This waterfront museum has enough to keep you occupied for at least a couple of hours. Among the permanent displays are an extensive collection of crafts from southern China and elsewhere in Asia dating from neolithic times to the present day. Porcelain and other ceramic items form the museum’s core display, with an extensive collection of extraordinarily fine pieces. There is also a permanent exhibition of historical paintings and lithographs

Phone:

+852 2721 0116

Opening hours:

10am-6pm Mon-Wed, Fri-Sun.

Address:

10 Salisbury Road

Sheung Wan, minutes away from high-tech Central, but in many ways worlds apart, makes for some colourful sightseeing. Man Wa Lane has name chop stalls, on to which Chinese names are carved. Wing Lok Street, Queen’s Road West and the neighbouring streets are filled with shops selling dried seafood, sharks fins, the swifts’ nests used in bird’s nest soup amongst other even less politically correct ingredients.

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Address:

Hong Kong Island, west of Central

This red-brick and granite, Edwardian-style market is a good place to browse for knick-knacks. The light, airy three-storey building was built in 1906 and renovated in the 1990s. On the ground floor are stalls selling jade trinkets, Hong Kong memorabilia of varying grades of authenticity, faux opium pipes, antique cameras and clocks. The second floor is dedicated to the sale of fabrics and the third floor is home to the Treasure Inn Restaurant, a popular lunch venue.

Phone:

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Opening hours:

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Address:

Just west of Sheung Wan MTR

Gritty rather than glitzy, mainland Kowloon feels a million miles away from the flashy island across the harbour. But the area has some superb shopping opportunities and the territory’s major museums, galleries and temples. Tsim Sha Tsui at the southern tip, has hundreds of electronic stores, clothing shops and Indian tailors. Also here is the Hong Kong Cultural Centre (10 Salisbury Road, +852 2734 2009) with its excellent concert hall and two theatres.

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After 6pm, Temple Street comes alive with market stalls, entertainers and buzzing crowds. It’s a good place to give your bargaining skills a go, especially if you’re after copy CDs, watches or bags. At the far end are fortune tellers and rows of small street shows performing Chinese opera, which are aimed more at the locals than tourists. Not far away, north of Yau Ma Tei MTR, on Tung Choi Street, are the cheap clothes and accessories of the Ladies’ Market and Goldfish Market.

Phone:

N/a

Opening hours:

2-10pm daily.

Address:

Jordan, Temple Street, Kowloon

Opened in 2001, this long-awaited museum gives a magisterial overview of Hong Kong’s history from palaeolithic times to the present. Well-curated displays and sensitive captions mean there’s something for nearly everyone. Political correctness has not been allowed to rear its sanctimonious head here, and even a few unlikely candidates have been included among the displays – there are pictures of the Tiananmen Square incident in 1989, for instance.

Phone:

+852 2724 9042

Opening hours:

10am-6pm Mon, Wed-Sat; 10am-7pm Sun

Address:

100 Chatham Road South

For your first mouth watering glimpse of Hong Kong Island take the Star Ferry from Kowloon across Victoria Harbour. For a mere HK$2.20, you’ll get a first class seat and a skyline view to rival Manhattan but with the added drama of deep green, thickly wooded mountains rearing majestically above it.

Phone:

+852 2367 7065

Opening hours:

6am-midnight every 5 mins.

Address:

Star Ferry Pier

Towering above the commercial heart of Hong Kong Island, Victoria Peak – otherwise simply known as ‘the Peak’ – offers the most spectacular views in Hong Kong. On a rare clear day, the 552-metre (1,810-foot) summit overlooks not just the improbable towers of the north side of Hong Kong Island, but also Victoria Harbour, Kowloon and the hills of the New Territories beyond.

Phone:

+852 2849 7654

Opening hours:

7am-midnight

Address:

Peak Tram Lower Terminal, Garden Road, Central. Upper Terminal Lugard Road, The Peak

It’s all about glass and mirrors at this dazzling restaurant in the penthouse of this shopping and dining complex. The harbour views from almost any angle are second to none and the design inside is just as good. The food, meanwhile, includes Japanese and Italian dishes and is likely to win as many international awards as the original Aqua did when it opened in Central in 2000, before relocating here in 2003.

Phone:

+852 3427 2288

Opening hours:

Noon-3pm and 6pm-1am daily. Closed Chinese New Year.

Address:

29/F & 30/F, One Peking Road, Tsim Sha Tsui

Racing in Hong Kong is followed as fanatically as any religion, and Happy Valley is the altar at which everyone prays. The high-intensity floodlights, expectant atmosphere, booming loudspeakers, billions of dollars, streaming crowds and streaking horses make for one of the most exciting evenings out the city has to offer. The minimum bet is only HK$10, so there’s no excuse not to join in.

Phone:

+ 852 2807 6543

Opening hours:

Varies. The season lasts from September to June and meetings are usually every Wednesday from 7.30pm (check first). Closed Jul-Aug.

Address:

2 Sports Road, Happy Valley, HK Island

 

  

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Source: Expedia