We are spending a week exploring some of the beautiful sites of Hong Kong, also known as the City of Skyscrapers. Here’s a travel tip for you. If you’re looking for an inexpensive and easy trip from the airport into Hong Kong, look into CityFlyer. This is a double decker, air conditioned express bus with free WiFi. It takes you to many hotels in Hong Kong for around 42 HKD, or $5.40 each way. Our hotel is on Hong Kong island, which is a couple of bridges and islands away from the airport. The travel time is 45-50 minutes.
There are other ways such as the express train and then connecting to the metro or a taxi. However a taxi costs about 10 times more than the CityFlyer.
Why the City of Skyscrapers?
If you aren’t familiar with Hong Kong geography (we weren’t either) there are 263 islands that make up Hong Kong. Few cities on Earth soar quite like Hong Kong. With around 7.5 million people packed into just over 400 square miles, space here is a rare luxury. So the city simply decided to build upward. It’s no wonder Hong Kong has earned its well-deserved nickname: the “City of Skyscrapers.” The skyline is nothing short of incredible. The city actually holds the record for the most skyscrapers in the world, — outpacing New York and Dubai.
In 2025, Hong Kong is home to more than 9,000 high-rises. 4,000 stand taller than 325 feet (30+ stories). 564 buildings stretch beyond 490 feet (40-50 stories). The International Commerce Centre (ICC) — a stunning 1,591 feet tall (108 stories) giant that dominates the skyline.
Ladder streets and aching feet
The other thing we quickly learned is that Hong Kong has a very steep and hilly terrain. So there are thousands of very steep steps and slopes to navigate the city by foot. Rather than building winding roads, the city built staircases and “ladder streets”. This gives pedestrians direct access up the slopes and around town. After a few hours of climbing many stories of small narrow steps, our legs and feet are aching. Our American size feet meant we practically stepped sideways to keep our feet fully on the narrow steps. As you can see the step is half the length of my shoe. A fall on this concrete at our age is dangerous. 😉 No matter which way we go, it ALWAYS seems to be uphill!
The Mid-levels escalators
One of the busiest areas not far from our apartment is the Mid-Levels Escalators. The world’s longest outdoor covered escalator system, provides transport from the urban areas of central Hong Kong island to the steep hillsides of the residential Mid-Levels. It appears in many films, and when you ride them, you enjoy great views of winding streets and narrow alleys. The system combines 18 covered escalators and moving walkways that stretch about half a mile. They also are reversible going one direction in morning and another in the evening. The distance they travel equals miles of winding roads by car.
Man Mo Temple
Man Mo Temple – This Taoist temple is the oldest and largest of the 3 Man Mo temples in Hong Kong. They honor two Taoist gods: Man Tai, the God of Civil Literature, and Mo Tai, the God of Martial Knowledge. People believe these deities guide those taking examinations, making them long-standing figures of importance in Hong Kong. Built in 1847, the temple still retains many of its original features.
Victoria Peak via the Peak Tram
Peak Tram
Since 1888, this cable-hauled funicular railway has carried passengers up the 1,300 foot climb to the highest point on Hong Kong Island. Riding the tram is a quintessential Hong Kong experience and I couldn’t wait to get to the top. It offers dramatic, vertigo-inducing views of the city as it climbs the steep hillside.
Victoria Peak
Rising 1,800 feet above sea level, Victoria Peak is the highest point on Hong Kong Island and one of its most popular attractions. It’s easy to see why — from the summit, you can enjoy sweeping views of the city skyline. This area is a bustling hub filled with restaurants and two shopping malls. The tram’s upper terminus opens into the Peak Tower, where you can head up to Level 5 to reach the Sky Terrace 428 — so named for its elevation of 428 meters above sea level. From here, we enjoyed breathtaking 360-degree views of Hong Kong’s skyscrapers, Victoria Harbor, and Kowloon stretching into the distance.
Kowloon
Across Victoria Harbor from Hong Kong island is the peninsula of Kowloon. We boarded the Star Ferry for the 5 minute ride across the harbor. This passenger ferry service has operated since 1888. Two tickets are only 8 HKD or about $1.08. You do get nice water views as you cross.
Once we arrived back on shore, we walked by the former Kowloon-Canton Railway Clock Tower (1915). Then strolled the waterfront promenade to see the Avenue of Stars, Hong Kong’s tribute to its film industry. It’s modeled after the Hollywood Walk of Fame and incorporates hand prints of the stars. I spotted the hand prints of Jackie Chan and of course the statue of Bruce Lee. This area is also adjacent to Harbor City Mall with 700 stores, 50 restaurants and over 2 million square feet of shopping. That’ll keep anyone busy all day.
