Tours in Hong Kong

Take the Star Ferry across the harbour once, even if you have no reason to. The deck is open, the seats are wooden, and the skyline of Hong Kong Island slides toward you in a way no taxi tunnel can match. Most visitors fix on that skyline and never quite leave it. The rest of the place is a short ride away, and it looks nothing like the towers.

Start on Hong Kong Island itself. The Peak Tram climbs steeply through the trees to Victoria Peak, and on a clear day the whole harbour opens out below you, with Kowloon across the water and the hills behind. Come down the other side of the island and the mood changes. Aberdeen still has working boats and sampans moving between them, Repulse Bay is a long curve of sand where locals actually swim, and Stanley is a place for browsing the market lanes and then sitting by the water. Central, Wan Chai and the Mid-Levels escalator are all worth wandering on your own time.

Then go west, to Lantau. This is where the city loosens its grip. The cable car runs high over forested ridges toward Ngong Ping, where the Tian Tan Buddha sits above Po Lin Monastery and the air smells of incense. Down on the coast, Tai O has stilt houses over the tidal water and a slower pace, with dried seafood laid out in front of the shops. A boat ride through the channels shows you the village from underneath.

Kowloon is the other half of the picture: Tsim Sha Tsui's waterfront promenade, the crowded lanes of Mong Kok, the night markets, the dim sum rooms with trolleys and loud tables. If you want a tour of any of these, or of the New Territories, the outlying islands or the hiking trails, ask. A local guide can build it around you.