Rob and Sarah in Hong Kong, 12–24 November 2026
This site is for planning your two weeks with us, 12–24 November. Everything we think is worth your time is here, with travel times from our house, prices in HK$ and £, and when each place is open.
Tim, Angela and any friends we invite can comment and add tips too.
A simplified map. Hong Kong is the New Territories and Kowloon on the mainland, Hong Kong Island, Lantau, and over 200 smaller islands.
Swipe sideways to see the whole map.
Most of the city sits on either side of the harbour: Kowloon to the north, Hong Kong Island to the south. The Star Ferry crosses in about ten minutes.
Swipe sideways to see the whole map.
Map outline: HKMap by Paul Chu (MIT licence). Positions are approximate.
Free days: Fri 13, Sat 14, Sun 15, Mon 16, Mon 23 and Tue 24 Nov (leave home 19:45 on the 24th).
The only race day on their free days. Public enclosure entry is cheap; the Hong Kong Jockey Club runs a tourist badge for the members' stand.
Cantopop star in a jazz set.
Funk guitar meets harmonica.
Free music on the harbourfront lawns; programme to verify.
Free outdoor concert with a fireworks finale. Tickets were by ballot (closed 20 Oct), so entry is unlikely; the fireworks are visible from the harbour.
Broadway production, Hong Kong debut, from 4 Nov. End date and language to confirm.
Performances, workshops, tours on the islands. Programme on the website.
Set menus and offers at participating restaurants.
Subtitled French cinema.
Special exhibitions running on their dates.
About 100 horse paintings from the Yuan dynasty to the 20th century. One for Sarah.
West Gallery.
Main Hall. Playful Japanese design show.
The architects of the building itself.
Free. A 40-speaker choral sound installation; sit in the middle.
AI-generated visuals on the 65m-high façade after dark; best from the TST promenade or a ferry.
Chinese painting donation.
To 22 Nov 2026 — 13–16 Nov only. Hong Kong's Venice Biennale show, returned.
Free. Italian abstract painter, in the JC Contemporary galleries.
Free. Cantopop legend; pairs with the Bruce Lee gallery.
The classic skyline view. Ride the funicular up, then walk the flat 3.5km Lugard Road loop. Go late afternoon and stay for dusk.
10-minute harbour crossing on boats that have run since 1888. Do one by day and one after dark.
Waterfront walk facing the Island skyline. Free; best at dusk.
Nightly 8pm light-and-sound show across the skyline, 10 minutes. Watch from the TST promenade.
Century-old double-deckers, flat fare, upstairs front seat. Ride end to end and watch the neighbourhoods change. See Things to note.
95-minute harbour cruise on a chartered Star Ferry with the Peninsula's afternoon tea. Saturdays and selected Sundays, 1pm and 4pm. HK$820 + 10%.
Red-sail junk; 45-minute harbour sail, best at sunset, drink included.
60m wheel on the Central waterfront; 15–20 minutes, HK$20.
Hop-on hop-off sightseeing; the night tour through Kowloon's neon is the one to do.
Waxworks; only if already at the Peak.
25-minute cable car over the mountains to Ngong Ping Village and the Big Buddha. Crystal-floor cabin is extra; book online to skip the queue. The Buddha and Po Lin Monastery have their own entry under Historical.
Car-free island 25 minutes from Central: Yung Shue Wan village, bars, beaches, seafood. Pair with the Family Trail.
Car-free fishing island: harbour lanes, temples, street snacks, Cheung Po Tsai pirate cave, Mini Great Wall walk. Inter-island Festival on weekends.
Your recommended finish for Dragon's Back: village lanes, the best beach on the Island side, Thai and seafood lunches.
Surf beach where the Dragon's Back trail comes down. A beach and little else; Shek O is the better stop.
Easy seaside walk between two city beaches; Kwun Yam shrine at Repulse Bay.
Seaside town with a waterfront promenade, the relocated 1840s Murray House, the market and a quieter beach.
Long sandy beach with relaxed beachfront restaurants. A recovery day.
Harbour-front town near home: seafood tanks, boats, cafés, the Sunday crowd.
Kaito boats to Sharp Island (tidal causeway), Hap Mun Bay beach, Kau Sai Chau.
Hexagonal volcanic rock columns of the UNESCO Geopark, and the sea cave. Taxi from Sai Kung or the weekend minibus 9A.
Marine theme park: giant pandas, aquarium, rides and a cliff-top cable car. Full day.
