There is a moment, as the Queen Victoria glides into Victoria Harbour, when you understand why people have been falling in love with Hong Kong for 150 years.
The skyline rises from the water like something a child would build if they were given unlimited blocks and no sense of proportion. Towers of glass and steel crowd against each other on a sliver of land between the harbour and the Peak, neon signs blaze from buildings that were probably elegant once and are now magnificently chaotic, and behind it all the green hills of Hong Kong Island rise like a reminder that nature got here first and is not particularly impressed.
It is, without exaggeration, one of the great arrivals in world travel. And if you have just spent two weeks aboard Cunard’s Queen Victoria being beautifully fed, impeccably looked after and gently rocked to sleep every night, the temptation is to disembark, collect your luggage and head straight to the airport for your flight home.
Do not do this.
Hong Kong deserves more than a wave from the deck. It deserves 72 hours – three days of extraordinary food, effortless transport, world-class shopping and an atmosphere unlike anywhere else on earth. It is safe, it is clean, English is spoken everywhere, the MTR subway system is one of the most efficient in the world and you can get from one end of the city to the other for less than the price of a flat white.
Here is how to spend three days doing it properly.
Morning – Victoria Peak and the best view in Asia
Start at the top. The Peak Tram – the world’s steepest funicular railway – has been hauling visitors up to Victoria Peak since 1888 and the ride itself is half the experience, tilting at an angle that makes you grip the armrest and laugh at the same time. At the top, Sky Terrace 428 offers a 360-degree panorama of the harbour, the Kowloon skyline, the outlying islands and, on a clear day, a view that extends to the Chinese mainland.
Go early. The queues build quickly after 10am and the morning light on the harbour is the best you will get. If you want to skip the queue entirely, a Fast Track pass is available through the Peak Tram website and is worth every cent.
Walk back down if your knees are amenable – the path through the gardens is shaded, beautiful and considerably less crowded than the tram queue. A taxi from the bottom back to Central costs almost nothing.
Late morning – dim sum at its finest
No visit to Hong Kong is complete without a proper dim sum lunch, and the earlier you start the better. Tim Ho Wan, which holds the distinction of being the world’s cheapest Michelin-starred restaurant, has locations across the city and the queue moves quickly. Order the barbecue pork buns – they are the signature dish for good reason – along with har gow (prawn dumplings), siu mai, cheung fun (rice noodle rolls) and, if you are feeling adventurous, chicken feet, which are better than they sound and considerably better than they look.
If Tim Ho Wan is too crowded, Maxim’s Palace in City Hall is the traditional dim sum experience – trolleys wheeled between tables, pointing at what you want, tea constantly refilled – and it feels like stepping into a Hong Kong that has been operating exactly this way for decades.
Afternoon – the tram, the markets and the real Hong Kong
Catch the double-decker tram – the “ding ding,” as locals call it – from Central along the northern shore of Hong Kong Island. At just a few Hong Kong dollars for any distance, it is the cheapest sightseeing tour in the city. Sit on the upper deck, open the window and watch the city slide past at walking speed. Get off at Wan Chai or Causeway Bay and simply walk.
This is the Hong Kong that no brochure quite captures: the narrow streets behind the main roads where old men play chess on folding tables, where dried seafood shops display things you have never seen and are not sure you want to identify, where the smell of roasting meat drifts from a kitchen the size of a wardrobe and where the most extraordinary bowl of wonton noodles you have ever eaten costs $4.
Evening – the Symphony of Lights
Position yourself on the Tsim Sha Tsui waterfront promenade on the Kowloon side at 8pm for the Symphony of Lights, a nightly light and sound show across the harbour skyline. It is free, it is spectacular and watching it from the promenade with the harbour between you and the illuminated towers of Hong Kong Island is one of those travel moments that stays with you.
Dinner at any of the waterfront restaurants along the promenade afterwards is the obvious and correct choice.
Morning – the markets of Mong Kok
Cross to Kowloon on the Star Ferry – another experience that costs almost nothing and delivers almost everything – and head to Mong Kok, arguably the most densely populated neighbourhood on earth and absolutely the most alive.
The Ladies’ Market on Tung Choi Street stretches for blocks and sells everything from silk scarves and handbags to phone cases and souvenirs. The prices are negotiable – start at roughly half what is asked and meet somewhere in the middle with a smile. The Goldfish Market and Flower Market are nearby and both worth wandering through, if only because you will never see anything quite like them again.
Hong Kong remains one of the great shopping cities, but knowing where to shop for what saves time and money.
For luxury brands, Harbour City in Tsim Sha Tsui is the largest mall in Hong Kong, with two full floors of designer boutiques. Hong Kong’s tax-free pricing means savings of 10 to 20 per cent on watches, cosmetics and designer goods compared to Australia or Europe. IFC Mall in Central and Times Square in Causeway Bay are equally good for high-end shopping.
For mid-range fashion and homewares, Causeway Bay is the go-to district – think of it as Hong Kong’s equivalent of a very compressed, very vertical version of the best of Melbourne’s shopping strips.
