Lonely Planet Hong Kong , livre ebook

Hong Kong

Contents

Plan Your Trip

Welcome to Hong Kong
Hong Kong’s Top 16
What’s New
Need to Know
First Time Hong Kong
Top Itineraries
If You Like...
Month by Month
Travel with Kids
Like a Local
For Free
Guided Tours
Eating
Drinking & Nightlife
Entertainment
Shopping
Sports & Activities

Explore Hong Kong

Neighbourhoods at a Glance
Central District
Sights
Eating
Drinking & Nightlife
Entertainment
Shopping
Sports & Activities
The Peak & Northwest Hong Kong Island
Sights
Eating
Drinking & Nightlife
Entertainment
Shopping
Sports & Activities
Wan Chai & Northeast Hong Kong Island
Sights
Eating
Drinking & Nightlife
Entertainment
Shopping
Sports & Activities
Aberdeen & South Hong Kong Island
Sights
Eating
Drinking & Nightlife
Shopping
Sports & Activities
Kowloon
Sights
Eating
Drinking & Nightlife
Entertainment
Shopping
Sports & Activities
Day Trips from Hong Kong
New Territories
Clearwater Bay Peninsula
Tsuen Wan
Sha Tin
Sai Kung Peninsula
Tung Ping Chau
Tai Po
Fanling & Sheung Shui
Plover Cove
Sha Tau Kok
Yuen Long
Tuen Mun
Outlying Islands
Lamma
Lantau
Cheung Chau
Shēnzhèn
Macau
Sleeping

Understand Hong Kong

Hong Kong Today
History
Arts
Cinema
Architecture
Religion & Belief

Survival Guide

Transport
Getting There & Away
Getting Around
Directory A–Z
Accessible Travel
Discount Cards
Electricity
Embassies & Consulates
Emergency & Useful Numbers
Health
Internet Access
Legal Matters
LGBTQ+ Travellers
Money
Opening Hours
Post
Public Holidays
Telephone
Time
Toilets
Tourist Information
Visas
Language

Table of Contents

Behind the Scenes
Hong Kong Maps
Central
Lan Kwai Fong & Soho
Sheung Wan & Sai Ying Pun
Admiralty
Wan Chai
Causeway Bay
Aberdeen
Stanley
Tsim Sha Tsui
Hung Hom
Yau Ma Tei
Mong Kok
Our Writers
Welcome to Hong Kong

Hong Kong welcomes with an iconic skyline, a legendary cuisine, and lush, protected nature where rare birds and colourful traditions thrive.

Neighbourhoods & Islands
Hong Kong’s neighbourhoods and islands offer a sensory feast. You may find yourself swaying along on a historic double-decker tram, cheering with the hordes at the city-centre horse races, or simply gazing out at the glorious harbour. What most visitors don’t immediately realise is that over 70% of Hong Kong is mountains and sprawling country parks, some also home to geological and historical gems. Escape the city limits on one of the world’s smoothest transport systems and spend your day wandering in a Song dynasty village, hiking on a deserted island or kayaking among volcanic sea arches.

Cuisine
One of the world’s top culinary capitals, the city that worships the God of Cookery has many a demon in the kitchen, whether the deliciousness in the pot is Cantonese, Sichuanese, Japanese or French. So deep is the city’s love of food and so broad its culinary repertoire that whatever your gastronomic desires, Hong Kong will find a way to sate them. The answer could be a bowl of wonton noodles, freshly steamed dim sum, a warm pineapple bun wedged with butter, a pair of the sweetest prawns, your first-ever stinky tofu, or the creations of the latest celebrity chef.

Shopping
From off-the-rack Chinese gowns to bespoke speciality knives (and vice versa), the sheer variety of products in Hong Kong’s shops is dizzying. Every budget, need and whim is catered for in ‘can do’ spirit by a similarly impressive assortment of venues: glitzy malls where the moneyed shop, chic side-street boutiques and vintage dens where fashionistas find their gems, nerdy gadget bazaars, and a mix of markets where you can haggle to your heart’s content. The city has no sales tax so prices are generally attractive to visitors.

Culture
Underneath the glass and steel of Hong Kong’s commercial persona is a dynamic cultural landscape where its Chinese roots, colonial connections and the contributions of its home-grown talent become intertwined. Here you’re just as likely to find yourself dissecting art in the dizzying number of contemporary galleries as joining in dawn taichi or reading the couplets of a local poet to the drumbeat of a dragon boat. Culture could also mean indie music by the harbour or Chinese opera in a bamboo theatre, not to mention the thousands of shows staged year-round at the city’s many museums and concert halls.