Water park next to Ocean Park. Open Fri–Mon only in November (closed Tue–Thu), so 13, 14, 15, 16 and 23 Nov. Offers running to December.
34m bronze seated Buddha, 268 steps up. The working monastery opposite does a vegetarian lunch. Pair with Ngong Ping 360. Reached via Ngong Ping 360 (Tourist attractions).
Short walk from the Buddha to 38 timber columns carved with the Heart Sutra, laid out as a figure of eight.
Stilt houses, dried seafood stalls, lanes, and 20-minute boat trips that sometimes find pink dolphins. Bus 21 from Ngong Ping.
1847 temple hung with giant incense coils, on the antiques street. Combine with Cat Street and PMQ.
Restored Central Police Station, magistracy and Victoria Prison: heritage, contemporary art, courtyard bars. Free entry.
St John's Cathedral, Duddell Street gas lamps, Statue Square, the old Supreme Court; a self-guided two hours.
Four-storey 1920s tenement, Stone Nullah Lane, Pak Tai Temple. A living neighbourhood.
Hong Kong's busiest Taoist temple; fortune-telling arcade next door.
Tang-style wooden temple complex built without nails, and a classical garden with a golden pavilion. Free.
Serene modern monastery with a 76m Guanyin statue. Free, but advance online reservation is required.
Hillside path lined with hundreds of golden life-size Buddha statues, 400+ steps up.
Walled village, ancestral halls and Hong Kong's only ancient pagoda, on a 1km trail.
500-year-old walled village still lived in; walk the lanes, small donation at the gate.
Fishing village at the harbour mouth: lighthouse, temple, seafood you pick from the tank. Agree prices first.
Hong Kong's oldest recorded Tin Hau temple (1266), on the coast near home. Short walk from the golf club gate.
Former salt-farming island with a restored chapel, salt pans and heritage centre. 15-minute kaito from Sai Kung pier.
Preserved 19th-century fortified Hakka village on the Pak Tam Chung Nature Trail. Free.
Treasures on loan from Beijing's Forbidden City. Heavenly Horses is on until 31 Dec. Closed Tuesdays.
Chinese art and harbour-view galleries, right on the promenade.
The Hong Kong Story permanent exhibition reopened on 1 April 2026 after a five-year refit.
Cantonese opera, Hong Kong popular culture, the Bruce Lee gallery; pair with Ten Thousand Buddhas.
Seafaring, pirates and the port; a ship-bridge simulator. Next to the Star Ferry.
Chinese tea culture in an 1840s colonial house. Free; pair with a walk in Hong Kong Park.
Planetarium dome; pick a show.
Hands-on exhibits; a rainy-day option.
The old Lei Yue Mun Fort: wartime history plus the open-air gun emplacements and harbour-mouth views. Renamed in 2024.
Kom Tong Hall, a 1914 mansion; Sun Yat-sen's Hong Kong years.
Converted 1950s cotton mill: textile heritage, the CHAT art centre, local shops and cafés.
Independent non-profit art space, one of Asia's oldest (1996); one show at a time, so check what's on.
Free government art space in the 1908 former Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club clubhouse. Current show: Hikoko Ito, Sunmoji.
Length, time and difficulty come from the government's hiking site where it lists the trail (those pages open in Chinese; press Eng at the top).
Ridge walk with sea views on both sides, down to Big Wave Bay, then bus or taxi 5 minutes to Shek O for the beach and lunch. The classic.
Easy paved island walk past Hung Shing Yeh beach to the seafood restaurants; ferry home from the other pier.
Short, steep climb to the lion-shaped crag and Hong Kong's best city view.
Grassy ridges and old stone huts; strenuous. Finish before dark.
Hong Kong's second-highest peak, straight up stone steps; ends at the Big Buddha. TransLantau runners on the trails 13–15 Nov.
Hong Kong's finest beaches; walk in from Sai Wan Pavilion (taxi from Sai Kung), out by boat or bus. Rip currents — paddle, don't swim.
Gentle walk past century-old granite dams, bridges and valve houses.
Cross-island forest and reservoir walk through Tai Tam Country Park to the beach.
Long stair climbs over two peaks, big southern views, finish in Stanley.
Flat, tree-lined 4km path above the city; the Lovers' Rock shrine midway.
Green climb from the reservoir up to the skyline reveal at the Peak.
Woodland paths above HKU to a 1905 gun battery, now a picnic site.
