The Star Ferry across Victoria Harbour
Still a working commuter crossing between Central and Tsim Sha Tsui, and the cheapest way there is to see the skyline from the water.
Hong Kong in pictures
Hong Kong
Cathay flies it nonstop; Octopus pays for everything
Destinations › Asia › Hong Kong
Hong Kong stacks a dense vertical city and a surprising amount of country park into a small space, and the transit is good enough that you will rarely want a taxi. Cathay Pacific still flies it nonstop from Pearson, and the Airport Express puts you in Central without ever joining a taxi queue.
Cathay Pacific flies Toronto Pearson to Hong Kong International Airport (HKG) nonstop and is the only carrier on the route, departing from Pearson's Terminal 3; westbound is roughly 15 to 16 hours. From the airport, the MTR Airport Express runs to Tsing Yi, Kowloon and Hong Kong Station in Central, and it is the fast way in. Free in-town check-in at Hong Kong and Kowloon stations lets you drop bags before you travel out to the airport, if your airline participates — Cathay Pacific is one that does. If you would rather see the city on the way in, the A-series airport buses go the slow way; the A21 down Nathan Road is the useful one for Tsim Sha Tsui and Yau Ma Tei.
The MTR operates the heavy rail network, the Light Rail in the northwest New Territories and the Airport Express, all signed and announced in English. Octopus is the universal card — it works on the MTR, buses, green and red minibuses, the Hong Kong Tramways 'ding dings' along the north shore of Hong Kong Island, the Star Ferry and in most convenience stores — and it still covers more surfaces than anything else. The MTR now also accepts contactless Visa, Mastercard, UnionPay and JCB along with Apple Pay and Google Pay at designated gates, so you can land and start travelling before you buy anything. Keep Octopus or coins for minibuses and the tram, where a foreign bank card is the less reliable option.
Still a working commuter crossing between Central and Tsim Sha Tsui, and the cheapest way there is to see the skyline from the water.
The visual-culture museum that opened in 2021, now sitting alongside the Hong Kong Palace Museum with a long harbourfront promenade in front of both.
A ridge trail on the east of Hong Kong Island finishing at Big Wave Bay beach — the clearest proof that most of the territory is country park rather than city.
Street markets, fabric and electronics arcades and some of the best inexpensive food in Hong Kong, in a district that has not been smoothed over for visitors.
Kowloon side, on the harbour, with the Star Ferry pier, the museums and the promenade all within walking distance and an MTR interchange underneath. The widest range of hotels in the city, from cheap to grand. Best base for a first visit and for families. The downside is Nathan Road: constant tout pressure for tailors, watches and 'copy' goods, and pavement crowds that are hard work with a stroller.
Hong Kong Island's business core, with Man Mo Temple, the antique shops on Hollywood Road, the Mid-Levels escalator and the best concentration of restaurants. Great for walkers and eaters. Genuinely bad for anyone with limited mobility — this is built on a steep hillside and even the flat-looking routes involve long staircases and footbridges. It also goes very quiet at weekends.
Dense, loud, and the most local-feeling of the convenient areas. Trams down the middle of the road, market streets, department stores, and hotels that cost less than the equivalent in Central. Good value and good food. Note that government travel advisories flag drink spiking targeting foreigners in the Wan Chai nightlife strip — worth knowing if you're out late.
Deep Kowloon, and the real thing: street markets, fabric and electronics stalls, and the cheapest excellent food in Hong Kong. Choose this if eating and wandering is the whole point. Don't choose it if you're bringing older parents — the buildings are old walk-ups, the pavements are narrow and permanently crowded, and there's little in the way of quiet.
Morning through early afternoon, in a loud room with tea on the table. Har gow, siu mai, cheung fun rice rolls, char siu bao and egg tarts. Push-carts have mostly given way to a paper order sheet you tick, which is easier for visitors anyway. Tea houses on both sides of the harbour; going early gets you a table and the older crowd reading newspapers.
Roast goose, char siu, crispy pork belly and soy chicken, hanging in the window, chopped to order and served over rice with a ladle of gravy. Shopfronts in every district; Sham Shui Po, Wan Chai and Kowloon City are thick with them, and the Sham Tseng strip in the New Territories is a destination for roast goose alone. Fast, cheap, and the thing to eat if you only eat one thing.
A whole cuisine of its own: milk tea strong enough to stand a spoon in, pineapple buns with a slab of cold butter, macaroni in broth for breakfast, baked pork chop rice, thick French toast. Open all day, everywhere, in every neighbourhood. Shared tables and fast turnover are normal — don't take it personally.
