World City Guide

Key Attractions

Statue Square
Previously never a feature of traditional Hong Kong tourist itineraries, Statue Square is now a must-see, on account of its dazzling ensemble of modern architecture. The headquarters building of the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) forms the south side of the square and just to the east of it is I M Pei’s Bank of China Tower. Less distinguished but equally prominent buildings jostle around them, towering over the colonial remnant of St John’s Cathedral. In more antiquated contrast, the Legislative Council Building, formerly the Supreme Court, on the east side of the square, houses Hong Kong’s partly elected assembly.

The bizarre profile of Norman Foster’s masterpiece may not look monumental on paper (it is on most Hong Kong Dollar banknotes) but in the flesh (or steel) it is tremendous. Opened in 1986, the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation building exemplified the fashion for atriums in world architecture and an escalator ride up into the belly of the building. The building has no central core (bridge engineering techniques secure the walls and its infrastructure is on the outside) so all 11 storeys of the central atrium are open and unobstructed.

Deliberately planned to dwarf the neighbouring Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank Building, the Bank of China Tower is now Hong Kong’s ‘national’ monument. The Chinese-American architect, I M Pei, developed Beijing’s triumphalist intentions into a soaring, gracefully irregular pinnacle, the design characteristics of which inspire lively debate among connoisseurs of feng shui. The triangular and hexagonal structural logic requires some minutes of puzzled scrutiny. Visitors can ascend to the 43rd of the building’s 74 floors for a particularly stunning view of Central.

Standing beside the Star Ferry terminal is the soaring 88-storey International Finance Centre (known as ‘Two IFC’ - One IFC building is older and much smaller) building is for now Hong Kong’s tallest skyscraper at 420m (1,378 feet) and the sixth tallest in the world – the Union Square Phase 7 will be taller once completed in 2007. Topped by a sculptural ‘crown’ reaching inward and outward, the buildings tapered upward appearance is achieved by smaller floor areas towards the top. The building featured in the movie Tomb Raider II. The 55th-floor Hong Kong Monetary Authority Information Centre is open to the public and there is also a cinema, upscale shopping mall and the super-trendy new ISOLA bar and grill on the third floor.

Central
Transport: MTR Central station, exit K.

Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank Building
Des Voeux Road, Statue Square
Tel: 2822 1111. Fax: 2868 1646.
Website: www.hsbc.com.hk
Opening hours: Mon-Fri 0900-1630, Sat 0900-1230.
Admission: Free.

Bank of China Tower
2a Des Voeux Road, 1 Garden Road
Tel: 2826 6888. Fax: 2810 5963.
Website: www.bochk.com/en/index.htm
Opening hours: Mon-Fri 0930-2130, Sat and Sun 0930-2330.
Admission: HK$9 (concessions available).

International Finance Center
8 Finance Street
Website: www.ifc.com.hk/english

Victoria Peak
A miniature hill station in colonial times, Victoria Peak is stratospheric in its social exclusiveness and its rents. Groundlings can still visit, however, ascending by the vertiginous Peak Tram – a funicular in use since 1888, which feels more like the Space Shuttle. Atop the hill is the Peak Tower (a slightly bizarre viewing platform with displays and other facilities) as well as the Peak Galleria shopping arcade. The amusements and shops on offer vary from the appealing to the unforgivably tacky, although there are at least plenty of restaurants and bars to sustain visitors. Dinner at Café Deco, in the Peak Galleria, is a must-do Hong Kong experience – the view down into central Hong Kong and across the water to Kowloon defies description, day or night. Hikers can scale the real peak, some 140m (459ft) above the tram terminus, with vistas over Hong Kong Island, Kowloon and the outlying islands.

Garden Road (Lower Peak Tram Terminus)
Tel: 2849 7654; fax: 2849 6237 (Peak Tram).
E-mail: peaktram@peninsula.com
Website: www.thepeak.com.hk
Transport: Peak Tram from Garden Road; bus from Exchange Square; shuttle bus from Star Ferry terminal.
Opening hours: Daily 0700-2400 (Peak Tram).
Admission: (Peak Tram) HK$20 one way, HK$30 return; concessions available.

Western Market
This former market (a four-storey red brick Edwardian building dating from 1906 and occupying an entire block at the western end of Central) was reopened in 1991, as a shopping centre featuring small shops, souvenir stands and curio sellers. Ground-floor shops sell unique merchandise rather than chain store goods, while the first floor recreates the old ‘Cloth Alley’, selling silks and fabrics of all kinds. There is also a dim sum restaurant and a fine antique-shop café.

Connaught Road
Tel: 2543 6878. Fax: 2543 6931.
Transport: MTR Sheung Wan, exit B or C; bus or tram along Des Voeux Road to Sheung Wan.
Opening hours: Daily 1000-1900.
Admission: Free.

