Hong Kong Sightseeing

Hong Kong was part of China before coming under British administration as a result of the 19th-century Opium Wars. When peace terms were drawn up in 1841, Hong Kong Island was ceded by China to Britain. It remained under British control (apart from a four-year period under Japanese occupation during WWII) until the 1997 handover.

Much has changed since 1841 when then foreign secretary Lord Palmerston described Hong Kong as ‘nothing but a barren island without a house upon it'. Hong Kong can be one of the most engaging and unexpectedly beautiful urban spectacles on earth. 

A two-minute walk from the bustle of Central reveals a harbour view that the architectural boom of the 1980s and 1990s has turned into a mixture of Manhattan and San Francisco, with added shipping bustle. After dark, it just gets better. The view of Hong Kong's glittering lights from the Peak by night is unforgettable, particularly at 2000 when the nightly Symphony of Lights laser and music show invigorates the towers of Central and Kowloon's Tsim Sha Tsui. 

By contrast, the south side of Hong Kong Island, at Stanley or Repulse Bay, is an entrancing islandscape straight out of a classical Chinese ink painting. And any backstreet market provides folksy, ethnic charm by the barrow load. Lamma Island provides a picturesque (power plant excepted) getaway and some excellent seafood restaurants and vegetarian cafés. 

Old colonial Hong Kong may have been short on grand monuments but the now famous Bank of China and the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) give the place a 21st-century buzz suited to one of the Pacific Rim's most pivotal economic hubs. These buildings share the limelight with the rainbow-coloured light show of The Center skyscraper, the waterside steel wings of the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre and the soaring International Finance Center complex, Hong Kong's tallest building.

Hong Kong Tourism Board Visitor Information Centres
Hong Kong International Airport (Buffer Halls A and B, Arrivals Level, Terminal 1)
Lo Wu (Arrival Hall, 2/F, Lo Wu Terminal Building)
Hong Kong Island (Peak Piazza, between the Tower and the Galleria)
Kowloon (Star Ferry Concourse, Tsim Sha Tsui)
Tel: 2508 1234.
Website: www.discoverhongkong.com

The HKTB Museum Pass gives unlimited admission to Hong Kong Museum of Art, Heritage Museum, Science Museum, Space Museum, Museum of Coastal Defence, Museum of History and Dr Sun Yat-sen Museum. Valid for one week, the pass is available from HKTB offices and participating museums.