Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Skyscrapers against green peaks, and a ferry across the harbour for pennies
Photo by Cheung Yin on Unsplash
Photos by Ruslan Bardash, Natalya Letunova, Nic Low and Dan Freeman on Unsplash
Best time to visit all of Hong Kong
October to December
Climate month by month
The next sixteen daysOpen-Meteo
Average high and low · °C
Rainfall · mm per month
Best months to visit This month · wettest 460mm in Jun
Where it is
22.32°N, 114.17°E Open in Google Maps
Things to do
A week easily- Take the Star Ferry at dusk, then walk the Tsim Sha Tsui promenade
- Hike Dragon’s Back for the coastline
- Eat dim sum somewhere with trolleys and no English menu
- Take the ferry to Lamma or Cheung Chau for the afternoon
- Ride the tram end to end on the upper deck
Hong Kong travel tipsthe general rules
Currency budget Hong Kong
ExpensiveChungking Mansions in Tsim Sha Tsui has the best rates in the city and always has. Avoid the airport and hotel desks. The dollar is pegged to the US dollar, so the rate barely moves.
ATMs & cards
HSBC, Hang Seng and Bank of China machines are everywhere and mostly free to use. Get an Octopus card immediately — it pays for the metro, buses, ferries and convenience stores, and is the single most useful thing here.
Avoid these
- airport and hotel exchange desks
Use these instead
- HSBC
- Hang Seng
- Bank of China
Chungking Mansions has the best cash rates in the city. Get an Octopus card on arrival — it pays for transport and convenience stores and is the single most useful thing here.
Wherever you are: if the machine offers to charge you in your home currency, decline. That is dynamic currency conversion and the rate is set by the ATM's operator, not your bank.
Safety all of Hong Kong
Very safeOne of the safest cities in the world, walkable at any hour, with pickpocketing in crowded markets as the only common issue. Be aware that the National Security Law is broadly drawn: political demonstrations, and even certain slogans or clothing, carry legal risk that does not exist elsewhere. Typhoon signals suspend transport and close everything when raised to 8.
Where to walk, and where to pay attention (6 areas)
Comfortable, including after dark
Worth more attention
- Chungking Mansions — the touts at the entrance
- Wan Chai — bar bills late at night
Our own assessment, not a sourced index.
Entry & visa Hong Kong visa rules
No visa neededup to 180 days
Other passports
No visa neededup to 90 days
Hong Kong is a separate immigration jurisdiction from mainland China — a Chinese visa does not cover it, and going to the mainland and back needs a multiple-entry Chinese visa.
Visa required in advance
Entry rules change often and depend on your passport, not where you live — the official page above is the authority, and the airline checks before you board.
Health & emergencies all of Hong Kong
Excellent and cheapRequired to enter
- Yellow fever certificate, but only if you are arriving from a country where yellow fever is present
Jabs worth having, and what happens if you need a doctor
Worth having
- Routine vaccinations up to date
- Hepatitis A
Getting treated
Excellent, and public emergency care is available to visitors at a fixed non-resident fee that is modest by Western standards. Private hospitals are fast and expensive. English is spoken throughout the system.
Tap water is safe. Summer heat and humidity are the main hazard, and typhoon signal 8 shuts the city down — take it seriously rather than going out to look.
Orientation, not medical advice — entry rules change and what you need depends on your own history. Check with a travel clinic four to six weeks before you go.
Food tip
OutstandingDim sum for breakfast, roast goose for lunch, and cha chaan teng for everything else. The Michelin-starred street food is genuinely cheap. Go where the queue of locals is and point at what they ordered.
Nightlife
Vertical: bar on the fifth floor, club on the twenty-ninth, and one of the best cocktail scenes in the world.
- Lan Kwai Fong — the crowd, spilling into the street
- Soho, Hong Kong — up the escalator, and the better bars
- Wan Chai — the late, rough end of it
- Tsim Sha Tsui — the rooftops, looking back at the island
Closing: 03:00–05:00.
