Hong Kong

Ride the funicular tram to 552 metres for a panoramic sweep of skyscrapers stacked between harbour and jungle-covered hills.

A 34-metre bronze Buddha sits atop Lantau Island, reached by 268 steps or a gondola ride over forested peaks and fishing villages.

This vivid Taoist complex sees worshippers shake fortune sticks and consult temple soothsayers against a backdrop of red pillars and incense smoke.

An immaculately preserved Tang-dynasty wooden monastery in Diamond Hill surrounded by silent lotus ponds, startlingly serene inside the urban sprawl.

Stilt houses crowd a tidal channel on Lantau's western tip where residents still salt-dry fish and shrimp paste on bamboo racks in the open air.

A self-guided walk through Tang clan ancestral halls and a centuries-old pagoda buried in the New Territories farmland north of Yuen Long.

This working-class Kowloon district delivers Hong Kong's best street-food density — curry fishballs, egg waffles, and clay-pot rice — alongside stalls selling bolts of fabric and surplus electronics.

A one-hour ridge hike above Shek O reveals dramatic coastal cliff views that feel nothing like the city humming 500 metres below.

David Lai's neighbourhood bistro in Sheung Wan packs intimate tables with locals ordering slow-cooked pork jowl and hand-rolled pastas that change with the market.

Vicky Lau's Central restaurant dedicates its entire tasting menu to soy in all its forms, transforming a single ancient ingredient into twelve distinct courses.

The world's first Chinese restaurant to earn three Michelin stars serves lacquered Peking duck and delicate crystal shrimp dumplings with harbour views from the Four Seasons.

Richard Ekkebus's Landmark Mandarin kitchen blends French technique with Hong Kong produce — sea urchin with Oscietra caviar is the definitive opener.

A veteran Central craft-beer pub with rotating taps, no televisions, and the worn-in comfort of a place that has hosted writers, journalists, and expats for decades.

The city's most-lauded local brewery pours its Classic Pale Ale and seasonal sours from a no-frills Aberdeen taproom that gets packed on weekend afternoons.

A loud, neon-lit dive bar in Lan Kwai Fong that serves cheap shots, plays vinyl records, and somehow feels more honest than every cocktail lounge surrounding it.

A subterranean Central speakeasy with exposed brick, a strong whisky list, and late-night bar snacks that outlast the nearby restaurants by several hours.

Wan Chai's longest-running dance club stacks three floors of DJs playing tech-house and hip-hop for a crowd that typically arrives well after midnight.

Perched on the 118th floor of the ICC tower in West Kowloon, this is the highest bar in Asia, with floor-to-ceiling glass framing the full harbour light show.

SoHo's intimate jazz and live music bar books rotating local and visiting musicians six nights a week, filling a narrow room with improvised sets until 3 a.m.

A long-established Lan Kwai Fong venue with a retractable-roof terrace and resident DJs drawing a well-dressed crowd that spills onto the street at weekends.