After my internship in Japan, I decided to spend 5 days traveling around Hong Kong and Singapore. I would have liked to travel all of Asia, but had to pick and choose because of time constraints. I settled on 3 days in Hong Kong, 1 day in Singapore, plus 1 day of travel time to and from Japan (where I would eventually be flying out from).
I picked these two cities since I was traveling alone and from everything I read online and learned from coworkers, not only were these some of the safest nearby cities but also among the safest in the world! I could not agree more, as you will learn if you read this blog and my Singapore blog.
For 3 days in Hong Kong, I settled on staying in a hotel in Hong Kong Island, very near the city center and right next to the botanical gardens. It was very central and near the metro so I could quickly get around. I will go into detail about what I did below, but here’s a little preface of what’s to come:
- Day 1: Arrival PM
- Visit nearby Hong Kong Zoological and Botanical gardens
- Explore Victoria Peak at night
- Day 2: Victoria Peak, Lantau Island, Kowloon
- Explore Victoria Peak first thing in the morning
- Get on a boat towards Lantau Island
- Big buddha and polin monastary (tian tan buddha)
- Tai O (Fishing Village)
- Wisdom path
- Nogong ping piazza
- Tim Ho Wan (Michelin Star Restaurant)
- Kowloon (Main Hong Kong)Victoria Harbor
- Kowloon Promenade
- Harbor city (Shopping)
- Day 3: Lamma Island, Ten Thousand Buddha’s Monastary, Flower Market
- Lamma Island
- Ling kok shan hikinh trail
- Lamma island trail
- Kamikaze cave
- Cheung chau (seafood area)
- Ten Thousand Buddha’s Monastary
- Flower Market in Kowloon
- Star Ferry back to Hong Kong Island
- Lamma Island
- Day 4: Head to Singapore
- Visit Chungking mansions
- Catch outbound flight
There is so much you can do in Hong Kong; I only just scratched the surface! I hope I can come back someday and explore more, including visiting a lot more of the islands around Hong Kong and doing some more day trips into mainland Hong Kong.
Day 1: Arrival
An emotional departure from Japan as my coworkers came with me to the airport to say goodbye. Fortunately, the flight from Osaka to Hong Kong was quite quick and I made it to Hong Kong in no time!
Once off the plane, the first thing I needed to invest in was a public transportation pass. Now there are two different types of passes tourists can get.
- The tourist Octopus Card: which you load just like any other train card, and is the same type of card used by locals to pay for all public transportation
- The Airport Express Travel Pass: This ticket gives you either one or two included rides on the Airport Express train running from the Hong Kong Airport to central Hong Kong in addition to unlimited rides on any MTR, Light Rail and MTR Bus lines for 72 hours. You also are only eligible for this pass if you are a foreigner and have not been in Hong Kong over 14 days.
Because I was only in Hong Kong for 3 days and using the Hong Kong Airport as my entry and exit, I did the math and figured the Airport Express Travel Pass was best for me. This being said, investigate to see which is better for your trip! The limitations on the Airport Express Travel Pass did not affect me at all because I was staying inside main Hong Kong, but many day trips to the outskirts of Hong Kong may not be covered. Whatever you decide, I would recommend some sort of train pass because it will save you SO MUCH time and money compared to taxis.
After navigating my way through Hong Kong, I arrived in my lovely hotel in the mid-afternoon. The hotel room was quite small (technically this room is advertised as a 2-person hotel room) but you do have to remember Hong Kong is the most expensive place to live by square foot in the entire world.
Zoological and Botanical Gardens
After settling in and freshening up, I wanted to explore a little bit of Hong Kong! Just a hop, skip, and a jump away from my hotel was the world-famous Hong Kong Zoological and Botanical Gardens. I have never, in my entire life, seen anything quite like this. It looks like gardens out of a Jurassic park movie.
These Zoological and botanical gardens are some of the oldest in the world, first opened back in 1871. The gardens boast a plethora of wildlife from trees and flowers to non-human primates and birds. To add to the unique environment, these gardens are nestled right in the center of Hong Kong, meaning that peaking above all the trees and bird cages soar even higher skyscrapers. The mix of both natural and man-made is breath taking.
Entrance to the Gardens
Victoria Peak at Night
I spent a long time in the Zoological and Botanical gardens never wanting to leave, but decided I should head to the train for Victoria Peak before it gets too late.
