Hong Kong SAR

Crossing the harbour is the first thing to do. The Star Ferry runs between the Island and Tsim Sha Tsui in under ten minutes for a fare that has stayed almost symbolic; sit on the open upper deck and cross at dusk, and you get the skyline from water level as it lights up — for a fraction of any harbour cruise and better than most of them. On the Kowloon side, the promenade runs east from the pier with the whole Island frontage opposite, and it is where the nightly light show is watched.

The Peak Tram climbs from Central at a gradient steep enough that the buildings outside appear to lean. At the top, the terrace is the postcard — but the twenty-minute Lugard Road loop just beyond it is flat, shaded, quiet and considerably better, giving the same panorama without the crowd. Go late afternoon and stay through sunset into the lit city. Tram queues are long at peak times; going up by bus or taxi and riding the tram down is the common way around it.

The Island's north shore packs several distinct districts into a few kilometres. Central is banking towers and steep lanes, threaded by the Mid-Levels escalator — the longest outdoor covered escalator system anywhere, and a free way to see the residential city stacked on the slope. West into Sheung Wan the scale drops: antique dealers on Hollywood Road, the Man Mo Temple thick with hanging incense coils, dried-seafood shops, and design studios in a former police quarters.

Kowloon is denser, lower and louder than the Island, and much of the best eating is here. Tsim Sha Tsui holds the museum cluster and the promenade; Mong Kok is the market district, busiest in the evening, with stalls, a flower market and a bird garden. Further north, Sham Shui Po rewards a morning — fabric and button shops, electronics arcades, and some of the most respected cheap eating in the territory. Temple Street runs in the evening with fortune tellers and open-air canteens alongside.

This is the half of Hong Kong visitors do not expect. Country parks cover most of the territory, they are free and well signed, and the best walks start close to the centre. Dragon's Back is the classic introduction: a couple of hours along an undulating crest with sea on both sides, ending at a beach where you can swim. Lion Rock, behind Kowloon, is a stiffer climb to the outcrop everyone in the city can name. The MacLehose Trail crosses the New Territories in ten numbered stages.

The second stage of the MacLehose, around Sai Kung's Tai Long Wan, is regularly called the finest coastal walk in the region — white sand that looks misplaced this close to a city of this size, reached on foot or by boat from Sai Kung town, itself a working seafood harbour. Practical notes that matter more than the route: summer humidity makes walking genuinely hazardous here, so go in the cooler months, start early, carry more water than feels necessary, and check the rainstorm and typhoon warnings first.

Lantau, the largest island, holds the Tian Tan Buddha above Ngong Ping, reached by a long cable car with glass-floored cabins or a winding bus, with the Po Lin Monastery and its vegetarian kitchen beside it. On the west coast, Tai O is a stilt-house fishing village built over tidal creeks; the contrast between it and the airport a few kilometres away is the sharpest in the territory. Ferries and buses run frequently and the same stored-value card pays for them.

Cheung Chau, about forty minutes by ferry, is car-free, dense and salty: a working fishing harbour, bicycles, seafood on the praya and a cliff path around the headland. Lamma is the other easy one — a flat hour-long walk between two ferry piers with beach cafés at the midpoint. Both leave from the Central piers on ordinary scheduled services rather than tours, which makes them the easiest good day in Hong Kong to arrange on the morning of.

Timing matters here more than in most cities. October to early December is dry, clear and warm. Spring is humid with low cloud that can erase the Peak view for days. Summer is hot, wet and the typhoon season — and the signal system is worth understanding before you need it rather than after: when a high signal is hoisted the city closes, transport stops, shops shut and you stay indoors. It passes quickly, but it can take a day out of a short trip.