Tin Hau Temple (1874)
The Tin Hau Temple honors the Goddess of the Sea. Local fishermen built this temple to pray for her protection while open the sea. We stumbled upon a prayer service while we were there. It’s not only beautiful, but there are thousands of incense sticks of every size burning constantly. So the scent is almost overwhelming whenever you’re inside.
Shanghai Street and local shopping and dining
Shanghai Street is one of the oldest local shopping streets with historic and family run shophouses selling everything you can imagine.
Cat Street Market
We’re back on Hong Kong island and visited this small local vintage and antiques market. It’s been here over 100 years and sells all sorts of Asian decor, porcelain, art, jewelry, and other small items.
Hong Kong at night “A Symphony of Lights”
“A Symphony of Lights” is a nightly light and sound show over Victoria Harbour at 8:00 pm. The event features synchronized lights, lasers, and music across more than 40 buildings on both sides of the harbour. It’s free to enjoy and a nice nighttime view of the city. However, I wish the actual light show was a bit more exciting. But the view is worth the free admission!
Our friends arrive from Sydney
Last night our friends Jim & T flew in from Sydney to join us on the next part of our adventure—a 12 day cruise. We leave Hong Kong tomorrow for Thailand, Vietnam and Singapore. Stay tuned for more sights to come. In the meantime, we have another full day to explore together. We decided to head to Lantau Island for the day.
Lantau Island and the bronze Tian Tan Buddha
Lantau is Hong Kong’s largest island. It sits at the mouth of the Pearl River and is dominated by a 3,000+ foot peak. Po Lin Monastery houses the bronze Tian Tan Buddha, a 112 foot hilltop statue reached by a long flight of steps. It’s the biggest sitting Buddha statue built outdoors. The exciting part about this trip is taking the 25 minute, 3.5 mile long Ngong Ping Cable Car to cross over the sea to get to Lantau Island. What a beautiful panoramic view.
The Tian Tan Buddha holds deep meaning in Buddhist tradition, symbolizing the bond between humanity and the divine. It serves as a reminder of the Buddha’s teachings, inspiring people to seek enlightenment and practice compassion in daily life.
Inside the temple are halls with ornate decorations, including golden Buddha statues, elaborate carvings, and murals.
Scenic Hill Tunnel
One fascinating thing we noticed on the cable car ride is the scenic hill tunnel. The Hong Kong – Zhuhai – Macao Bridge is the longest bridge-tunnel sea crossing in the world. The road starts out as a freeway above ground in the first photo and then becomes an undersea tunnel approximately 150 feet deep under water before reaching the other side. The third photo shows the tunnel and in the upper left you can see it returns to a road above water allowing ships to cross. Amazing engineering.
The highways department of Hong Kong shows this map of the bridge-tunnel roadway.
Final thoughts
Hong Kong is an incredibly beautiful city where East meets West in food, culture and commerce. It’s fast paced and at times can be a little overwhelming, but the food is diverse and delicious. Everyone we met are super friendly and wanted to chat about our travels. It also helps that almost everyone speaks English here. Here are a few travel tips if you’re interested in visiting:
- Use the awesome public transportation options from the airport or the metro system around the city. It’s super efficient, clean, inexpensive and user friendly.
- Many restaurants offer a “set lunch” which is typically a 3 course meal for a great price, usually around $20-25. However, the street food and small family run restaurants are very inexpensive. One of our meals included 2 entrees (shrimp and broccoli and sweet and sour pork with rice for only $5. So you have lots of options. Don’t forget to try the delicious pastry and gelato shops! You will not go hungry.
- you really won’t need cash here. EVERYTHING is tap and go. Be sure to add your credit card to your phone’s wallet and then use your phone to tap and go. It works at stores, restaurants, metro, etc. This is also more secure as you don’t need to open up your purse or wallet or take out your credit card anywhere. Super easy and efficient.
- Pack your best walking shoes, as you’ll need them. You’ll be walking miles UP and DOWN steep hills everyday if you don’t coordinate the mid level escalators. When choosing your hotel on Hong Kong island be sure you’re near the escalators! Of course if you want to Uber or taxi everywhere, then it doesn’t matter. But, you’ll miss out on the wonderful exploration of the streets and quaint alleys that Hong Kong has to offer.
After an amazing dinner with our friends, we are now ready to leave Hong Kong and begin our Asia cruise. Here are a few final photos of Hong Kong as we sail away. There’s more to come soon!
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