A few notes about our trip to Hong Kong, April 2026
 

I took my son (age 13) to Hong Kong for 8 days during his school vacation week. It is his 3rd visit but considering his first 2 visits were when he was 5 and 6, he doesn't remember much of it. The main goal of the trip was for me to visit extended family and friends, so sightseeing took a backseat. Having said that, here are a few touristy things we did:

1.] Blue House in Wan Chai - we had a spare hour so we went for a look. It is one of the few surviving pre-WWII "Tong Lau." They offer guided tours but with our unpredictable schedule, we just dropped in for a look.

2. West Kowloon Cultural District - This entire area is new since our last visit in 2018. It is actually quite nice, with 2 major museums (M+ for contemporary art; and Palace Museum for items from Beijing's forbidden palace). The rest is outdoor green space and other venues. One downside is the far distance from the Kowloon MTR station, which requires you to walk through a circuitous route through the Elements Mall. We didn't have time to visit M+; we only went to the Palace Museum. After our visit, we took the new WestK Ferry back to Central. The ride is only 8 minutes and saves us walking back to the Kowloon MTR station.

3. Stanley - one of my friends drove us to Stanley, which has become less and less interesting IMO with fewer markets and stalls.

4. Victoria Peak - we took the Peak Tram on a Monday afternoon and surprisingly there was no line. I only bought single one-way ride without any extras. The trams are new since 2022 and are almost twice as long as the previous version. Once we got to the Peak, we exited quickly and went on the Loop walk via Lugard Road and Harlech Road. It is an easy level 2-mile loop that takes you far away from the crowds at the Peak Tower. If you start on the Lugard Road, you'll come to the viewing platform after 15 minutes. You might want to turn back the same way but I encourage you to continue with the loop, which takes maybe an extra 10 minutes vs going back the same way. Since we only bought one-way peak tram tickets, we walked down the Peak via Old Peak Road (it's v steep) then through the Zoological Garden back to Central.

5. Tsz Shan Monastery in Tai Po - another new-to-me sight, even though it has been open for a decade. It is a fairly big Buddhist complex, with a large white Guan Yin statue. Entry is free but reservations are needed. To get there, take MTR to Tai Po Market Station and change for 20T minibus, which drops you right at the monastery entrance. During the daytime the minibus runs frequently due to the number of riders. However, when we were leaving, it stuck to its every 30-min schedule. We spent about 3 hours there and it's worth seeing. You get a map and there are 10 stops where you can get a stamp. The cafe serves tea/coffee and a small slice of cake for free. There is also a museum below the Guan Yin statue. Do note that there is dress code to enter the monastery - no shorts or sleeveless tops. If you show up in those, they will lend you some articles of clothing to cover up.

6. GeoPark in Sai Kung - I booked a tour with Walk Hong Kong for this. I could have gone on our own but the logistics seems too complicated. Unfortunately my son and I were the only ones who signed up for it, so the guide (owner) had to tailor it to 1/2 day for us as you need a bigger group to charter a boat and to have a seafood lunch. For us, it was taxi ride to/from the reservoir and no lunch (for a discounted rate). The GeoPark is huge encompassing many islands and remote areas; where we visited, the High Island Reservoir, is probably the most crowded/most accessible section. We first hiked the trail to Po Pin Chau viewing platform. This is the most popular route and we saw lots of people on the trail, 100% of them were mainland chinese tourists. The trail sadly was littered with trash, on our way back our guide collected at least a dozen empty plastic bottles to bring back to the trash collection site. The second trail is to Biu Tsim Kok viewing platform. This trail we hardly came across anyone and all were local HKers.

Apart from this, we rode the ding ding (tram) many times, and the star ferry once. Getting around we mostly used our Octopus cards, but nowadays all the buses, MTR, trams take contactless so as a tourist you don't *need* an Octopus card anymore, unless you take minibuses which don't take contactless. FWIW, at the HK Airport they do not sell the regular Octopus cards, only the tourist ones. So if you want a regular Octopus card, just pay your first ride with contactless and then buy a regular octopus card at any other MTR stations.

As of April 2026, if you pay with CC/contactless for the Ding Ding, you get HK$1 off, for $2.30/ride. And if you pay with Amex contactless for Star Ferry, you get a discounted fare for just HK$1 (!!!)

We stayed at the Park Lane Hotel in Causeway Bay, now a Marriott Bonvoy property. It's well-maintained, and it being an older hotel, the rooms are quite spacious for Hong Kong. The Cityflyer bus A11 goes directly from the airport to the hotel in Causeway bay (bus stop is 2 short blocks away), for HK$40. It is certainly a bargain compared to the Airport Express train, and more convenient IMHO. The trip takes 60-90 minutes depending on traffic.

I think that's about it! Happy to answer any Qs