This 15-day plan is for travelers who want the full spread of Hong Kong: the skyline districts, a fishing village on stilts, a car-free island, reservoir country in the northeast and two of the best ridge hikes in the territory. The pace is relaxed, with six bases and no transfer longer than about two and a half hours, so you unpack properly instead of living out of a daypack. You’ll use the MTR and East Rail, the Island Line trams, the Peak Tram, outlying-island ferries from the Central piers, the Lantau bus network, the Ngong Ping cable car, plus green minibuses and the occasional speedboat in Sai Kung and the New Territories.
Days 1-4: Sheung Wan and the Western Island
Start in
Sheung Wan, where the dried-seafood and ginseng shops along Des Voeux Road West are still trading and Man Mo Temple hangs its giant incense coils from the ceiling. It’s a short walk into
Central, and the Mid-Levels escalator carries you uphill to
Tai Kwun Centre for Heritage and Arts, the former Central Police …
read more 👉This 15-day plan is for travelers who want the full spread of Hong Kong: the skyline districts, a fishing village on stilts, a car-free island, reservoir country in the northeast and two of the best ridge hikes in the territory. The pace is relaxed, with six bases and no transfer longer than about two and a half hours, so you unpack properly instead of living out of a daypack. You’ll use the MTR and East Rail, the Island Line trams, the Peak Tram, outlying-island ferries from the Central piers, the Lantau bus network, the Ngong Ping cable car, plus green minibuses and the occasional speedboat in Sai Kung and the New Territories.
Days 1-4: Sheung Wan and the Western Island
Start in Sheung Wan, where the dried-seafood and ginseng shops along Des Voeux Road West are still trading and Man Mo Temple hangs its giant incense coils from the ceiling. It’s a short walk into Central, and the Mid-Levels escalator carries you uphill to Tai Kwun Centre for Heritage and Arts, the former Central Police Station and Victoria Prison turned into galleries and courtyards, free to enter. PMQ, the old Police Married Quarters on Aberdeen Street, is five minutes on, filled with small studios selling work by local designers. Late on day one or two, ride the Peak Tram to The Peak and walk the Lugard Road loop as the lights come on below.
Plan your week so a Wednesday lands here: between September and mid-July, Horse Racing nights in Happy Valley cost HK$10 (about US$1.30) at the public gate, and the trams get you there and back. Another evening, ride the tram to the end of the line at Kennedy Town for sunset on the western waterfront and cheap noodle shops on Belcher’s Street. On day four, take the MTR to Shau Kei Wan and bus 9 to To Tei Wan for Dragon’s Back, roughly 8.5 kilometers and 3 hours along an exposed ridge, finishing at Big Wave Bay, where you can rent a board or just swim off the trail.Days 5-6: Tai O and the Lantau High Country
Take the MTR to Tung Chung and ride Ngong Ping 360, about 25 minutes of cable car over the airport bay and the Lantau slopes, to the plateau where the bronze Tian Tan Buddha sits at the top of 268 steps. Bus 21 then drops you down to Tai O for two nights in a guesthouse. The overnight is the point: once the tour groups leave, the Tai O Promenade goes quiet, shrimp paste dries on racks outside the stilt houses, and small boats run out (HK$30 to 50) to look for Chinese white dolphins. On day six, catch an early bus back up to Ngong Ping and climb Lantau Peak, 934 meters of relentless stone steps, around 2 to 3 hours there and back, with cloud spilling over the ridge on most mornings.Day 7: Pui O and Cheung Chau
Bus 1 toward Mui Wo runs along the south coast, so hop off at Pui O Beach, where feral water buffalo graze the wetland behind the sand. Continue to Mui Wo pier for the inter-islands ferry to Cheung Chau; it runs only every 90 minutes to two hours, so time your swim around the timetable. Cheung Chau has no cars, just bicycles, handcarts and a harbor packed with fishing boats. Spend the evening at the seafood restaurants on the Praya, and the next morning walk to Cheung Po Tsai Cave before the ferry to Central (35 to 55 minutes).Days 8-10: Sai Kung and Tai Long Wan
From Central, MTR to Choi Hung and green minibus 1A to Sai Kung, about 1 to 1.5 hours. Three nights here give you one big day and two slower ones. The big day is Sai Kung East Country Park: a taxi to Sai Wan Pavilion, then about an hour downhill to the four beaches of Tai Long Wan, following a stretch of the MacLehose Trail Section 2 to Ham Tin beach, the widest and whitest of them. Speedboats from the beach back to Sai Kung pier save the hike out. Use the other days for kaito boats to the offshore islands and the seafood tanks on the waterfront, where you pick your fish and a restaurant cooks it.Days 11-12: Sha Tin, Tai Po and Plover Cove
Bus 299X takes you from Sai Kung to Sha Tin, where you can leave bags at the station lockers and climb roughly 430 steps to Ten Thousand Buddhas Monastery, its path lined with gold-painted statues, each with a different face. The Hong Kong Heritage Museum, by Che Kung Temple station, is worth an hour for its Cantonese opera gallery. Then East Rail to Tai Po for two nights in a market town that still runs on wet markets and dim sum halls. Day twelve, green minibus 20C to Tai Mei Tuk, rent a bicycle, and ride the dam of Plover Cove Country Park, a sea inlet sealed off and turned into a reservoir. On the way back, stop at Sam Mun Tsai, a fishing village on Tolo Harbour with fish rafts moored offshore.Days 13-15: Yau Ma Tei and Kowloon
East Rail to Mong Kok East and a short walk puts you in Yau Ma Tei, close to the Temple Street Night Market and the jade hawkers by the Tin Hau temple. Mong Kok is a ten-minute walk north for the goldfish shops and Ladies’ Market, and Sham Shui Po is two MTR stops further for electronics stalls on Apliu Street and HK$20 bowls of tofu pudding. On day fourteen, hike Lions Rock from Wong Tai Sin, about 2 to 3 hours, for the view over all of Kowloon, then drop to Chi Lin Nunnery at Diamond Hill for timber halls built without nails. That evening, catch a Cantonese opera show at the Xiqu Centre tea house. Spend your last morning at M+ Museum in West Kowloon, then walk to Kowloon Station for the Airport Express to Hong Kong Airport, where in-town check-in lets you ditch your bag early.
On weekends, a ferry from Ma Liu Shui runs out to Tung Ping Chau, a flat, crescent-shaped island near the mainland border with layered sedimentary rock shelves you can walk along at low tide.v2.webp){kind=logo}
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