What's To Do In Hong Kong?

[ThaiPauly]

My wife and I have planned to go to Hong Kong in July to celebrate our wedding anniversary.

We have been before but apart from The Peak and Disney World can anybody suggest any other attractions (apart from shopping)?

We have 4 days to fill

Thanks in advance

[Thailand]

http://www.discoverhongkong.com/eng/see-do/highlight-attractions/index.jsp

Perhaps pop over to Macau on the ferry for a day.

Or, even over to mailand China for a day although you would require visas.

[craigt3365]

I like the Lonely Plant guidebook. They list 3-4 walking tours of HK that are great fun to follow. Explaining buildings along the way and stopping off in out of the way places. And then list many other places to check out. Quite comprehensive.

Take a bus out to Stanley for the market and a bite to eat. It's a beautiful drive. Market is just OK.

HK is a great place to visit. Wish I was going!!

[Vinny1967]

Check out the horse racing.It's all great fun in an amazing setting.

[Shot]

Take a look at Lantau Island. You can book some great tours through Gray Line.

Wish I were going too. I love Hong Kong.

[Smokin Joe]

The wife would probably enjoy Ocean Park and also going to see the world's largest sitting Buddah on Lantau Island.

[breadbin]

Eat dim sum lunch, delish.

[jonnyscot]

I had a trip there with the wife and kids earlier this year,, although we went for both the things that fall into your (apart from) category, I'd recommend ocean park and probably the day trip to Macau although we didn't have time on our 4 day visit to HK to actually take the Macau trip, certainly looked interesting from the info on the trip available at our hotel

[JRinPDX]

Lantau Island has the world's largest outdoor Buddha, covered in gold at Po Lin Monastery. You can drive, or take new gondola, or take a boat. The gondolas are new and they've built a little 'village' of shops at the top. Pretty commercial, unfortunately. In the 'old days', you had to take a boat to Silvermine, then a bus. It made the whole journey more of a 'pilgrimage' but the gondolas are faster and the ones with the glass bottoms are pretty cool.

BTW, if you take the boat, when you land, you are very close to Tong Fuk Beach, (I know, I know.. choice of name). The village has holiday rentals and, while there's not much to see there, it's a major cable-head for undersea cables, part of Fiber Link Around the Globe (28K Km). so there's a good chance some of your internet traffic goes through that tiny building!

Back to Po Lin. Be sure to pay the (small) additional fee to go inside the Buddah and see the shards of his remains. The hike up to the top is worth it. (ice cream and cold soda machines at the top). Also, the vegetarian restaurant at the base has good food.

Other things to do in HK; if you're so inclined, the Tea Museum, HK Zoo and Arboretum are all close together. The arboretum is really nice and I try to visit it and the zoo whenever I take someone new to HK. The zoo isn't as nice as Singapore's, but still good.

Food: HK and Singapore seem to be rivals for best food in the world. Pretty much any cuisine you want. I could go on and on re/this topic. :-)

Okay.. the Peak. Take the cable car to the top of Victoria Peak. There are shops, of course, a nice view and an excellent ice-cream shop. (detecting a theme here?). The bottom of the cable car isn't far from the zoo, etc. and also not far from Hollywood Rd. where there are antique shops and one of the oldest temples in HK.

Come down from the Peak (taxi) going the other way, down to Stanley Market. A rabbit-warren of stalls with great bargains. Negotiating is part of the process. Just off to the right (facing the water) is the Smugglers' Inn. (a farang style bar, where both my children had their first legal drink!)

Taxi return, but this time, come back via the tunnel and go by the race track. You'll see some nice houses and an unusual building (huge) with a big square hole in it. The hole is for Feng Shui.. so the building doesn't block the energy flow down the hill. I've heard that the hole was an afterthought but it seems like that would be bad engineering so probably not. (now if this were in LOS, I'd believe it!)

I think someone already mentioned the night-markets in Kowloon.

Enjoy! Just thinking about this makes me wish I were there right now!

[NongKhaiKid]

Lantau Island has the world's largest outdoor Buddha, covered in gold at Po Lin Monastery. You can drive, or take new gondola, or take a boat. The gondolas are new and they've built a little 'village' of shops at the top. Pretty commercial, unfortunately. In the 'old days', you had to take a boat to Silvermine, then a bus. It made the whole journey more of a 'pilgrimage' but the gondolas are faster and the ones with the glass bottoms are pretty cool.

BTW, if you take the boat, when you land, you are very close to Tong Fuk Beach, (I know, I know.. choice of name). The village has holiday rentals and, while there's not much to see there, it's a major cable-head for undersea cables, part of Fiber Link Around the Globe (28K Km). so there's a good chance some of your internet traffic goes through that tiny building!