Forest and water views on a flat circuit; macaques everywhere, so keep food packed.
Hong Kong's highest mountain (957m), mostly on a road to the radar station; views when the cloud lifts.
Coastal and hill walk past the silent monastery to the Mui Wo ferry.
Long flat coastal walk through mangroves and villages to Tai O.
Paved walk to Hong Kong's oldest lighthouse, sea caves and a whale skeleton; marine reserve.
Short climb to WWII forts above the harbour mouth; seafood at Lei Yue Mun afterwards.
Steep scramble to a sharp summit with views over Clearwater Bay and Sai Kung. Ten minutes from home.
Riverside and harbourside cycle path to Plover Cove; hire bikes at Tai Wai, return them at Tai Mei Tuk.
Guided paddle among the islands and sea caves of the Geopark.
Road walk along High Island Reservoir to the East Dam's hexagonal columns and down to Long Ke beach. Flat but long; taxi back from the dam.
The famous one: Sai Wan, Ham Tin and Tai Long Wan beaches, Chek Keng. Hong Kong's best coastal day; carry water.
468m knife-edge summit above Tai Long Wan; a scramble on loose ground. Experienced hikers only, dry weather.
Short boardwalk route past the hexagonal rock columns, the sea cave and the dolosse breakwater. Easy; the drive in is the effort.
Flat creekside path to the preserved Hakka village. Pairs with lunch in Sai Kung.
Kaito from Sai Kung pier, then the tidal causeway to Kiu Tau and the 'pineapple bun' rocks. Beach at Hap Mun Bay.
Easy loop above Wong Shek pier with Tai Long Wan and Tap Mun views; windsurfers below.
Coastal path to the Hoi Ha Wan marine park: corals, a glass-bottom boat and a quiet bay.
Up to the Cheung Sheung plateau and its grassland, with a tea stall at the top on weekends.
Ten minutes from home: coastal ridge to Lobster Bay with rock carvings and sea views over Clear Water Bay.
Urban parks and country parks. All country parks: afcd.gov.hk, Country Parks.
Harbourfront lawns between M+ and the Palace Museum. Sunset, then the jazz stages on 13–15 Nov.
Park on the site of the lawless enclave demolished in 1994; the old yamen building survives, with an exhibition.
Solitude above Central: the Edward Youde Aviary walkway through the treetops, a conservatory, the tea ware museum in Flagstaff House and the LockCha tea house.
The green break in TST: flamingo pond, sculpture walk, aviary, and a good public swimming pool complex. Kung fu displays on Sundays.
Hong Kong's biggest urban park: early-morning tai chi, the pool, and the Causeway Bay crowds on the edges.
Harbour-front lawn below the government offices; sunset and the Kowloon skyline, next to the Central Harbourfront.
Waterfront park with a 50m outdoor pool and a running track, looking across to West Kowloon.
Lingnan-style Chinese garden with pavilions, waterfalls and a lake, and the sports grounds behind.
Small, quiet Victorian garden on the old Governor's summer lodge site, above the Peak Tower crowds. Add it to the Peak visit.
Hong Kong's oldest park (1871): orangutans, lemurs, an aviary and a fountain terrace, five minutes above Hong Kong Park.
Monkey Hill: hundreds of macaques around the reservoirs. Keep food out of sight.
The ridge over Kowloon: Lion Rock itself, Amah Rock and the Sha Tin Pass. The Lion Rock hike is listed under Hikes.
Two reservoirs, a barbecue valley and tree walks, with the Aberdeen Nature Trail and a link to the Peak.
The big one: High Island Reservoir, the Geopark coast, Tai Long Wan's beaches and the MacLehose Trail's first two sections. Your back yard.
Quieter than the east: Hoi Ha Wan marine park, Cheung Sheung plateau, Yung Shue O and the Three Fathoms Cove shore.
On your doorstep: High Junk Peak, Lobster Bay, the Joss House Bay temple and the two Clear Water Bay beaches.
60-hectare reserve of mangroves, mudflats and bird hides near the Shenzhen border; migratory birds peak in winter.
Night stalls, fortune tellers, Cantonese opera singers and dai pai dong street dining. From 6pm.
A kilometre of stalls: bags, souvenirs, clothing. Atmosphere over bargains. Best after dark.
A street of shops with goldfish hanging in bags outside.
Street of flower shops, then the garden where old men air their songbirds.
Trainer shops end to end.
Electronics flea market, fabric streets, everyday working Hong Kong, and the best cheap food in town.