Times Square
The retail plaza to end them all, Times Square is an enormous temple to Hong Kong’s number one deity, Mammon. The vast complex houses nine floors of shops and has a spectacular exterior with a huge display screen and electronic clock – the venue for the big millennium countdown in 2000. At the weekend, the hosts of sacrifices ascending the escalator, to be swallowed up in the belly of this huge idol, demonstrate exactly what the Asian economic miracle was all about. Recession has not visibly blunted the shopping frenzy and there are ever more shops and restaurants under this huge pile.

Times Square, Causeway Bay
Tel: 2118 8900. Fax: 2506 2022.
Website: www.timessquare.com.hk
Transport: MTR Causeway Bay; bus or tram along Hennessey Road to Causeway Bay.
Opening hours: Daily 1000-2200.
Admission: Free.

Flagstaff House Museum of Tea Ware
Situated in the beautiful Hong Kong Park and overlooking the ultramodern mania of Central, Flagstaff House, dating from 1846, is the former residence of the colonial Commander-in-Chief and the oldest surviving colonial building in Hong Kong. It now houses a fine museum of tea ware, seals and other ceramics.

10 Cotton Tree Drive, Hong Kong Park, Central (inside Hong Kong Park)
Tel: 2869 0690. Fax: 2810 0021.
Website: www.lcsd.gov.hk/CE/Museum/Arts/english/tea/intro/eintro.html
Transport: MTR Admiralty, exit F, then up escalator through Pacific Place; bus or tram along Queensway to Pacific Place.
Opening hours: Thurs-Tues 1000-1700.
Admission: Free.

Hong Kong Museum of History
It is somehow fitting that this go-ahead territory has its history commemorated in a dazzling new building. Opened in late 2000, the new museum building, situated next to the Hong Kong Science Museum in Kowloon, houses exhibits covering the region’s history from prehistoric times, including some spectacular period sets. There are traditional costumes, a huge collection of period photographs, replicas of old village houses and an entire street, circa 1881, with its own Chinese medicine store. There are also numerous temporary exhibitions.

100 Chatham Road South, Tsim Sha Tsui
Tel: 2724 9042. Fax: 2724 9090.
E-mail: hkmh@lcsd.gov.hk
Website: http://hk.history.museum
Transport: MTR Tsim Sha Tsiu, then walk via Cameron Road; minibus no 1 from Kowloon Star Ferry in Tsim Sha Tsiu to Science Museum Road.
Opening hours: Mon, Wed-Sat 1000-1800, Sun 1000-1700.
Admission: HK$10 (concessions available).

Wong Tai Sin Temple
An ornate traditional temple in the heart of Kowloon, Wong Tai Sin Temple combines Buddhist, Confucian and Taoist traditions. Wong Tai Sin himself was a Zhejiang shepherd/alchemist who supposedly concocted a marvellous cure-all. His statue in the main building was brought from the mainland in 1915. The building is spectacularly colourful with its red pillars, golden ceiling and decorated latticework, although not particularly distinguished. Far more fascinating are the fortune-tellers in their arcade of booths and the throngs of worshippers. This is also Hong Kong’s number one temple for Chinese New Year celebrations.

Tai Sin Road, Kowloon
Tel: 2327 8141. Fax: 2351 5640.
Transport: MTR Wong Tai Sin, exit B3, then follow signs.
Opening hours: Daily 0700-1730.
Admission: Free; donations welcome.

Yuen Po Street Bird Garden
Rearing caged songbirds is a time-honoured Chinese pursuit and the Yuen Po Street Bird Garden is Hong Kong’s shrine to this obsession. There are about 70 stalls, each with its own chorus, with ornate cages and cage furniture providing added interest. And while conditions in the average Hong Kong poultry market would give an animal welfare activist apoplexy, the birds here are pampered and cosseted, even fed honey nectar to sweeten their songs. Just north of the Bird Garden, there is also a fine flower market and a goldfish market, closer to the MTR station in Tung Choi Street.

Prince Edward Road West, Kowloon
Tel: 2807 6543.
Transport: MTR Prince Edward, exit B1 or B2, then follow signs.
Opening hours: Daily 0700-2000.
Admission: Free.

Disneyland Hong Kong
Disney’s latest theme park opened in the lush setting of Lantau Island in September 2005. The 310-acre park incorporates four lands (Main Street USA, Fantasyland, Adventureland and Tomorrowland) and two hotels. Visitors can meet characters old and new, from Mickey Mouse to Buzz Lightyear, and can tour the park aboard the Hong Kong Disneyland Railroad. Attractions range from the adventurous Jungle River Cruise to the magical Sleeping Beauty Castle to the dizzying heights of Orbitron, where guests can pilot their own rocket. Live entertainment includes the Festival of the Lion King, inspired by the Disney film, while cuisine caters for Western and Asian tastes.

Penny’s Bay, Lantau Island
Tel: 183 0830.
Website: www.hongkongdisneyland.com
Transport: MTR Disneyland Resort Station.
Opening hours: Daily 1000-2100 (summer); Mon-Fri 1000-1900, Sat-Sun 1000-1200 (winter).
Admission: HK$295 (regular), HK$350 (peak – weekends and some school holidays); concessions available.