earth.

  1. Star Ferry · Crossing the harbour since 1888 for a fare that is still under four Hong Kong dollars. It is the cheapest and best thing in the city, and the upper deck costs a few cents more.
  2. Tsim Sha Tsui Promenade · The island skyline from across the water, and a light show at eight every night that the locals will tell you honestly is not very good. The view itself is the thing.
  3. Museum of History · Four hundred million years in eight galleries, including a full-size reconstructed street of 1881 shops that you walk through. Free on Wednesdays.
  4. Temple Street Night Market · Opens at six and runs to midnight. At the northern end sit the fortune tellers, some of them reading faces and some reading a bird that hops out and picks a card.
  5. Kowloon Walled City Park · Two hectares where thirty-three thousand people lived in buildings grown together without an architect — the densest place on earth. It was demolished in 1994 and made a garden; the magistrate’s office and two cannon were kept.
  6. Wong Tai Sin Temple · People come to shake a bamboo cylinder until one numbered stick falls out, then take the number to a fortune teller in the arcade behind. There are a hundred and sixty of them, and they are licensed.

Out of the city

Three quarters of Hong Kong is open country, and a quarter of the whole territory is national park. Twenty minutes from the centre you can be on a mountain ridge with a beach at the end of it, and in an hour you can be on an island with no cars. This is the side nobody photographs and everyone who lives here knows.

  1. Ngong Ping 360 · Twenty-five minutes of cable car across the sea and over a mountain, with glass-floored cabins if you want them. It replaced a bus ride that took an hour and a half on a single-track road.
  2. Tian Tan Buddha · Thirty-four metres of bronze cast in two hundred and two pieces in mainland China and assembled here in 1993. Two hundred and sixty-eight steps lead up, and the right hand is raised to say: do not be afraid.
  3. Dragon’s Back · A ridge walk of about two hours that ends at a beach, reached by a bus from Central. On a clear day you see the South China Sea on one side and the harbour on the other.
  4. Cheung Chau · An hour by ferry to an island with no cars at all — only bicycles and tiny fire engines built to fit the lanes. Every May it holds a festival with a tower of sixty thousand buns that people climb.
  5. Lamma Island · Thirty minutes by ferry, and the walk between its two villages takes about ninety minutes over a hill. Seafood restaurants at the far end, and the last ferry back is the thing to check.
  6. Chi Lin Nunnery · Rebuilt in 1998 in Tang dynasty style using interlocking cypress beams and no nails at all — the largest handmade wooden building complex in the world. The garden beside it is free.
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Getting to Hong Kong and getting around

  • Hong Kong Airport · The Airport Express reaches Central in 24 minutes
  • West Kowloon · High-speed trains into mainland China
  • Star Ferry · Crossing since 1888, and it costs almost nothing
  • Peak Tram · A funicular up the mountain since 1888

Museums in Hong Kong

  • M+ Museum · The screen on its facade is the building
  • Hong Kong Palace Museum · Nine hundred objects on long loan from Beijing
  • Museum of History · A reconstructed 1881 street you walk through
  • Tai Kwun · A prison and police station, now galleries. Free yard

Parks and gardens in Hong Kong

  • Dragon’s Back · Two hours, and a beach at the end
  • Hong Kong Park · A walk-in aviary with six hundred birds, free
  • Nan Lian Garden · Tang-dynasty garden design, every rock placed, free
  • Cheung Chau · An island with no cars, an hour by ferry
  • Lamma Island · A ninety-minute walk between two villages

Things to do in Hong Kong with kids

  • Ocean Park · Older than Disneyland here, and better placed
  • Hong Kong Disneyland · The smallest Disneyland, and the shortest queues
  • Ngong Ping 360 · Twenty-five minutes of cable car over the sea
  • Peak Tram · The carriage leans 27 degrees and the city looks wrong

Cheap eats in Hong Kong

Eight counters where Hong Kong eats at a shared table with strangers. A tea house from 1926 where dim sum still comes round on a trolley, a noodle shop the size of a corridor, and a dairy café where the staff are famously rude and everybody goes anyway. Forty to a hundred and twenty dollars.

  • Lin Heung Tea House · Trolley dim sum, shared tables, HK$80
  • Mak’s Noodle · Wonton noodles in a famously small bowl, HK$50
  • Australia Dairy Company · Fifteen minutes, shared table, HK$45
  • Kam Wah Cafe · Pineapple bun with a slab of butter in it, HK$25
  • Sham Shui Po · The cheapest and best eating in the city
  • Temple Street · Clay pot rice at the stalls, from six at night
  • Sheung Wan dried seafood · Not a meal — a street of smells worth walking
  • Cha chaan teng · On every corner, and the milk tea is the point

Holy places in Hong Kong

  • Man Mo Temple · 1847, and the incense coils burn for three weeks
  • Wong Tai Sin · Shake the sticks, then see a licensed fortune teller
  • Chi Lin Nunnery · Interlocking cypress, no nails, Tang style
  • Tian Tan Buddha · 268 steps, and a bronze hand raised against fear
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Frequently asked questions about Hong Kong

What is there to see in Hong Kong?

The top sights in Hong Kong are Victoria Peak, Tsim Sha Tsui Promenade and Mid-Levels Escalator. The full list on this page has 10 sights, each with a photo and a short note.

How many days do you need in Hong Kong?

Three to four days are enough to see the best of Hong Kong without rushing, including at least one walking tour.

Is there a free walking tour in Hong Kong?

Yes. sleepntrip has 3 free audio walks in Hong Kong, with no guide and no group: your phone tells the story at every stop. The first one: The island.

How do you get to Hong Kong and get around?

The main ways are Hong Kong Airport, West Kowloon and Star Ferry. Full details are in the transport section on this page.

Where to stay in Hong Kong, and for how much?

sleepntrip shows only rooms in Hong Kong that meet nine conditions: a good location, high guest scores, cleanliness, and a price of up to $80 a night for two. Pick your dates and see what is free.

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