Backpacking Hong Kong: A 10-Day Guide

This ten-day route is for travelers who want both sides of Hong Kong: the dense harbor city and the steep green hills that cover the roughly 40 percent of the territory protected as country park. It moves at a relaxed pace across four bases, with a city day for every outdoor day. You’ll ride the MTR, the Island Line trams, city buses to the south side, green minibuses into Sai Kung, a Central ferry to Lantau, Lantau’s own buses and the Ngong Ping cable car.

Days 1-3: Wan Chai and the South Side

Wan Chai makes a cheaper, more lived-in base than Central, with the street stalls of Tai Yuen Street, surviving tenement blocks, and the MTR and trams right outside. Walk east into Causeway Bay on your first evening for the crowds around Times Square and the noodle and dessert shops on the side streets. On day two, climb Victoria Peak on foot instead of queuing for the tram: Old Peak Road rises from the Mid-Levels in about an hour of steep concrete, and you can ride bus 15 back down. Day three heads … read more 👉

This ten-day route is for travelers who want both sides of Hong Kong: the dense harbor city and the steep green hills that cover the roughly 40 percent of the territory protected as country park. It moves at a relaxed pace across four bases, with a city day for every outdoor day. You’ll ride the MTR, the Island Line trams, city buses to the south side, green minibuses into Sai Kung, a Central ferry to Lantau, Lantau’s own buses and the Ngong Ping cable car.

Days 1-3: Wan Chai and the South Side

Wan Chai makes a cheaper, more lived-in base than Central, with the street stalls of Tai Yuen Street, surviving tenement blocks, and the MTR and trams right outside. Walk east into Causeway Bay on your first evening for the crowds around Times Square and the noodle and dessert shops on the side streets. On day two, climb Victoria Peak on foot instead of queuing for the tram: Old Peak Road rises from the Mid-Levels in about an hour of steep concrete, and you can ride bus 15 back down. Day three heads south on bus 6X or 260 from Exchange Square to Repulse Bay for a swim, then on to Stanley, where the market lanes end at a waterfront promenade and Murray House, a colonial building moved stone by stone from Central.

Days 4-5: Sai Kung

Shift east to Sai Kung: MTR to Choi Hung or Hang Hau, then green minibus 1A or 101M, around 1 to 1.5 hours in total. The town is a working harbor with seafood tanks along the waterfront and kaito boats touting rides to the islands. Spend your full day in Sai Kung East Country Park. A green taxi from town reaches the East Dam of High Island Reservoir in about 30 minutes, where hexagonal volcanic rock columns rise straight out of the sea, part of the UNESCO Global Geopark. Walk the dam and the coastal paths, then ride back for dinner at the pier.

Days 6-7: Mui Wo and South Lantau

This is the one longer transfer: minibus and MTR to Central (about 1.5 hours), then the ferry from Pier 6 to Mui Wo (35 to 55 minutes), a low-key village with bike rentals and a beach on the bay. That afternoon, take the bus to Nam Shan and hike Sunset Peak, 869 meters, to Pak Kung Au in 3 to 4 hours, past stone holiday huts and, in autumn, hillsides of silvergrass. On day seven, bus 1 runs to Tai O for stilt houses and salted fish, bus 21 climbs to Ngong Ping for the Tian Tan Buddha, and Ngong Ping 360 carries you down to Tung Chung in about 25 minutes. Riding it downhill in the afternoon dodges the morning queues at the bottom. Bus 3M takes you back to Mui Wo.

Days 8-10: Tsim Sha Tsui and West Kowloon

Ferry back to Central, then the Star Ferry to Tsim Sha Tsui for two nights. The West Kowloon Cultural District is a 15-minute walk away, with two big museums you should split across separate days. M+ Museum covers visual culture, from Hong Kong cinema posters to neon signs, and its roof garden looks back at the island. The Hong Kong Palace Museum shows imperial treasures on loan from Beijing’s Forbidden City collection. On your last morning, ride the MTR to Wong Tai Sin Temple, where worshippers shake kau cim fortune sticks in clouds of incense, before heading to the airport.

From Wong Shek Pier at the far end of the Sai Kung peninsula, a ferry crosses to Tap Mun, a windswept island of grassy slopes, a Tin Hau temple and a few seafood restaurants facing open water.