Back to Po Lin. Be sure to pay the (small) additional fee to go inside the Buddah and see the shards of his remains. The hike up to the top is worth it. (ice cream and cold soda machines at the top). Also, the vegetarian restaurant at the base has good food.

Other things to do in HK; if you're so inclined, the Tea Museum, HK Zoo and Arboretum are all close together. The arboretum is really nice and I try to visit it and the zoo whenever I take someone new to HK. The zoo isn't as nice as Singapore's, but still good.

Food: HK and Singapore seem to be rivals for best food in the world. Pretty much any cuisine you want. I could go on and on re/this topic. :-)

Okay.. the Peak. Take the cable car to the top of Victoria Peak. There are shops, of course, a nice view and an excellent ice-cream shop. (detecting a theme here?). The bottom of the cable car isn't far from the zoo, etc. and also not far from Hollywood Rd. where there are antique shops and one of the oldest temples in HK.

Come down from the Peak (taxi) going the other way, down to Stanley Market. A rabbit-warren of stalls with great bargains. Negotiating is part of the process. Just off to the right (facing the water) is the Smugglers' Inn. (a farang style bar, where both my children had their first legal drink!)

Taxi return, but this time, come back via the tunnel and go by the race track. You'll see some nice houses and an unusual building (huge) with a big square hole in it. The hole is for Feng Shui.. so the building doesn't block the energy flow down the hill. I've heard that the hole was an afterthought but it seems like that would be bad engineering so probably not. (now if this were in LOS, I'd believe it!)

I think someone already mentioned the night-markets in Kowloon.

Enjoy! Just thinking about this makes me wish I were there right now!

Nice summary but I would point out the word farang means nothing in HK where we are called Gwai Lo ( foreign devil ) or the formal, and hardly used, Sai Yan ( Western person ). Gwai Lo is common everyday language and can be both joking and an insult depending on useage but most Hong Kong Chinese use it as nothing more than a descriptive expression.

[Dukgae]

also go down to the southernmost tip of HK island to Shek O ( taxi or else no.9 bus from Shau Kei Wan) old Chinese seaside village (no high rises, no McDonalds) with a great bar at the back beach. A tram ride (sit up top near the front) all along HK island from Shau Kei Wan to Central or even further to Kennedy Town. Star Ferry across the harbour, although with all the reclamation it's a very short trip these days.

It will be very hot and humid in July so any walking around activities best done early. Also for Ocean Park, well worth a visit but go as early as you can to avoid the hordes of mainland Chinese tourists.

Can also check out what's on at the Cultural Centre, the Academy for Performing Arts and the Arts Centre, you might be able to catch an interesting show.

[xen]

If you are going to the Peak , just above where you get the tram to the top you will find the botanical gardens that are combined with a small zoo. I was very impressed with it , on par with Singapore's botanical gardens and zoo although much smaller in scale.

I have heard mixed reports about Disney world but almost unanimous complaints about the cost . I haven't been there to see it yet.

Enjoy it no matter whatever you decide to see.

[Totster]

Take a look at Lantau Island. You can book some great tours through Gray Line.

Wish I were going too. I love Hong Kong.

Lantau is really nice, I stay there with a friend sometimes. Someone already mentioned the Big Buddha and Monestry, the cable car is pretty cool.

There are a couple of beaches with restaurants, a favorite is Cheung Sha

Have fun !

totster

[Cuban]

By day 4 I'm overjoyed to be leaving HK.

Wife likes the shopping there and Singapore though.

[HKBKK]

For a drink and incredible view go to the top of ICC Tower in Tsim Sha Tsui.

Ozone bar on 118th floor.

[lubbkis]

If you are energetic you can walk the David Wilson trail across the peaks of HK Island or if you are less energetic you can join it half way at Wong Nei Chong Gap.

The Maclehose Trail is similar but much longer across nine dragons.

Take the tube and light rail out to Tin Sui Wai. There you can find an educational park dedicated the migratory bird sanctuary. There is a lot of signed explanation and hides where you'll find retired HKers snapping birds on the Mai Po marshes with rather exotic and expensive camera equipment. The spotting monoculars provided by the park management are high end Swarovski so you are guaranteed a good sighting.

Have breakfast at the Kowloon YMCA. Possibly the best value view of the Harbour.

[kwat nueng]

By day 4 I'm overjoyed to be leaving HK.

Wife likes the shopping there and Singapore though.

Are you joking? What can you not like about HK? I miss it big time! I would love to find a new job there and move back.

[Maseratimartin]

First "Quai Lo" is not a foreign devil! Means Ghost Man...and ghost because of the white color as a ghost!

The female will be Quai Mui!

Hong Kong Disney - Nice with younger kids ...getting better but still not for the older kids (adults)!Not compareable to US or Paris!

The Peak - My opinion overrated! Yes a nice view but that's all.

