I grew up here and left in 2017 for college. I go back for 1-2 weeks a year. here are my recs!

Touristy things to do

• Star Ferry: cheap, good views, and a really fun way to get from one side of the harbour to another. Must do.
• The Peak: also good views, but of a different kind! You could hike up and then take the Peak Tram down, or tram up and hike down, or just tram one way, do the Lugard road loop (it’s like 3km I think, and has great views all around!!!) and take the minibus down.
• Tram / Ding Ding: hop on somewhere around causeway bay and hop off around Central / Admiralty, and relax!
• Museums: not gonna lie, I don’t love any of the museums in Hong Kong. Maybe Tai Kwun. I heard the new Palace Museum is pretty good too.
• Entertainment: Xiqu Centre has some solid Chinese opera.

Less touristy things to do

• Outlying islands: So many of them!!! My favourite is Peng Chau because of the seafood. so good. Cheung Chau is also a classic.
• Tai Tam waterfalls / rock pools: Cool shit! More accessible than the DB rock pools.
• Discovery Bay (DB) rock pools: hard to find but so beautiful and fun! DB is hard to get to and it’s kinda residential, but you could potentially hike there from Mui Wo (about 9km) and then go to the rock pools, then take the DB ferry back to Central.

Hikes

• **Dragon’s Back:** classic, easy-ish hike and you end on a beach (Big Wave Bay)
• Maclehose trail: it’s 100km altogether, but you can hike however much you want! Many different sections to choose from.
• Kowloon Peak: best views! I’ve never done it, though I’ve heard it’s difficult, but worth it

Food: Restaurants

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Disclaimer: these restaurants can be a little concentrated in certain areas, but it’s because these are the restaurants I went to growing up and a lot are just near where I live (Shek Kip Mei). The thing is, food in Hong Kong is almost universally incredible, so you don’t really need to go out of your way to get a particular cuisine.

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Pro-tip: If in doubt about where to eat or what to order, look on OpenRice (HK Yelp).

2024 edit: Google Maps works pretty well nowadays, no need for OpenRice

Google Maps might show a lot of these places as having lower (3.x star) ratings, but just ignore it; people are usually just mad about service (and in Hong Kong, the worse the service, the better the food)

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This list is pretty comprehensive re: the range of cuisines / options in HK.

• Chinese-Muslim
  • Try: beef biscuits (牛肉餅) and scallion pancakes (蔥油餅)
  • Islam Food: A little out of the way, but such delicious and affordable food. Best scallion pancakes EVER.
    • Address: 1 Lung Kong Road, Kowloon City