My plan was to visit Victoria Peak twice, once in the nighttime and the other during the day, following tons of advice I found online saying both times were equally impressive. Victoria Peak is the hill in Western Hong Kong where all those classic Hong Kong skyscraper silhouette photos are taken. People live up on the hill and it does function as a radio telecommunications point, but it attracts huge numbers of tourists fueling an abundance of restaurants and shops at the top.
The most convenient and beautiful way to get to Victoria Peak is by the Peak tram. However, because of this, it also means the wait time is incredibly long. I arrived at the queue at around 5:30PM, but wasn’t able to board a tram taking me to the top of Victoria Peak until close to 7! It all worked out well though because I took the tram up just as the sun was setting.
The view at the top did not disappoint. This area is highly catered to tourists, and you can find many restaurants boasting to have the best views of Hong Kong from inside their eatery, but I thought the free views were impressive enough.
Day 2: Victoria Peak, Lantau Island, Kowloon
Misty Early Morning Victoria Peak Hike
Less than 12 hours later, I was back at the Peak tram ready to ride it again. I must say, I strongly recommend trying to get there early because there was practically no line when I went first thing in the morning. This also provided me an opportunity to get off at different points on the tram ride up, stopping to take in the misty views and get a bit of exercise in!
Unfortunately, it was a bad day to visit because it was very rainy so most of downtown Hong Kong was obscured from view. But it added to this other-worldly charm, just like I had experienced in the Zoological and Botanical gardens the day before.
I must say that if you have the time you have got to try to see Victoria Peak both in the day and night. The nighttime shows you the hustle and bustle of this tourism capital, but the early morning shows the quieter, more local side of Hong Kong.
Lantau Island
Tian tan buddha
Because of the weather, I spent only an hour at Victoria Peak, before taking the train to Lantau Island. Lantau Island is the biggest of Hong Kong’s islands and most well known, for good reason too. Po Lin Monastery is located among rolling mountains opening into Ngong Ping Piazza with Big Buddha at the top, and the historical Tai O fishing village on the coast.
I arrived so early to the Po Lin monastery, I was lucky enough to be among the first people able to enter the monastery for the day. I took in the phenomenal views from the top, and rested after walking all those stairs to the top. (Pro tip: I recommend, like any travel blogger you have ever read says, going early to any heavily touristy site to get a feel of the place and snap some cool pictures before the hoards of tour bus tourists unload for the day.)
Big Buddha 
Po Lin Monastery 
Ngong Ping Piazza 
Tai O Fishing Village
After getting my fill of the breathtaking views and beautiful carvings, I took a bus to the other side of Lantau Island for the Tai-O fishing village. Now you can take the Ngong Pin 360 which gives you beautiful views of the island, however, it was SHUT for no clear reason the day I went. So I decided instead to just take the bus (which is a lot cheaper but less cool of a view).
Upon arriving, it felt like entering a third world country. Compared to bustling downtown Hong Kong which was just under an hour’s drive away, the houses here were barely staying up. Tourism evidently is a large factor of how this town’s economy stays afloat, along with fishing, and so I made the most of my time there buying some snacks and indulging on a boat ride around the island!
From an eventful morning, I was ready to take it slow on the bus and then train ride back to central Hong Kong.
Tim Ho Wan (Michelin Star Restaurant)
After getting back, I headed to get my luxury, Michelin star, Chinese dumplings from Tim Ho Wan. Despite looking quite casual and having affordably priced food, the award-winning chef who opened this now chain restaurant was awarded a Michelin star to this restaurant.
I expected an enormous line and price, but the wait went extremely quickly and they provided us a list we could check off what we wanted while in line, so as soon as we sat down the food was there and ready to eat.
I may have ordered too much but I am thankful I went with a friend I met on this trip so we could order more and try more types of food. If you couldn’t guess already from it being a Michelin star restaurant, the food was phenomenal.
Victoria Harbor: Kowloon Promenade and Harbor City
After eating far too much, I slowly made my way to Kowloon promenade and harbor city. Kowloon is the mainland part of Hong Kong which features tons of shopping (harbor city) and incredible views of Hong Kong from the water’s edge.
Day 3: Lamma Island, Ten Thousand Buddha’s Monastery, Flower Market
The next day, surprise surprise is another busy day. I only brought one pair of shoes for this week-long trip, and already by the time I left Hong Kong I had holes on the toes of both shoes!
Lamma Island
As soon as the ferries were open, I made my way to the docks and managed to find my way into the correct ferry to Lamma Island (Central Pier 4).
