Hong Kong Travel Guide: Where to Stay, Eat, and What's New for 2026

Three Michelin stars. Chef Guillaume Galliot's modern French at the highest level in Asia. The harbor view, the cheese trolley (one of the world's best), the Asia's 50 Best regular.

Reservations 60+ days ahead.

Three Michelin stars. The world's first Chinese restaurant to receive three Michelin stars (2009). Chef Chan Yan Tak's refined Cantonese — the BBQ pork puff is legendary.

Lunch dim sum is the most coveted reservation in Hong Kong.

Two Michelin stars. Chef Alvin Leung's 'X-treme Chinese' tasting menu — molecular-Cantonese with theater. The 'Sex on the Beach' starter (a Cantonese take on the cocktail) is the signature.

Among Hong Kong's most theatrical meals.

The most influential modern Cantonese restaurant of the last decade — now with global outposts. The 42-day apple-wood Peking duck and the iberico pork char siu are signatures. The basement design (Joyce Wang) is theatrical.

Among the city's most loved traditional dim sum spots — chef Tang Chi Keung is one of Hong Kong's most respected old-guard dim sum masters. The shrimp dumplings (har gau) here are the standard against which others are measured.

One Michelin star. The world's most affordable Michelin meal — the BBQ pork buns are HK$20 for three. Multiple locations now; queues at all.

The Sham Shui Po original is the most local.

The Hong Kong beef-brisket noodles institution — Anthony Bourdain came here. The clear-broth version is the order. Cash only, queues from 12pm, no English menu — just point at what the people next to you are eating.

Hong Kong's most famous breakfast spot — scrambled eggs, macaroni soup with ham, milk tea. Notoriously brusque service (part of the charm). Queue from 7am, cash only, in-and-out in 20 minutes.

The traditional Hong Kong breakfast.

The pan-fried Shanghai-style soup dumplings (sheng jian bao) that have a cult following — crispy on the bottom, soup-filled on the inside. Order four. Eat them while standing up.

One of the most respected specialty coffee spots in Hong Kong — single-origin pour-overs, a tasting flight option, the kind of place baristas-of-other-cafés drink. Sheung Wan / Sai Ying Pun area.

Polo bun (bo lo bao) institution — the breakfast version is the crispy-top bun with a thick slab of butter melting into it. Add a Hong Kong-style milk tea (made with evaporated milk). The most traditional Kowloon breakfast.

Hong Kong's reliable all-day Western brunch — the Big Brunch, properly cooked eggs, French toast with maple. The Sheung Wan location is the prettier room.

World's 50 Best Bars #1 (2019) and regular top-10 finisher. Hemingway-themed cocktail menu — each drink references a Hemingway novel or short story. Tiny, no reservations, queue from 6pm.

Asia's 50 Best Bars #1 multiple years running. Jay Khan's agave bar — mezcal, tequila, sotol, the most rigorous Mexican-spirits program in Asia. The food (chef Khan's Mexican-influenced bar plates) is excellent.

Lorenzo Antinori's Roman-inspired aperitivo bar — opened 2023, immediately World's 50 Best Bars #1 in 2024. Spritzes, Negronis, simple Italian small plates. The most internationally important new Hong Kong bar.

Inside the restored Central Police Station / Tai Kwun complex — bars in former cells, an unusual setting. The Madame Fù restaurant-bar at Tai Kwun is the higher-end option in the same complex.

On the 30th floor with the iconic Victoria Harbor skyline view across to Hong Kong Island. Cocktails are pricey; the view alone is worth the bill. Booking essential — request a window table.

Antonio Lai's science-driven cocktail bar — the 'Earl Grey Caviar Martini' is the signature. World's 50 Best Bars regular. Among Hong Kong's most internationally respected mixologists.

Opened November 2021 — Asia's largest visual-culture museum, anchored by the Sigg Collection of Chinese contemporary art (Switzerland's Uli Sigg's 1,463 works donated/sold). Herzog & de Meuron's building. The most architecturally ambitious museum in Asia of the last decade.

Opened 2022 — Forbidden City treasures permanently rotated from Beijing. Rocco Design Architects' gold-tinged building beside M+. Together with M+ the most significant cultural project in Hong Kong's modern history.

Herzog & de Meuron's restoration of the former Central Police Station compound (built 1841-1925) — restored as a heritage center with the JC Contemporary art space, restaurants, bars (Behind Bars), and the original courtyard intact. Free general admission.

Reopened 2019 after extensive renovation — Chinese antiquities, Hong Kong art, the Chater Collection of historic Hong Kong painting. The harbor-facing windows are part of the experience. Free.

The former Police Married Quarters — converted into a hub for Hong Kong design and creative businesses. Independent boutiques, exhibitions, restaurants. Not a museum in the classic sense; the most active design center in Hong Kong.

Tod Williams Billie Tsien's adaptation of the former British Magazine ammunition store (1860s) — exhibition galleries, theater, restaurant. Quiet, beautifully designed, the most under-visited serious cultural space in Hong Kong.

Hong Kong's iconic viewpoint — the 1888 Peak Tram is the most cinematic way up. Go on a clear evening; the Sky Terrace 428 has the panoramic view. The Lugard Road circular walk (45 minutes) is the alternative to the crowded viewpoint.

Operating since 1888 — HK$5 for the 10-minute crossing between Central and Tsim Sha Tsui. The most photographed boat ride in Asia. Take it both ways.

Best at sunset and again at 8pm for the Symphony of Lights show.

Hong Kong's main central drinking district — Lan Kwai Fong's bars are touristy but iconic; Soho (above the escalator) is where the locals drink. The Mid-Levels Escalator takes you between them.

Hong Kong's most famous night market — open-air dai pai dong (street-food stalls) at one end, fortune-tellers and Cantonese-opera performers in the middle, knock-off stalls at the other. Atmospheric in a properly old-Hong-Kong way.

Dumbbell-shaped island 35 minutes by ferry from Central Pier 5 — no cars, narrow lanes, seafood restaurants, the Bun Festival each May. Hong Kong's beach-fishing-village escape day. Walk around the whole island in three hours.

An hour from Central by bus — fishing-village seafood, the UNESCO Hong Kong Global Geopark with its hexagonal volcanic columns. Take a boat to Tap Mun (Grass Island) or hike to Long Ke beach. Wild Hong Kong, 20km from the skyscrapers.

The 34m bronze Buddha (1993) on Lantau Island — take the Ngong Ping 360 cable car from Tung Chung MTR (25 minutes, panoramic). Pair with the Po Lin Monastery vegetarian lunch. Half-day trip.

Hong Kong's most famous hike — a 8.5km ridge trail with views of the South China Sea and the city. Time magazine named it Asia's best urban hike. Take bus 9 from Shau Kei Wan; finish at Big Wave Bay (for swimming).

Hong Kong's most beautiful beach — a 1.5km crescent of white sand on the wild Sai Kung peninsula, only accessible by boat or a 2-hour hike. Half a day to get there; worth every minute. Bring everything you need.

Eight hectares of urban park between Central and Admiralty — an aviary with 600 birds, ornamental ponds, the restored Flagstaff House (1840s, the oldest surviving Western building in Hong Kong). Free.

30 minutes by ferry from Central Pier 4 — no cars, the most laid-back island, hippie-ish, seafood restaurants at Sok Kwu Wan. Hike the 5km Family Trail across the island, finish with a seafood dinner before the last ferry.

60-hectare ecological park near the Shenzhen border — boardwalks through mangroves, bird hides, migratory birds in winter. Far from the city; properly quiet.