Hollywood Road
12 Lamma Island
13 Hong Kong’s Trams
14 Morning Tai Chi Classes
15 Dolphin Watching
16 Harbour Junk Rides
17 The Avenue of Stars
18 Shek O Beachside Village
19 Lan Kwai Fong Nightlife
20 Dim Sum Brunch
21 Afternoon Tea at The Peninsula
Make the Most of Your Visit
Blessed with one of the world’s best public transport systems and bilingual English and Chinese signage, Hong Kong is a very easy city to travel around. However, as with any holiday, a little bit of advance planning can make the difference between enjoying that harbour-front cocktail at sunset and being stuck underground five stations away on the MTR. Before beginning any journey, make sure you pick up an Octopus travel card (www.octopus.com.hk), which can be used on all public transport (excluding taxis) and pay for goods at fast food restaurants, retail outlets, convenience stores and much more.
One Amazing Hong Kong Day
After grabbing breakfast at your hotel, begin your day with early morning tai chi on the Tsim Sha Tsui waterfront (see No. 14) in one of the Hong Kong Tourism Board’s free classes. Then, once you’ve perfected ‘White Crane Spreads Wings’ and ‘Step Back to Repulse Monkey’, walk over to the nearby Star Ferry (see No. 1) pier and catch the famous green-and-white boat across to Central, remembering to check the brass plaque by the funnel to see what particular ‘star’ you’re on. Once you’ve crossed Victoria Harbour, head to Central Pier 8 and board bus 15C to the Peak Tram (see No. 2) Terminus on Garden Road. Arriving here, purchase a Peak Tram Sky Pass ($56 return; if the queues are long, use your Octopus card instead and buy a separate Skypass from the ground floor counter in The Peak Tower), and then enjoy some of the best views in Hong Kong as the funicular railway carries you 1.4 km up the steep, wooded slopes. Next, head to the Sky Terrace for panoramic 360-degree views of the city. For lunch, you can choose from one of the many dining options in The Peak Tower or The Peak Galleria opposite, or instead head to the historic surrounds of The Peak Lookout, a former sedan chair rest station and now heritage restaurant. Walk off lunch by taking a leisurely stroll along Lugard and Harlech Roads before catching the Peak Tram back down to Central. Upon arrival at the lower terminus, follow the signs for St John’s Cathedral and Battery Path, which will lead you down to Queen’s Road Central. Surrounded by high-rises, you’ve now arrived in the city’s retail heart. Indulge in a bit of window shopping in high-end malls such as The Landmark and Prince’s Building, before dropping by the Duddell Street branch of Shanghai Tang (1 Duddell Street, 2525 7333; www.shanghaitang.com) for a brightly coloured souvenir, and then heading up the hill to Lan Kwai Fong (see No. 19) for an early drink. You can either choose to stay here for dinner or head back down to Queen’s Road Central and head go towards the Mid-Levels Escalator (see No. 3). As you slowly rise up the hill, take your pick of the restaurants you see below and reflect on one amazing Hong Kong day.
1 The Star Ferry
The best—and cheapest—way to see the harbour
One of the most spectacular ferry rides in the world, the Star Ferry ’s 12-boat fleet makes the short crossing from Hong Kong Island to Kowloon 7 days a week for almost 17 hours a day. Founded in 1888 as the Kowloon Ferry Company by Parsee merchant Dorabjee Naorojee Mithaiwala, the current name was supposedly due to his love for Alfred Lord Tennyson’s poem ‘Crossing the Bar’, of which the first line reads: ‘Sunset and evening star, and one clear call for me!’ The name of each boat (they all contain the word ‘Star’) can be found on the prows—the boats have two so they don’t have to turn around—and on a bronze plaque set on the funnel. The green-and-white painted craft currently ply the following routes: Wanchai-Tsim Sha Tsui and Central-Tsim Sha Tsui. The latter is the most famous, a 9-minute ride between the 41-m-tall Two IFC and the ski jump-shaped building otherwise known as the Cultural Centre. If your schedule permits, the best time to hop on board is just before 8 pm when the scheduled
Symphony of Lights begins. This spectacular show sees more than 40 buildings on both sides of the harbour lit up in a coordinated display of music, lasers and (on public holidays) fireworks. Unfortunately, these days the Star Ferry is increasingly just a tourist attraction, its purpose of helping commuters cross the harbour superseded by the arrival of the MTR train system in 1979, and the government’s decision to reclaim yet more land in the name of development. The extra 300 m walking distance to the Central pier has lost the company millions of dollars and led to the closure of routes.
See: www.starferry.com.hk
Opening Times Wanchai-Tsim Sha Tsui, 7.30 am– pm. Central-Tsim Sha Tsui, 6.30 am–11.30 pm
Address Central, Wan Chai & Tsim Sha Tsui Star Ferry Piers
Getting There Central (Central MTR), Wan Chai (Wan Chai MTR), Tsim Sha Tsui (Tsim Sha Tsui MTR). Follow directions within stations
Contact +852 2367 7065; [email protected]; www.starferry.com.hk
Admission Fee Adult: Mon–Fri $2.50; Sat, Sun & Public Holidays $3. Child: (age 3–12) Mon–Fri $1.50; Sat, Sun & Public Holidays $1.80.
2 The Peak Tram
Literally rise above it all on this funicular railway
Since 1888, Hong Kong’s only funicular railway has been ferrying passengers up the slopes of the 552-m Victoria Peak, the Island’s highest. Covering a distance of 1.4 km and rising almost 400 m from the city below, this major tourist attraction carries more than 4 million tourists every year (a remarkable 11,000 per day). However, this engineering marvel was not intended for sightseeing, but rather as a time-saving tool for commuters. Conceived and executed by entrepreneurial pair Alexander Findlay Smith and N. J. Ede, the line was constructed through the use of back-breaking labour, ironic considering that the only previous way to reach the top of the mountain was by sedan chair—a wooden seat carried by two ‘coolies’ (the name for Chinese labourers) that had to be arduously carried up a series of switchback paths to reach the summit. The main beneficiaries of the new railway were wealthy Caucasians and the governing British as locals were prohibited from living on The Peak until 1930 (though exemptions were possible). The front seat was reserved for the Governor only. The line’s construction led to the rapid opening up of the Mid-Levels and The Peak areas for residential use, with the tram providing a quick commute to offices in Central and connections on to elsewhere. Today, the Peak Tram rarely stops at any of the intermediary stations, instead providing tourists with stunning views as the city recedes below, and the perfect way to reach The Peak Tower entertainment complex, which contains branches of Ripley’s Believe It or Not and Madame Tussauds, as well as several dining options and a top floor viewing terrace with 360-degree views of the Island. To get a real feel for the area, take a stroll along panoramic Lugard and Harlech Roads, which begin opposite the Peak Tower, then, when finished, take a spot of tea in The Peak Lookout, a 19th-century protected building that was once a rest house for
