Where to go
Victoria Harbour and the Peak
The skyline from the Star Ferry and from Victoria Peak, and the Symphony of Lights each evening. The Peak Tram is the classic ascent; walking down through the trees is the better half. Half a day, twice — once by day, once after dark.
Central, Sheung Wan and the escalators
Colonial buildings against towers, the Mid-Levels escalator — the longest outdoor covered escalator system in the world — antique shops, dried seafood streets and the temple at Man Mo. A full day on foot.
Kowloon
Temple Street night market, the Chi Lin nunnery and Nan Lian garden, the museums along the waterfront and the West Kowloon cultural district with M+, the vast new museum of visual culture. Two days.
Lantau and the Big Buddha
The cable car to Ngong Ping, the Tian Tan Buddha and Po Lin monastery, and Tai O — a stilt-house fishing village that feels a century away from Central. A full day.
The country parks
Three-quarters of the territory is protected countryside, with the Dragon's Back ridge walk, the Sai Kung peninsula and the MacLehose Trail. This is the Hong Kong visitors miss entirely, and it is twenty minutes from the MTR.
Macau
An hour by ferry or across the bridge: Portuguese architecture, a World Heritage historic centre, egg tarts and the casinos. An easy day trip or an overnight.
Building the itinerary
- Three stops a week, no more. Every move costs half a day at minimum, often a whole one, and you see nothing of a place where you sleep one night.
- Alternate the pace. A dense city, then two quiet days: that is what makes travelling as a couple sustainable, especially if one of you lives there and works.
- Keep a buffer day before the flight home, in the departure city. Domestic transport delays are the leading cause of missed flights.
- Ask the person who lives there what they want to show you. Guidebook itineraries and the places that matter to them rarely overlap — and the second list is the better one.
Two reflexes that change a trip
Distances deceive. On a map two points look close; on the ground, road conditions, checkpoints and terrain double or triple the time. Plan fewer stops and more time at each.
Ask before photographing anyone, and never insist. Official buildings, soldiers, airports and bridges are best avoided almost everywhere — the most banal and most avoidable source of trouble.