Sky 100 - for a nice view!

Ocean Park - Fun for adults and kids! Nice old cable car with the cute colorfull cabins!

Ngong Ping 360 cable car - Attracting more guests as the Buddha due to the nice view (on good weather days!) Some days you can see till Macau. Depending on tide the shell pickers in Tung Chung Bay...great through the glass bottom cabin!Now perfect views over the huge Hong Kong- Zuhai- Macau project!

Big Buddha - Nice religious site! Due to the many guest delivered by the cable car, the monastry is growing. New temple with 10000Buddhas.... Again on nice days you have a perfect view over Chinese sea!

Lantau island - due to being a nature park (limited access by taxi or bus) it has sure one of the best beaches in HK!

Note: Take the cable car up to the Big Buddha and go down by bus. Sure a pleasant day!After that if you still can walk some outlet shopping at City Gate Tung Chung.

Tai O - Smal fishing village on Lantau. Nice for a walk!

Sai Kung - Nice fish market directly from the boats but getting more a tourist thing... Sunday it is great due to all the locals coming there with their dogs...funny dog show!

Kowloon: From Sham Sui Po (Computer) over Mong Kok(clothes and more) till down to Tsim Sha Tsui(designer shops) a place for shopping maniacs.

Note: Short but nice to take the ferry from Tsim Sha Tsui to step over to Central or Wan Chai!

Light show at 8pm at Tsim Sha Tsui pier! Not a huge thing but if it fitts in the plan...

Bus tours - There are serveral bus tours through HK showing the street live. So many street, shops, markets that you can spend a lot of time and never will explore all!

Stanley Market - Overrated and more the place where the bored local Quai lo & Mui go the weekend due to western restaurants!

HK Heli service - Heli flight to see HK from above!

Food - You can get all! This page is a good help: www.openrice.com

Macau - hmmm, yes for gambler but else only a recommendation with a luxury hotel stay 1 or 2 nights!

Shen Zen (China) - forget it! Nothing you will buy there will last and is only crap. Was more popular for cheap night life between the males.

[onionluke]

For about 10000 HK you can take a junk trip with all food and drink layed on . Normally the operator would do picnic by head count , but it maybe possible to request quality over quantity . PM me if you want a contact number for an operator .

[seancbk]

I recommend you check out this guys tours http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attraction_Review-g294217-d2182318-Reviews-J3_Private_Tours_Hong_Kong-Hong_Kong.html

and his website http://j3tourshongkong.com

Have fun in Hong Kong!

[seancbk]

By day 4 I'm overjoyed to be leaving HK.

Wife likes the shopping there and Singapore though.

Are you joking? What can you not like about HK? I miss it big time! I would love to find a new job there and move back.

I lived in HK for 35 years and I would love to move back there, but without a job and money to pay rent that is never happening....

After almost 5 years here I'm slowly getting to like Bangkok, but I still miss HK.

The only thing keeping me here is the cost of accommodation in HK versus BKK.

[craigt3365]

One of my dreams (I have many!) is to have an apartment with a view on the mid levels in HK. Right next to that escalator!

5555555

[bkk_mike]

If she likes ice-skating, there's the skating rink at the Cityplaza shopping mall in Taikoo (easy to get to since it's got it's own entrance to the metro - especially useful if it's raining).

(Was popular with my kids...)

Other than that, most of the places have already been mentioned... - Stanley Market is good for T-shirts in non-Chinese sizes, etc. and I still like it more than the Ladies market in Kowloon (although I think that's a lot to do with the setting, and it's not as busy).

[pomchop]

Soho area at night to see what the HK ex pat crowd is up to in many bars and restaurants.

[fire and ice]

Lantau Island has the world's largest outdoor Buddha, covered in gold at Po Lin Monastery. You can drive, or take new gondola, or take a boat. The gondolas are new and they've built a little 'village' of shops at the top. Pretty commercial, unfortunately. In the 'old days', you had to take a boat to Silvermine, then a bus. It made the whole journey more of a 'pilgrimage' but the gondolas are faster and the ones with the glass bottoms are pretty cool.

BTW, if you take the boat, when you land, you are very close to Tong Fuk Beach, (I know, I know.. choice of name). The village has holiday rentals and, while there's not much to see there, it's a major cable-head for undersea cables, part of Fiber Link Around the Globe (28K Km). so there's a good chance some of your internet traffic goes through that tiny building!

Back to Po Lin. Be sure to pay the (small) additional fee to go inside the Buddah and see the shards of his remains. The hike up to the top is worth it. (ice cream and cold soda machines at the top). Also, the vegetarian restaurant at the base has good food.

Other things to do in HK; if you're so inclined, the Tea Museum, HK Zoo and Arboretum are all close together. The arboretum is really nice and I try to visit it and the zoo whenever I take someone new to HK. The zoo isn't as nice as Singapore's, but still good.