There are so many different islands around Hong Kong that ferries can take you to and it was hard narrowing down which islands to visit because I only had three days. The obvious island pick had to be Lantau island as everyone recommends it, but Lamma island I picked because people said it felt much more rugged, with lots of hiking, beaches, and beautiful views. This is exactly what I wanted after spending the past few days in central Hong Kong, and it blew away my expectations!
Upon arriving there are immediately lots of signs around telling you where you are and where the hikes/beaches/views are. I underestimated how difficult the hikes would be but there were plenty of places to stop and rest.
I was nervous about hiking alone through an island, fortunately though, there were plenty of other tourists doing the same hike so I never had to worry.
On the hikes around Lamma Island, something particularly unique are these “Kamikaze Grottos.” I was fascinated reading about these online and they did not disappoint. These Kamikaze Grottos were dug out by Japanese troops during WWII to be used by suicide bombers from the Japanese Navy and attack ships that went by.
Ten Thousand Buddha’s Monastery
After traveling 30 minutes one way to Lamma Island, I headed the opposite direction into Mainland Hong Kong for the Ten Thousand Buddha Monastery.
Although it is thousands of gold monk statues lining thousands of stairs to the top of the Monastery, it was actually tricky to find. I didn’t see any English signs pointing me towards the monastery, and only found it by following some savvier tourists that seemed to know where they were going.
This monastery is incredible, to put it bluntly. I didn’t think the Po Lin Monastery could be matched, but what do you know Hong Kong is wow-ing me at every turn. Be prepared, though, for quite the hike. Every time you think you’re close, you take a corner to lead you to MORE STAIRS. But I think that makes this all even more impressive, having so many gold monks lining the stairs to the top.
And then, as if the people building this monastery knew I would be thinking “there is no way they can make this more impressive”, they took it upon themselves to have intricately carved statue after statue overlooking an impossibly beautiful mountain landscape below. Inside the large temple at the top, which we were not allowed to take pictures in, was at least 3 stories of small gold monk statues, each holding a lit candle.
This is a place where pictures truly don’t do it justice. You have to see it for yourself.
Flower Market
After such a jaw dropping day, I finished by taking in the lovely flowery smells at the flower marker on Hong Kong mainland. Street after street was filled with the most beautiful flowers,
Star Ferry to Hong Kong Island
To end the day, I took the Star ferry across to Hong Kong island. There is the metro which runs underneath the water which is a lot cheaper and quicker, but everyone recommends taking the Star Ferry at least once to truly appreciate the views of Hong Kong.
Day 4: Chungking Mansions
I had an early flight out but wanted to spend the last bit of time exploring Hong Kong. I went out in search of the infamous Chungking Mansions, Hong Kong’s ghetto that has been photographed a million times over. I was disappointed, to say the least.
I ended up walking around the Chungking mansions thinking I was lost but too afraid to ask anyone because it was a markedly less safe area than anywhere else I had been in Hong Kong. After a lot of google searching, I realized I had been walking around them the entire time.
I was so put out by the underwhelming site, I didn’t even bother taking a picture. (sorry!) While I was trying to make heads or tails of the Chungking mansions, I stumbled across this blog about a tourist accidentally booking a stay in the Chungking mansions and it is an amazing read.
All in all to say, the Chungking mansions are not worth your time of day.
If you are up in the air about visiting Hong Kong, DO IT. Hong Kong is truly spectacular, and despite everyone saying it is a cool city, I still think it is incredibly undervalued.
You have a huge mix of cultures from English and American to Chinese and South Asian combining all types of architecture, food, and traditions. Top it off with the location of the rolling mountains and islands dotting the border, it is honestly one of my favorite places I have ever traveled.
Unfortunately, it is extremely expensive to live in Hong Kong which is why I could never see myself living there. The government of Hong Kong keeps cost of land ridiculously high and so while there is plenty of land surrounding that could be built on, not enough of it is being offered to be sold.
Hong Kong is also a great city to visit as a solo-female traveler. I felt extremely safe no matter what time of day or where I was (except at the Chungking mansions). I could be by myself hiking an island, or exploring a fishing village, but never felt there was a threat to my physical or mental well being.
Just remember that you will sweat, A LOT! Especially if you go during the summer like me.
Also, 3 days in Hong Kong just barely covers the enormous amount there is to see. I was able to do it but I pushed myself a lot, waking up early and going to bed very late. I wouldn’t do any less than 3 days to visit Hong Kong, and would probably say 5 days would be a comfortable amount of time to see what I saw (and maybe another couple islands) without feeling too hurried.
Now off to Singapore!