Aqua Luna’s traditional Chinese junk on Victoria Harbour | PISAPHOTOGRAPHY / SHUTTERSTOCK ©

Why I Love Hong Kong
By Lorna Parkes, Writer
Hong Kong has to be the most beguiling city on earth. One minute I can be straining to get an eyeful of the city’s neck-breaking verticality, and the next I’m seeking shade under trailing Chinese banyan trees that convince me I’m in a subtropical place far away from Central’s hustle. It’s exotic yet familiar. Hong Kong’s complexity and diversity is astounding and its confident cultural melee never fails to woo me – particularly in the kitchen, where Hong Kong chefs create love letters to their food-adoring fans. If I had one last meal? It would be dim sum in Hong Kong.
For more, see our writers
Hong Kong’s Top 16

Star Ferry
1 A floating piece of Hong Kong heritage and a sightseeing bargain, the legendary Star Ferry was founded in 1880 and plies the waters of Victoria Harbour in the service of regular commuters and tourists. At only HK$2.70, the 15-minute ride with views of Hong Kong’s iconic skyline must be one of the world’s best-value cruises. While the vista is more dramatic when you’re Island-bound, the art deco Kowloon pier, resembling a finger pointing at the Island, is arguably more charming.
1 Central District

DANIEL FUNG / SHUTTERSTOCK ©

Hong Kong’s Top 16
The Peak
2 Rising above the financial heart of Hong Kong, Victoria Peak offers superlative views of the city and the mountainous countryside beyond. Ride the hair-raising Peak Tram – Asia’s first cable funicular, in operation since 1888 – to the cooler climes at the top, as skyscrapers and apartment blocks recede into the distance. Escape the crowds by striking out on little-worn paths that encircle the mountain. At dusk Victoria Harbour glitters like the Milky Way on a sci-fi movie poster, mysterious and full of promise, as the lights come on.
1 The Peak & Northwest Hong Kong Island

DANIEL FUNG / SHUTTERSTOCK ©

Hong Kong’s Top 16
Food-Lover’s Paradise
3 Hong Kong is a city that lives and breathes seemingly just to eat and drink. It’s also one of the only cities in the world where Michelin-starred meals can be had for a song. You could be ripping gourmet roast goose with your bare hands in a humble street cafe one night and dining on fusion delicacies with harbour views the next. Ease into the day with ‘pantyhose’ milk tea at a cha chaan tang (teahouse) then roll your sleeves up for a dim sum bun fight at lunch.
5 Eating

JENNYWONDERLAND / SHUTTERSTOCK ©

Hong Kong’s Top 16
Man Mo Temple
4 Experience Chinese folk religiosity in Soho. Permanently wreathed in sandalwood smoke from the hanging incense coils, this famous temple is dedicated to Man (god of literature) and Mo (god of war) and the gods who govern them. Formerly a cultural and political focal point for the local Chinese, the temple now commands a following beyond conscientious students and the martially inclined, as locals and tourists come to perform age-old rites and have their fortunes told.
1 The Peak & Northwest Hong Kong Island

BULE SKY STUDIO / SHUTTERSTOCK ©

Hong Kong’s Top 16
Temple Street Night Market
5 Beneath the glare of naked bulbs, hundreds of stalls sell a vast array of booty, from sex toys to Nepalese daggers. You can browse for handy gadgets or quirky souvenirs, and test your bargaining skills. Nearby, fortune-tellers beckon in English from dimly lit tents, and Cantonese opera singers strike a pose. If you’re hungry, the many open-air stalls offer snacks or a seafood feast. Sure it’s touristy, but its mesmerising and impenetrable aura makes everyone – including locals – feel like a welcome visitor.
7 Kowloon

TUNGCHEUNG / SHUTTERSTOCK ©

Hong Kong’s Top 16
Hong Kong Wetland Park
6 Surreally nestled under an imposing arc of apartment towers, this 61-hectare ecological park in crowded Tin Shui Wai is a swampy haven of biodiversity. This is urban/nature juxtaposition at its best and, curiously, most harmonious. Precious ecosystems in this far-flung yet easily accessible part of the New Territories provide tranquil habitats for a range of waterfowl and other wildlife. Try to forget the human-made world for a moment and delve into a landscape of mangroves, rivers and fish-filled ponds.
1 Day Trips from Hong Kong

CHERDCHANOK / SHUTTERSTOCK ©

Hong Kong’s Top 16
Happy Valley Races
7 Every Wednesday night the city horse-racing track in Happy Valley comes alive, with eight electrifying races and a carnival of food and beer. You can try your luck at betting or simply enjoy the collective exhilaration and the thunder of shod hooves. Races were first held here in the 19th century by European merchants who imported stocky stallions from Mongolia, which they rode themselves. Now there are races every week except in the sweltering months of July and August.
3 Wan Chai & Northeast Hong Kong Island

GAVIN HELLIER / ROBERTHARDING / GETTY IMAGES ©

Hong Kong’s Top 16
Tai Kwun
8 Almost a village within a city, the reimagining of the former Central Police Station at Tai Kwun on Hollywood Rd is the biggest heritage project to open in Hong Kong in more than a decade. Vocal silhouettes of former inmates (including Vietnamese revolutionary Ho Chi Minh) leap about in unlocked cells, and confronting art consumes visitors in the startling Herzog & de Meuron–designed JC Contemporary block. Dedicate several hours to exploring the maze of heritage blocks