15 Things You Should Do In Hong Kong

Hong Kong is an amazing city where mountains meet market streets, old traditions meets modern skyscrapers, and the East meets the West. There’s so much to do here and after a few visits it has to be one of my favorite cities in the world!

Here are 15 Things You Definitely Should Do in Hong Kong:

1. Take a hike

Hong Kong has some awesome hiking trails! Whether you have a full day or just a few hours, there are tons of trails to explore. I’ve hiked Lion Rock, Dragon’s Back, and Lantau Peak, and still have more on my list.

2. Walk around Lugard Road on Victoria Peak

Take the tram or a bus up to Victoria Peak and check out the iconic views of Hong Kong. But don’t just visit the Sky Terrace – take a stroll around Lugard Road trail to the left of the big Galleria mall. You’ll get to enjoy even better views of the Hong Kong skyline and Victoria Harbor!

3. Go Shopping in Causeway Bay

Causeway Bay is a popular shopping area on Hong Kong island and you can shop and eat to your heart’s content here.

4. Stroll The Temple Street Night Market

Hong Kong’s famous night market complete with tons of vendors, street food, and neon lights. It’s a great place to shop for souvenirs and snap some cool nighttime pics.

5. Visit Victoria Harbor During the Day

Go early in the morning to get better photos without so many people! I woke up at 7am one day and decided to visit the harbor, and it was just me and a few sweet older folks. The lighting was fantastic and there was no fighting for picture space!

6 …And at Night

Did you really go to Hong Kong if you didn’t come to the harbor and snap some pics? You can get some great views from the Victoria Harbour on the Kowloon side, on the Hong Kong Island side, or take a ferry and get the best of both worlds. The harbor is especially beautiful at night!

7. Take a Day Trip To Lantau Island

Lantau is the biggest island in Hong Kong, and while it’s not the center of city life, there is so much to do! From Disneyland to Big Buddha to Sunset Peak, Lantau Island has a lot. I came here for a day trip and want to go back again – more on that later.

8. Stroll Around Yuen Po Bird Garden

Near the Prince Edward metro station in northern Kowloon you’ll find the Yuen Po Bird Garden. Lots of elderly folk will bring their birds here everyday for people to buy or enjoy watching. I was so excited to visit that I went too early before people even brought their birds…whoops.

9. Hop Over To Goldfish Market

Close to the Yuen Po Bird Garden is the Goldfish Market – since they’re nearby each other I had to take a look around. Hong Kong is one of the leading exporters of goldfish and other tropical fish and here you can find hundreds of little fish hanging up in bags waiting to be bought!

10. Walk around Tsim Sha Shui

Tsim Sha Tsui (or called TST if you’re cool) is a popular tourist place to walk around. It’s kind of a home base for many people who come to visit Hong Kong, so there’s lots of shops, restaurants, and hotels here (it’s where my hostel was).

11. Catch A Rooftop View

I have a big thing for rooftops – they’re a great place to get a new perspective of a city. Hong Kong has some awesome rooftop views: there are lots of restaurants and bars where you can grab a drink and see the city from high up, and you can also check out Sky100, Hong Kong’s highest indoor observation deck.

Or if you’re like me you can find some residential buildings to go up into. I found it a bit harder to get on rooftops in Hong Kong S.A.R. than in Chinese mainland; all the apartments have outside gates that are locked, and I was also worried more about being stopped by a security guard here because they would mostly likely speak English! (In China I can get away with the “I’m a foreigner I can’t speak Chinese” card. But here I can’t.) I didn’t find the most spectacular views but I was still pretty excited to get up to a few rooftops.

12. Try Hong Kong Street Food

When you’re hunting for food in Hong Kong don’t disregard the food stalls and little places selling things on the street. Egg waffles, fish balls, squid tentacles, egg tarts, pineapple buns, and fried pig intestines are among the best known street foods in Hong Kong and you shouldn’t miss them. Also try the world famous Hong Kong milk tea! I’m in love with the stuff.

13. Admire Hong Kong’s Street Art

There are lots of streets with fantastic street art. I only had time to visit this Man Fung building near Prince Edward, but there are lots of other places to check out cool stuff. Every year an organization called HKWALLS holds a street art festival and decorates different streets around Hong Kong – I want to check out some of their sites next time.

14. Find Monkey Hill

This is definitely not something I expected to do in Hong Kong – but once I heard about the monkeys here I wanted to see some. I went to Kam Shan Country Park to visit the famous Monkey Hill. You can’t feed or play with the monkeys here (like you can do in Bali) but I still love monkeys a lot and was happy to see them hanging out here.

15. Wander Without A Plan

The coolest thing about Hong Kong is that even without an agenda or plan you find some really interesting things. Take some time to wander around and get lost!

I made a short video about my 3 Days in Hong Kong! Check it out here:

I also made a Google Map of all the places I went – I’ve linked it below.

What Else?

There’s lots of items on my Hong Kong Bucket list I didn’t check off yet! I still would like to go to the Instagram-famous Choi Hung Estate, see more street art, visit the Man Mo temple, climb Sunrise Peak and Suicide Cliff….honestly there’s still so much I haven’t seen and done!

Have you been to Hong Kong? What else should you do when visiting?