Antiques and curios: Mao memorabilia, jade, old posters. Treat "antique" claims with care.
Covered lanes of silk, souvenirs and clothing by the waterfront.
Shopfronts of dried abalone, scallops, sea cucumber and herbs. Old Hong Kong, strong smells.
Restored 1939 market hall, and the working open-air wet market a street away.
Cooked-food market: hot pot, noodles, locals only.
Independent shops, cafés and temples on quiet streets above Hollywood Road.
Places to eat, from dim sum and roast goose to dinners worth booking.
Cantonese — dim sum. Trolley dim sum in a chandeliered hall with harbour views; queue from 11am.
Cantonese — dim sum. 1933 tea house, booths and brass spittoons; the experience, not the bargain.
Cantonese — dim sum. Michelin-listed, cheap; the baked BBQ pork buns.
Cantonese — village dim sum. Serve-yourself bamboo steamers in a hillside village near Tai Mo Shan; mornings only.
Cantonese — roast meats. Michelin-starred roast goose; brisk, queue, 30 minutes in and out.
Cantonese — wonton noodles. Tiny bowls, legendary; or Tsim Chai Kee opposite for bigger portions.
Hong Kong café (cha chaan teng). Scrambled-egg toast, steamed milk pudding, brutal service, 15-minute turnover. Part of the experience.
Hong Kong street food. Kung Wo tofu pudding, Hop Yik Tai rice rolls, Tim Ho Wan, Kwan Kee claypot — a few dollars each.
Cantonese — claypot rice. Charcoal-cooked clay pots, a November dish; queues from dusk.
Hong Kong bakery and desserts. Tai Cheong egg tarts, Mammy Pancake egg waffles, pineapple buns, tong sui dessert soup.
Modern Cantonese. Loud, stylish, a proper night out; book ahead.
British afternoon tea. The original colonial tea, string quartet from the gallery; no bookings, queue from 2pm.
Cantonese — seafood. Waterfront restaurants at the end of the Family Trail; Rainbow Seafood runs its own ferry back to Central.
Cantonese — seafood. Pick from the tanks on the waterfront; cooking charges are separate from the fish price.
Cantonese — seafood. Michelin-starred, three floors above the market; the steamed fish and salt-and-pepper squid.
European tasting menu. A house on Three Fathoms Cove, its own garden, set menus only; book well ahead.
Café / brunch. Breakfast bowls and shakshuka by the Sai Kung waterfront; weekend queues.
Cocktail bars, hotel bars, rooftops and pubs.
Asia's 50 Best Bars 2026 No. 3. Roman-style, no-nonsense: olive-oil sours and mortadella. No reservations.
Intimate American-style cocktail bar; Tatler Best 2026.
Closed-loop, sustainability-led cocktail bar; Tatler Best 2026.
Classic 1963 hotel bar: silver tankards of draught beer, live music from 9pm.
Old-school pub with a house jazz band nightly since 1972.
The bar districts: LKF for the street crowd, SoHo (Staunton, Elgin) for smaller bars off the escalator.
The splurges: helicopter, top tables, a private boat.
18-minute flight over the harbour and the Island from the hotel's rooftop, then afternoon tea in the Lobby. Shared HK$4,400 pp; private for 2 HK$19,300, for 3 HK$19,900, for 4 HK$20,500. Valid to 31 Mar 2027.
Cantonese fine dining. No. 1 in Asia's 50 Best Restaurants 2026; the steamed flowery crab. Book weeks ahead.
Contemporary Chinese. No. 2 in Asia's 50 Best 2026 and Tatler Restaurant of the Year. Tasting menu only.
Cantonese fine dining, three Michelin stars. The dim sum lunch is the affordable way in.
Your own boat for a day: Sai Kung islands or round Hong Kong Island. Typically HK$8,000–20,000 for the boat.
Spa afternoon with pool and harbour views.
Flagged: you've said there is no time for Macau. Kept only because you raised it under High baller.
Green days are free to plan. Grey days are arrival, away, or already booked. Tap a day to highlight it below. Tap an empty time to choose what goes there, tap a placed item to move or remove it, or drag it on a computer.
A selection of options that collate events together for you to add to your schedule if you so desire. Each one is a day that makes sense on the map: stops are close together, with lunch and travel built in. "Works on" lists the free days the tour fits; press + Add to schedule and pick a day. You can still move or remove any part of it afterwards on the Schedule tab.
What do you want to clear?
Comments