Curry fish balls on a skewer, egg waffles, stinky tofu and roasted chestnuts in Mong Kok; the Temple Street night market around Jordan and Yau Ma Tei; open-air dai pai dong stalls, now rare, with a handful still going on and around Stanley Street in Central and in Sham Shui Po. For seafood, the waterfronts at Sai Kung and Lei Yue Mun, where you pick from a tank and a nearby kitchen cooks it.
Yum cha in Sheung Wan or Central, then walk up Hollywood Road to Man Mo Temple and the antique dealers, with a detour down Upper Lascar Row. Take the Mid-Levels escalator up through Soho — note it runs downhill in the morning commute period and uphill for the rest of the day, so time it or you'll be climbing.
Peak Tram from the Garden Road terminus up to Victoria Peak. If the queue is out the door, the 15 bus from Central or a taxi gets you there without it. At the top, walk the Lugard Road loop — flat, paved, shaded, and it has the view everyone photographs, away from the shopping mall at the terminus. Check it's open, as the path closes at times for slope works.
Back down to Central and across on the Star Ferry to Tsim Sha Tsui — the cheapest great view in the world, and worth doing at dusk. Walk the harbourfront promenade and the Avenue of Stars; the Symphony of Lights runs across the harbour after dark.
MTR to Prince Edward and work your way south through the Kowloon markets: the Flower Market, the Yuen Po Street bird garden, then the goldfish shops on Tung Choi Street and the Ladies' Market in Mong Kok. Carry on to Sham Shui Po for the electronics chaos of Apliu Street and lunch at a noodle shop.
MTR to Diamond Hill for Chi Lin Nunnery and the Nan Lian Garden next door — flat, quiet, free, and a complete change of pace after the markets. A short hop on to Wong Tai Sin Temple for the incense smoke and the fortune sticks.
Cross back to the Island and ride a double-decker tram along Hennessy Road from Wan Chai to Causeway Bay. Sit upstairs at the front. Eat around Causeway Bay, then walk it off through Victoria Park.
MTR to Tung Chung, then the Ngong Ping 360 cable car up the mountain — check it's running, as it closes for maintenance periods, and bus 23 from Tung Chung covers the same route if not. The Buddha sits at the top of 268 steps. From Ngong Ping, bus 21 carries on to Tai O, a stilt-house fishing village built over the water. A full day, and take a jacket — it's cooler up there.
Ferry from the Hong Kong–Macau Ferry Terminal at Shun Tak in Sheung Wan, or a bus across the Hong Kong–Zhuhai–Macau Bridge from Tung Chung; there are also sailings from the China Ferry Terminal in Tsim Sha Tsui, though check those are operating. It's a separate immigration crossing, so everyone needs their passport. Go for the Portuguese colonial old town — Senado Square, the Ruins of St Paul's, the Monte Fort — and for Portuguese egg tarts, the most famous of which come out of Coloane Village, rather than for the casinos.
Ferries run from the Central piers and both islands are car-free. Cheung Chau is flat, compact and the better choice with older parents: harbourfront seafood, a temple, a beach, all within a short walk of the pier. Lamma is hillier, with a walking trail linking Yung Shue Wan and Sok Kwu Wan and fishing-village restaurants at either end. Half a day each.
Hong Kong is workable with parents or grandparents, but it demands more planning than people expect, and the planning is all about vertical distance. The MTR is the good news. It's clean, fast, air-conditioned and the great majority of stations have step-free lift access down to the platform. The catch is that a station with six exits may have the lift at only one of them, sometimes on the far side of a major road — so check the station map before you arrive rather than after. There's a discounted Octopus fare for older passengers. The Star Ferry is manageable but the gangway has a step and the boat moves under you; crew will help. The double-decker trams are charming and completely inaccessible — a high step up and a narrow spiral staircase, so plan around them, not on them. The terrain is the honest problem. Central, Sheung Wan and the Mid-Levels are built on a real hillside, and routes that look short on a map are staircases and steep pavements. Getting between places often means pedestrian footbridges, though most have lifts or escalators. The Big Buddha is 268 steps. Wet markets and older tenement districts like Sham Shui Po have narrow, crowded pavements where a wheelchair or a wide stroller is a struggle. Basing yourself in Tsim Sha Tsui, which is flat, saves a lot of grief. Season matters more than anything. June to September is hot, extremely humid and typhoon season — when a Signal 8 goes up, the city shuts, transport included, and you sit it out in the hotel. December to February is mild, dry and comfortable, and is the right time to come with anyone elderly. Toronto has nonstop service to Hong Kong, which is a genuine advantage over the rest of the region: one flight, no connection to sprint for, though it's still a long haul and a time shift of twelve hours in summer, thirteen in winter.
