50 Hong Kong Sightseeing Tips Guidebooks Skip

1. Ditch hotels, go camping

Even more amazing than Hong Kong’s noise and congestion is the fact that blissfully untouched nature exists just a short distance away from the most crowded parts of the city. An hour’s hike from the entrance to the Sai Kung Country Park will bring you to a string of isolated beaches where you can pitch a tent and rough it as if you were in the middle of nowhere.

See Hong Kong Tourism Board for directions.

2. Hip hop in the most likely place

Duck behind the tourist infested market stalls of Temple Street and check out these two wicked independent shops: vintage clothes shop Me & George frequented by the fashion mafia and Hip Hop, an independent CD shop and hangout for the local MCs such as Mastamic.

Me & George, 64 Tung Choi Street; Hip Hop, 179 Temple Street.

3. Dine in a housing estate

Hong Kong’s public housing estates aren’t the most obvious places for a good dinner, but if you look between the apartment blocks you’ll often find big outdoor “cooked food centres” packed with great restaurants and cheap beer. Oi Man Estate in Ho Man Tin, Nam Shan Estate in Shek Kip Mei and Sun Tsui Estate in Tai Wai are renowned for good food. Look for the huts filled with bright fluorescent lights and plastic stools. Many of these places have a long history and a community that is strongly attached to it.

4. Practice speaking Fujianese

On hot summer evenings, the Sai Wan waterfront is a popular place to catch a sea breeze, ride a bike and chat with friends. Many of the regulars are Fujianese immigrants who live in the neighborhood and hang out by the harbor to speak to other people who know their native tongue. To get there, go to the Western Wholesale Food Market and follow the signs to the public cargo working area.

5. Visit the Peak the old-fashioned way

Before roads, and even before the 122-year-old Peak Tram, the only way to get up to Victoria Peak was by foot. The rich colonials who lived up there were lucky enough to be carried on sedan chairs, but you and I will have to retrace their steps on our own two feet. Hike up to the top on several different trails, one of which follows the Old Peak Road from Conduit Road right up to the Peak Tower.

6. Dundas Street of sweets

Stay in Hong Kong long enough and it can feel like the streets are paved by snacks. Nearly every street corner houses a dispensary of food of some sort. The one street most preferred by sweet toothed foodies must be Dundas Street in Mongkok, which is home to the most popular streetside bubble tea and cupcakes, as well as other savory street snacks. Get stuck in the teeming, hungry crowds and test your patience waiting to be served by the snack stalls.

7. Cross the harbor another way

Everybody takes the Star Ferry, but what about Victoria Harbour’s other ferries? The 15-minute boat ride from Sai Wan Ho to Kwun Tong offers one of the most spectacular and unusual views of the harbor; so does the North Point-Kowloon City run, which conveniently drops you off just a few blocks from the Cattle Depot, one of Hong Kong’s most interesting artists’ villages.

8. I.M. Pei tour

Before the starchitect’s singular contribution to our city’s skyline, IM Pei designed two buildings in Causeway Bay. Sunning Plaza and Sunning Court are thoroughly modern, and the Plaza is an all glass affair, just like the Bank of China Tower built a few years after.

10 Hysan Ave, Causeway Bay

9. Go clamming

Clam digging is a favorite pastime in Mui Wo, a pleasantly scruffy town on Lantau Island. One of the most popular places to do it is where the River Silver empties into Silvermine Bay, but since the river’s water quality is perhaps a bit dubious, it’s better to head over to the more secluded village of Shui Hau, where you can rent clam digging tools at the Fung Wong Bungalow Centre. Chan Wing, the centre’s owner, will even cook your catch for you.

10. Go to Lamma the scary way

Missed the last ferry or just craving a late-night thrill? Head to Aberdeen, where sampans piloted by grey-haired ah-pohs (old women) wait to ferry you to Hong Kong’s most laid-back of islands. For a negotiable fee you can take a sampan to either Sok Kwu Wan or Yung Shue Wan, crashing through waves and darting past the massive hulls of container ships.

11. Hang out in Wing Lee Street

This small lane in Sheung Wan is the talk of the town. The street’s authentic 1960s residential architectural constructions are some of the only examples remaining in the city, and the street was under threat of demolition until pressure from the community, local press, and an award-winning movie stopped the bulldozers. It’s a local attraction bound for post-Hollywood ending fame.

12. Best drive-thru

The Tai Tam reservoir is special because it’s one you can drive through. A single lane section of Tai Tam Reservoir Road cuts through the peaceful body of water. It’s a surreal drive if there ever was one.

13. Right tram, right time

The Hong Kong tram and Happy Valley race course are both world famous icons, but put the two together and you’ve got something pretty special. The Happy Valley “ding ding” circles the city race track on Wednesday night. Sit on the upper deck for a tracking view of the course and bright lights. You’re so close, you can almost see the sprays of spittle fly as the crowd scream their bet’s number — but thankfully not quite close enough.

14. Visit a homegrown theme park

Forget Disneyland, we prefer our homegrown Ocean Park. It’s home to the city’s best cable car rides and longest escalators, with roller coasters that look out to the sea, and four pandas care of the PRC central government.

15. See artists in situ

If art gallery hopping in SoHo is a bit too polished, head a little further out to find the artists themselves and the art in progress. Try C&G Art Space, run by a group of local art scenesters, or the exquisitely curated space at Osage Kwun Tong. Young artists show at Cattle Depot, a slaughterhouse-turned-artist-commune with the innovative 1aSpace and Videotage. The JCCAC in Shek Kip Mei features artists’ studios open for public visitation, but if you want to see the artist studios in Fotan, you’ll have to wait for the annual Fotanian event.

C&G Art Space – 3/F, 222 Sai Yeung Choi St. South, Prince Edward, tel +852 2390 9332; Osage Kwun Tong – 5/F, Kian Dai Industrial Building, 73-75 Hung To Road, Kwun Tong, tel +852 2793 4817; Cattle Depot Artist Village, 63 Ma Tau Kok Road

16. Death-wish mini-bus

Much fuss is made about Hong Kong’s hyper-efficient public transportation system, but not enough is said about the independently run red top mini-buses. These machines of speedy commute can be hailed down at will and will stop almost anywhere you like. The notoriously daring drivers rarely follow speed limits, so an adrenaline rush is also guaranteed. As Hong Kongers want everything to be faster and more convenient, it’s one of the reasons we love our city.

17. Soak up street art

There are few better places to catch a glimpse of Hong Kong graffiti than at the point where Oil Street runs into Victoria Harbour. The city’s best street artists, along with a lot of its lesser talents, have turned concrete walls into giant canvases at this serene harbor-side location.

18. Escape Peak madness

The Peak is a must for any tourist, but instead of crowding into the Peak Galleria with the rest, better to take a walk. The Peak Circuit trail along Lugard Road is a quiet and easy walk that offers incredible views in a lush forest setting. Walk past the Peak Galleria and Peak Tower to find the paved footpath named after Hong Kong’s 14th governor. The path is a circuit so it takes you right back where you started, at the tram station.

19. Visit a sartorial haven

The fabric shops on Yen Chow Street in Sham Shui Po house are a reminder that textile manufacturing was once our city’s bread and butter. Shopkeepers claim that their stock still draws the attention of visiting fashion students from other countries. Beads, ribbons, and other fashion knickknacks can be found on Yu Chau Street.

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50 Hong Kong Sightseeing Tips Guidebooks Skip