A beer in a bar: HK$60–100
Getting around
Easy and cheap- UberWorks here
- HKTaxiWorks here
- TADAWorks here
- BoltNot here
- GrabNot here
HKTaxi the red taxi fleet
- From the airport
- HKIA to Central HK$280–350, against HK$115 on the Airport Express
- Against a taxi
- Uber runs a little over the red-taxi meter. The taxis are cheap and plentiful.
Uber has operated for a decade without a clear legal footing here. It works; the argument continues.
Time zone and your working day
Asia/Hong Kong — 12 hours ahead of you
0 hours of overlap with a 09:00–17:00 day where you are — — your time, — theirs.
No overlap with a 09:00–17:00 day where you are. Working from here means one of you keeps odd hours — their day starts at 21:00 on your clock.
office hours both at once night
Their 09:00–17:00 is 21:00–05:00 on yours.
The difference from the UK, Europe, the US and ten more
Worked out against America/New York, which is where this request looks like it came from.
Internet speedall of Hong Kong
What these numbers mean
Home broadband — Fast. Several people on calls at once, large uploads, 4K. Broadband here runs at 2.8× the global median of 130 Mbps.
Mobile data — Fair. Maps, calls and streaming; tethering a laptop works for an hour, not a day. Mobile runs at 82% of the global median of 109 Mbps.
These are medians for the whole of Hong Kong — Ookla does not break it down any further. The capital and the resort strips will beat the number and the remoter corners will fall below it.
A median is the middle of every connection tested there, old copper and new fibre together — so in a country part-way through laying fibre it sits well below what a fibre line actually delivers, and a rental on one can run several times this number. Half of the connections are slower; a fibre flat is rarely one of them. It says what a place can do, not what your rental does, so every listing on Holistay carries its own measured speed and the date it was tested.
Getting online: Airalo or Holafly — a data eSIM for Hong Kong, installed before you fly and working the moment you land.
Source: Ookla Speedtest Global Index · measured June 2026
Must-see
Nearby day trips
Say a few words
Cantonese
- Hello你好 — Nei hounay HO
- Thank you (for service)唔該 — M goim-GOY
- Thank you (for a gift)多謝 — Do jehdo-JEH
- Yes / No係 / 唔係 — Hai / M haihigh / m-high
4 more phrases
- Excuse me, let me pass唔該借借 — M goi je jem-GOY jeh jeh
- How much is it?幾多錢 — Gei do chingay-daw CHEEN
- The bill, please埋單 — Maai daanmy-DAAN
- Delicious好食 — Hou sikho-SIK
English is widely spoken and you will manage entirely without this. Using m goi for thank you is still worth it — it is the single most useful word in the city.
Religion
No majority faith
Taoist and Buddhist practice blends with Confucian tradition, alongside Christian and Muslim communities. Temples are working places of worship — do not step over offerings or block the incense.
Do's and don'ts
Do
- Stand on the right of an escalator; walking on the left is expected and enforced socially
- Offer and receive business cards and money with both hands
- Get an Octopus card immediately and use it for everything
- Let people off the train before boarding — it is one of the few queuing rules taken seriously
Don't
- Do not tip in restaurants where a 10% service charge is already added, which is most of them
- Do not stick chopsticks upright in rice; it resembles incense at a funeral
- Do not discuss politics, protests or the National Security Law in public. This is not squeamishness — it carries legal risk
- Do not eat or drink on the MTR; the fine is real and enforced
Where to stay in Hong Kong
No Holistay rentals in Hong Kong yet — the platform is just opening up. Every listing here will have a video tour and the option to negotiate the nightly price directly with the host.
In the meantime, here is Hong Kong on the sites that do have the inventory — each search is already filled in:
- Booking.com hotels, guesthouses and apartments — the widest coverage almost everywhere
- Airbnb whole homes and apartments, and the better option for a week or more
How to get there
Fly into Hong Kong International HKG
24 minfrom the airport· 26 km as the crow flies
Airport Express to Central, 24 min.
Google Flights · Rome2Rio for the trains, buses and ferries as well as the flights