For electronics, buy only from reputable stores. Some electronics shops in tourist areas display genuine products but deliver older models or used units after payment. Fortress and Broadway are the trusted chain stores.
For edible souvenirs – and these are the best souvenirs Hong Kong offers – Kee Wah Bakery’s almond cookies come in beautiful gift packaging and have been made the same way for over a century. Maxim’s butterfly pastries are buttery, flaky and packed in travel-friendly boxes. Both are available in major malls and at the airport.
Afternoon — Sha Tin or free time
If racing is on at Sha Tin – Hong Kong’s larger, more modern racecourse in the New Territories – an afternoon visit is a genuinely memorable experience. The racecourse is world-class, the atmosphere is electric and the MTR gets you there in 30 minutes from Central.
If racing is not on, use the afternoon for whatever you have not yet managed – the Big Buddha and Ngong Ping 360 cable car on Lantau Island are worth the trip if you have the energy, or simply return to one of the districts you walked through yesterday and go deeper.
Evening – Happy Valley Racecourse
If your 72 hours in Hong Kong includes a Wednesday, you have won the scheduling lottery. Wednesday night racing at Happy Valley is one of the great experiences available to any visitor, anywhere in the world.
The racecourse sits in a natural amphitheatre surrounded by towering apartment blocks, their lights blazing down on the illuminated track below. The atmosphere is part sporting event, part nightclub, part social occasion. The minimum bet is just HK$10 – roughly two Australian dollars – and free betting guides are available at the entrance.
Tourists can enter the public enclosure for just HK$10 using an Octopus card, or purchase a Tourist Badge for HK$130 which gives you access to the Members Betting Hall and trackside areas – bring your passport. The Stable Bend Terrace offers a western barbecue buffet with free-flowing drinks and a view directly over the track for HK$690 per person, which by Hong Kong standards is remarkably good value for an evening’s entertainment.
The beer at Happy Valley is, improbably, some of the cheapest in the city. The atmosphere is infectious. And even if you have never placed a bet in your life, choosing a horse by name and watching it thunder down the straight under lights is the kind of experience that makes you wonder why you do not do this more often.
Morning – Stanley Market and the south side
Take a bus from Central over the spine of Hong Kong Island to Stanley on the south coast. The journey itself is worth it – the road winds through lush hillside with glimpses of the South China Sea below. Stanley Market is smaller and more relaxed than the Kowloon markets, with a good mix of clothing, art, linen and souvenirs at reasonable prices.
Walk along the waterfront afterwards. Stanley feels like a different country from the intensity of Central and Mong Kok – slower, quieter, with seafood restaurants overlooking the water and a colonial-era building that now houses a restaurant where you can eat lunch with your feet almost in the harbour.
Afternoon – Sheung Wan and the real food
Return to Hong Kong Island and spend your final afternoon in Sheung Wan, the neighbourhood immediately west of Central that is, for my money, the most interesting district in the city. This is old Hong Kong – dried seafood shops that have been in the same family for generations, traditional Chinese medicine stores with drawers from floor to ceiling, antique shops, incense-filled temples and some of the best local restaurants in the territory.
Find a local cha chaan teng – a traditional Hong Kong-style café – and order milk tea and a pineapple bun. The milk tea in Hong Kong is made with evaporated milk and strained through a cloth filter until it is the colour of silk stockings, which is exactly what locals call it. The pineapple bun contains no pineapple – the name refers to the crackled sugar topping – and it is, eaten warm with a slab of cold butter melting inside, one of the great simple pleasures of Hong Kong food.
Evening — one last harbour view
Spend your final evening at a rooftop bar overlooking the harbour. Aqua in Tsim Sha Tsui, Ozone at the Ritz-Carlton (the highest bar in the world) or simply a table at any waterfront restaurant will do. Order something cold, watch the light show one more time, and reflect on the fact that three days ago you stepped off a cruise ship and very nearly headed straight to the airport.
You did not. And you will be glad of that for a very long time.
Getting around: Buy an Octopus card at the airport or any MTR station. It works on the MTR, buses, trams, ferries and at convenience stores, restaurants and shops. It is the single most useful thing you will carry in Hong Kong.
Money: The Hong Kong dollar is pegged to the US dollar at approximately HKD 7.8 to USD 1. ATMs are everywhere. Credit cards are accepted in most shops and restaurants. Australian dollars cannot be exchanged directly — carry AUD to exchange at money changers or withdraw HKD from ATMs.
Language: English is widely spoken in hotels, restaurants, shops and on public transport. Signage is in both English and Chinese. You will have no difficulty navigating.
Safety: Hong Kong is extremely safe, even at night. Use normal common-sense precautions and you will have no issues.
Accommodation tip: Stay in Tsim Sha Tsui on the Kowloon side for the best harbour views and easy access to both sides of the city via the MTR and Star Ferry. The Peninsula is the grand dame if your budget allows. The Langham and Marco Polo are excellent mid-range options.
Weather: Autumn (October to December) and spring (March to May) are the best times to visit – mild, comfortable and relatively dry. Summer is hot and humid. If your cruise arrives in winter, temperatures are cool but rarely cold.
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