Food: HK and Singapore seem to be rivals for best food in the world. Pretty much any cuisine you want. I could go on and on re/this topic. :-)

Okay.. the Peak. Take the cable car to the top of Victoria Peak. There are shops, of course, a nice view and an excellent ice-cream shop. (detecting a theme here?). The bottom of the cable car isn't far from the zoo, etc. and also not far from Hollywood Rd. where there are antique shops and one of the oldest temples in HK.

Come down from the Peak (taxi) going the other way, down to Stanley Market. A rabbit-warren of stalls with great bargains. Negotiating is part of the process. Just off to the right (facing the water) is the Smugglers' Inn. (a farang style bar, where both my children had their first legal drink!)

Taxi return, but this time, come back via the tunnel and go by the race track. You'll see some nice houses and an unusual building (huge) with a big square hole in it. The hole is for Feng Shui.. so the building doesn't block the energy flow down the hill. I've heard that the hole was an afterthought but it seems like that would be bad engineering so probably not. (now if this were in LOS, I'd believe it!)

I think someone already mentioned the night-markets in Kowloon.

Enjoy! Just thinking about this makes me wish I were there right now!

My wife & I found the giant Buddha & gondola to be the most overrated boring pointless day wasted - utterly uselless - all the way to the top & there is NOTHING there worth seeing. its barren, bleak & the giant Buddha was BORING. Evryone seems to go there because its supposed ot be good but its not.

By contrast the Cable car to Victoria Peak was a great outing.

One of the best things we did was to find (have to look) for a fluent english speakign taxi drier and got him to drive us all over HK Island.

Star Ferry was worth a trip too.

Publc transport is awesome & the streets are nicely planned out with a "feng Shui" feel to them.

The food in HK is rubbsih!! Don't listen to any PR bull*** about HK food being great. Food in Thialand is in a differnt league. How anyone can rate HK or SIngapore food after being in Thialand is beyond belief. We found food to be rubbish almost everywhere and often resorted to eating 7-11 snacks. We found only 1 or 2 decdent places to eat in a week. Afterwards people cited to us "Oh but you have to know where to go" - Well if you "have to know" then that proves ts crap! If you dont trip over great food then its hardly a great food city is it!??!? (Singapore was easier to find okay food but regualr food there was nothing special albeit great value).

[onionluke]

^ Well said , about the tourist traps and cementification of Hong Kong . However if you take a bus from Tung Chung south and over the hill , you can get off the bus at the highest bus stop on the Tung Chung Road , then you can walk up the trail southwest and summit Lantau Peak . There is an old look out point with awesome views . If you look north you can hear and see the airport , take a few steps south and enjoy the silence and views over the island mountains and south seas . On a July blue sky summer day it is a super walk . The trail down the steps to the big Buddah is a bit sore on the legs and you might get chased by huge geese guarding the monk's residence .

A wee inexpensive food check.

1) Morning tea - Fragrant Lotus , Wellington Street .

2) Black pudding all day breakfast - The Canny Man .

3) Chinese , Cantonese - A Fai's at Queen Street Food Hall .

4) Thai and Issan - Sep E Lee Dur , Nam Kok Street , Kowloon City .

5) Indian , Nepalese , Pakistani - Chungking Mansion .

[ThaiPauly]

Thanks to everyone that has contributed to this thread, the info will help me a great deal.

One person said the food is not so good.

On my last visit we found it tough to find a place that served good food and were dissapointed.

The only good place to eat we found was in the big resto at The Peak. We are staying in Kowloon (Royal Pacific Hotel) so if anyone knows any restaurants around that area that serve western food I would love to know.....and why can't you get crispy duck pancakes in HK???

[lumply]

By day 4 I'm overjoyed to be leaving HK.

Wife likes the shopping there and Singapore though.

Are you joking? What can you not like about HK? I miss it big time! I would love to find a new job there and move back.

I was driven out of HKG (good job etc.) after 2 months because of the incredibly unhealthy atmospheric conditions not to mention the shoe box apartments. No job nor potentially exciting lifestyle was worth the long term risk to my health, although I had been there maybe a dozen times on short business trips previously being lucky enough to stay at 4/5 star hotels. An incredible place to visit and lots to do but watch that smog!

[craigt3365]

I ate at a few of the night markets. Food was pretty good.

Until one night when I asked for the toilet. The waiter just waved towards the back. I went back there, but all I saw was the makeshift kitchen. I asked again, and one of the waiters showed me. Right in a corner, next to the stove.

I didn't eat at the night market again.

[Ace of Pop]

All i did there years ago was fall of my Motorcycle due to the Oil-Slicks caused by the Routemaster Brit Busses.