50 Hong Kong Sightseeing Tips Guidebooks Skip

20. Delve into Hong Kong’s erotic history

Hong Kong’s porn theaters harp back to the 1960s, and there’s only one left in the entire city. Kwun Chung cinema is hidden on a side street, showing 1980s skin flicks nightly. It’s mostly dubbed Japanese softcore, but at least you can get some.

21. Shop at real fashion malls

Hong Kong is a shopping paradise of big malls filled with international stores, but what you can’t find at the shiny commercial centers are the indie labels of our vibrant young designers. Locally designed shoes, leather bags, clothes, and jewelry by local designers fill the mini shops of these malls, as well as designs hand-sourced from South Korea and Japan, making these malls temples of subculture cool.

We like Island Beverly (1 Great George Street, Causeway Bay), Rise (5-11 Granville Circuit, Tsim Sha Tsui), and Argyle Center (688 Nathan Road, Mongkok).

22. Relax in Tai Mei Tuk

Seaside village Tai Mei Tuk is the place to wind down after a hard week of city hustle. From the patio Thai food, to the rental bikes and pedal boats, it’s a breath of fresh air.

23. Step back in time in Yuen Long

The Yuen Long neighborhood feels like Hong Kong rewound 30 years, before apartment buildings were so high that you couldn’t see the sky. The light rail is their electric street car and restaurant Dai Wing Wah is the famous local joint with its signature dish, fried rice with lard.

24. Check out University art

A visual illusion of a strategically placed pond is dubbed where “man and the sky unite.” The Pavilion of Harmony at the Chinese University’s New Asia campus, the cleverly designed sheet of water joins the view of sky, mountains, and ocean with its image when viewed at the correct angle.

25. The edge of soy sauce Western

Wah Fai Restaurant takes soy sauce Western a step further with its famous Hong Kong apple pie. Made from scratch, the pie is less wholesome American and more anything goes chaa chan tang: the crust is flakey, the filling less sweet and dotted with raisins. Call ahead if you want an entire pie, because even though they’re a 24 hour joint, they do sell out.

26. Visit Kwun Tong before it’s gone

When Kwun Tong’s town centre is razed and redeveloped over the next decade, one of the last bits of post-war, working-class Hong Kong will disappear. Check out the old men playing chess in Yue Man Square, browse the stalls at the nearby hawker centre or gaze upon the now-empty hulk of the Silver Theatre, the last pro-Communist cinema in Hong Kong, which closed last year.

27. Visit the Philippines … in Central

Every Sunday, Central is transformed into a giant picnic as Filipino domestic helpers join their compatriots for food, music and chatter. The party lasts through the rest of the week inside World Wide House, a shopping mall that is packed with Filipino food stalls and video stores. Try some halo-halo (a sweet mix of jelly, tapioca, shaved ice and fruit) as you browse for Pinoy pop music.

28. Experience SoHo calm

Riding the mid-level escalators is amusing for visitors and helps locals scale the hilly parts of Central. But there are some hidden diversions along the ride. Jamai Mosque is a beautiful spiritual sanctuary open to all, and after Caine Road there’s a small park to the left accessible only by escalator where you can rest your feet from, you know, all that immobility. There’s no way down, so after visiting you have to take another one up and walk down Mosque Street.

29. Go on a vertical bar crawl

If you’re tired of drinking at Lang Kwai Fong, try the local vertical bar complex call Circle Tower in Causeway Bay. This favorite hangout for locals houses over 20 bars, one to each floor, so bar hopping doesn’t involve walking, but rather an elevator ride.

28 Tang Lung Street, Causeway Bay

30. Have a drink at Phonograph

A watering hole favored by local hipsters is Phonograph. With regular music gigs and an alternative playlist, it’s a bar where whiskey and good conversation runs all night.

31. Go bird watching

Hong Kong Park is a lush green respite in the middle of the business district. The best spot for some nature in the city is the aviary where over 70 kinds of birds are housed. Best of all, it’s a freebie.

See Leisure and Cultural Services Department for details.

32. Venture to the “most restricted area”

The next time you escape town for a weekend of debauchery in Shenzhen, take the scenic route by heading through Sha Tau Kok, an old market town located in the Frontier Closed Area. The Hong Kong-Shenzhen border runs right down the town’s main thoroughfare, Chung Ying Street, whose name literally means “China England Street.”

Take bus number 78K from Sheung Shui station. You will need a passport with a valid China visa or a Closed Area permit.

33. Try some old school grooming

Anthony Bourdain put North Point’s ink noodles on the map, but you can also get a hell of a haircut here. In the 1950s, Shanghai style was in high swing and Java Road in North Point is where many immigrants congregated. There are still some remnants of its “Little Shanghai” era — particularly a barber shop where the men and furniture have probably been there since it opened. Men can get the full service of Shanghai gentlemen grooming that includes ear waxing, nostril hair trimming, beard styling, and of course, a classy haircut.

34. Bring your own seafood

Are you a better seafood shopper than a cook?

Then, visiting a bring-your-own-seafood eatery is your ideal and affordable alternative to touristy seafood markets in Sai Kung and Lei Yue Mun.

Lou Sei Hot Pot Kitchen (in Tsuen Wan Heung Che Cooked Food Center) and Fai Che (on Ping Chau island) are two of the many smaller restaurants that welcome diners to bring their own seafood.

The restaurants usually charge a fixed cooking fee for each of the ingredients they bring.

35. Experience the local dance scene

Cantonese opera is mostly for grannies. If you want to see something more modern, opt for a performance by the City Contemporary Dance Company (CCDC). Founder Willy Tsao leads the vibrant company to challenge classics and develop dance to represent contemporary China.

36. Get some luck

Chinese people are all about their luck, and Hong Kongers are no exception. Whether it’s luck in love, in money making, or lucky lottery numbers, locals flock to spin this small bronze windmill at Che Kung Temple three times for good luck when they need a boost.

37. Head to Kowloon City

Kowloon City is where the locals head for Thai grocery shopping, but the area is better remembered as its life as a Walled City where triads ruled and vice was rampant. The Walled City was demolished in 1993, but you can still see the South Gate preserved in Kowloon Walled City Park.

38. Find the Oriental-chic look

courtesy Shanghai Tang

Qipaos are stylish, but mostly unpractical if you don’t live in the 1960s. For couture you can wear everyday, head to locally renowned boutique Blanc de Chine over the touristy Shanghai Tang. Immaculately tailored with a minimalist tone, the designs are a reinterpretation of the traditional, rather than simply adding color and sparkle.

39. Best parking spot in LKF

Lan Kwai Fong gets old fast, with the heaving crowds and nightly vomit spread. Gentrification has also made the drinks the priciest in town. But you can still find a quiet spot to drink for cheap. Bring your own beers and park yourself at the amphitheatre at the end of Wo On Lane for relief from the crowd and actually have a conversation with some of the beautiful regulars at yuppie-hipster hangouts Baby Buddha and Yumla.

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50 Hong Kong Sightseeing Tips Guidebooks Skip