Hong Kong dollar, pegged to the US dollar. Cards work in malls, chains, hotels and most sit-down restaurants. What you actually want is an Octopus card — it covers the MTR, buses, trams, the Star Ferry, convenience stores and countless small shops, and it saves fumbling for change. A lot of dai pai dong, market stalls and old noodle shops take cash or Octopus only, nothing else.
Not a tipping culture. Sit-down restaurants add a service charge to the bill; leaving the small change from your change is normal and enough. Round up for a taxi. Nothing at all is expected at a cha chaan teng, a noodle shop or a market stall. Hotel porters and doormen are the one place a small note is standard.
Type G — three rectangular pins, the British standard. 220 volts, 50 hertz. Canadian plugs don't fit, so bring adapters. Dual-voltage chargers are fine; anything Canadian with a heating element built for 120V is not, adapter or no adapter. Most hotels keep spare adapters at reception if you're short one.
Treated to Hong Kong's drinking water standards and safe as it leaves the mains — the Water Supplies Department is clear on that. The caveat is old building plumbing, which is why plenty of locals still boil it out of habit and why there's a separate government scheme certifying buildings' internal systems. Hotel tap water is fine. In an older walk-up flat, use the kettle.
Cantonese is what everyone actually speaks. English is an official language, so signage, MTR announcements, street names and government services are all bilingual, and you'll manage fine in hotels, taxis and anywhere touristed. In a local noodle shop or a market you'll be pointing at things, and that's completely normal. Mandarin is widely understood but it isn't the local tongue.
Violent crime is rare and the city is safe to walk at night. Pickpocketing happens in packed markets and on the MTR. Government travel advisories specifically flag drink spiking targeting foreigners around the Wan Chai nightlife strip — don't leave a glass unattended. On Nathan Road in Tsim Sha Tsui, ignore anyone approaching you about tailoring, watches or electronics. Two legal notes: e-cigarettes and vapes are banned, including bringing them in, and foreign ministries advise caution around the national security law — steer clear of protests and of publicly commenting on politically sensitive matters.
Late October through early December is the reliable window — dry, clear and comfortable, and the one stretch when the harbour view is actually there. Typhoon season runs roughly May to November and peaks July through September. March and April are warm but notoriously damp and foggy, with condensation on every surface and the skyline frequently invisible. July and August are hot and heavy. Chinese New Year, in late January or February, is worth seeing and is also the week many small restaurants and family-run shops close for several days.
Compare the ways to get there, then build a day-by-day plan.
Cathay Pacific flies Toronto Pearson to Hong Kong International Airport (HKG) nonstop and is the only carrier on the route, departing from Pearson's Terminal 3; westbound is roughly 15 to 16 hours. From the airport, the MTR Airport Express runs to Tsing Yi, Kowloon and Hong Kong Station in Central, and it is the fast way in. Free in-town check-in at Hong Kong and Kowloon stations lets you drop bags before you travel out to the airport, if your airline participates — Cathay Pacific is one that does. If you would rather see the city on the way in, the A-series airport buses go the slow way; the A21 down Nathan Road is the useful one for Tsim Sha Tsui and Yau Ma Tei.
The MTR operates the heavy rail network, the Light Rail in the northwest New Territories and the Airport Express, all signed and announced in English. Octopus is the universal card — it works on the MTR, buses, green and red minibuses, the Hong Kong Tramways 'ding dings' along the north shore of Hong Kong Island, the Star Ferry and in most convenience stores — and it still covers more surfaces than anything else. The MTR now also accepts contactless Visa, Mastercard, UnionPay and JCB along with Apple Pay and Google Pay at designated gates, so you can land and start travelling before you buy anything. Keep Octopus or coins for minibuses and the tram, where a foreign bank card is the less reliable option.
Late October through early December is the reliable window — dry, clear and comfortable, and the one stretch when the harbour view is actually there. Typhoon season runs roughly May to November and peaks July through September. March and April are warm but notoriously damp and foggy, with condensation on every surface and the skyline frequently invisible. July and August are hot and heavy. Chinese New Year, in late January or February, is worth seeing and is also the week many small restaurants and family-run shops close for several days.