Travel and Tourism in Hong Kong

Les Festivals et les Célébrations

Le Nouvel An Chinois (??, Chun Jit) est la fête la plus importante de l'année à Hong Kong. La ville se transforme pour l'occasion : les marchés de fleurs du Nouvel An fleurissent dans tous les quartiers, des millions de residents se retrouvent en famille pour les dîners de réunion de la veille du Nouvel An, et des feux d'artifice spectaculaires illuminent le Victoria Harbour. Le défilé du Nouvel An Chinois à Tsim Sha Tsui, avec ses chars, ses troupes de danse du lion et du dragon, ses fanfares et ses troupes folkloriques, est l'un des plus grands défilés d'Asie.

La Fête des Bateaux-Dragons (???, Tuen Ng) est célébrée le cinquième jour du cinquième mois lunaire. Des courses de bateaux-dragons se déroulent dans plusieurs endroits à travers Hong Kong — notamment à Stanley, à Aberdeen et à Tai Po — avec des équipes qui pagaient frénétiquement au rythme de tambours pour célébrer la mémoire de Qu Yuan, le poète-statesman de l'antiquité chinoise dont la mort tragique est à l'origine de cette fête.

La Nature À Hong Kong : Le Visage Caché

Un fait qui surprend la plupart des visiteurs est que plus de 40 pour cent du territoire de Hong Kong est constitué de parcs de campagne (Country Parks) et de zones naturelles protégées. Ces parcs, établis dans les années 1970 et 1980 pour préserver les collines boisées, les réservoirs et les côtes sauvages du territoire, offrent des possibilités de randonnée, d'escalade, de baignade et d'observation de la nature à quelques minutes seulement des zones urbaines les plus denses.

Le Lion Rock (???, 495 mètres) — la montagne en forme de lion couché qui domine les Nouveaux Territoires — est devenu un symbole de l'identité hongkongaise après la série télévisée populaire "Below the Lion Rock" (????) des années 1970, qui montrait la lutte courageuse de familles ordinaires de Hong Kong pour surmonter la pauvreté et les difficultés. Grimper au Lion Rock pour regarder la ville depuis ses hauteurs est une expérience que de nombreux habitants de Hong Kong considèrent comme profondément significative.

Le MacLehose Trail, un sentier de randonnée de 100 kilomètres qui traverse les Nouveaux Territoires d'est en ouest, et le Wilson Trail, qui relie Stanley sur l'île de Hong Kong aux Nouveaux Territoires, offrent des jours de marche dans des paysages variés — forêts de pins, chaparral méditerranéen, plages isolées, villages abandonnés — que peu de visiteurs imaginent exister à proximité de l'une des villes les plus denses du monde.

Hong Kong and the Pearl River Delta Mega-Region

The Pearl River Delta (???, Zhu Sanjiao) has emerged as one of the world's most economically dynamic mega-regions — a contiguous urban agglomeration that encompasses Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Dongguan, Foshan, Zhuhai, Macau, and numerous smaller cities, with a combined population of over 70 million people and an economy that rivals the largest national economies in the world.

The construction of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge, opened in 2018, connected Hong Kong to the western side of the Pearl River Delta for the first time by road — a 55-kilometer bridge-and-tunnel system that is one of the longest cross-sea fixed links in the world. The Hong Kong Section of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link, opened the same year, connects Hong Kong's West Kowloon station to the Chinese high-speed rail network, enabling travel to Guangzhou in 47 minutes and to Beijing in about nine hours.

These infrastructure connections have begun to integrate Hong Kong more closely into the economic fabric of southern China, raising both opportunities and questions about Hong Kong's distinct identity and the preservation of its unique character.

The Trams of Hong Kong Island

The double-decker trams that run the length of Hong Kong Island's northern shore — from Kennedy Town in the west to Shau Kei Wan in the east, with a branch to Happy Valley — are one of the most charming anachronisms in one of the most modern cities in the world. These slow, rocking, beautifully old-fashioned vehicles have been trundling along the same tracks since 1904, surviving wars, typhoons, and the temptation of urban redevelopment because they continue to serve the dense neighborhoods of the northern shore more economically and efficiently than any alternative.

A tram ride the length of Hong Kong Island — from Kennedy Town through Sheung Wan, Central, Admiralty, Wan Chai, Causeway Bay, North Point and all the way to Shau Kei Wan — is a slow-motion journey through the layers of the city's history and social geography: the working-class neighborhoods of the west, the corporate towers of the center, the nightlife and restaurants of Wan Chai and Causeway Bay, the fish markets and working-class tenements of the east.

Hong Kong's Beaches and Swimming Culture

Despite its dense urban character, Hong Kong has over forty gazetted public beaches, and swimming and beach culture are important parts of the territory's recreational life, particularly for families on weekends and public holidays. Repulse Bay (???), on the south coast of Hong Kong Island, is the most famous and most-visited beach — a broad crescent of sand backed by high-rise apartments with a distinctive colonnaded facade (the hole in the structure of the Repulse Bay apartment building was designed to allow the dragon who lives in the mountains behind to pass through without hindrance to drink from the sea — another example of feng shui principles at work in Hong Kong architecture).

Shek O, at the eastern tip of Hong Kong Island, is a more relaxed beach village with restaurants, surf shops, and a small bohemian community. Cheung Sha on Lantau Island has the longest beach in Hong Kong. Discovery Bay (Disco Bay), a planned residential development on Lantau accessible only by ferry, has its own beach and has attracted a large expatriate community seeking suburban amenities in an urban territory.

The Hong Kong Marathon and Sporting Events

Hong Kong has established itself as a significant destination for international sporting events. The Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon, held annually in February, attracts over 70,000 participants from across Asia and beyond. The course — which takes runners through the Western Harbour Crossing tunnel under the harbour and across the Tsing Ma Bridge — offers spectacular urban scenery.

The Credit Suisse Hong Kong Open (golf), the Hong Kong Badminton Open, the Hong Kong Tennis Open, and various international sailing regattas in the waters around Sai Kung and Discovery Bay are among the major international sporting events that make use of Hong Kong's excellent venues and facilities and its ease of access for participants from across Asia.

Hong Kong Design Festival and Creative Industries

Hong Kong Design Week and the Hong Kong Design Festival, held annually, celebrate Hong Kong's vibrant design community and its growing role as a creative hub for the Asian region. Hong Kong designers have achieved international recognition in fields from product design to graphic design to fashion.

The fashion design scene is particularly dynamic, with local designers creating clothing that blends Chinese aesthetic sensibilities with international fashion influences in ways that are distinctly Hong Kong in character. The shopping streets of SOHO and Causeway Bay, along with concept stores in Hollywood Road and Sheung Wan, provide platforms for local designers to reach both local and international customers.

Hong Kong's Geographic Wonders: Islands, Bays and Capes

The diversity of Hong Kong's natural landscape is most fully appreciated when exploring by water — by ferry, kayak, or chartered junk. From the waters around the territory, the visitor can see the dramatic rock formations of the Geopark, the hidden beaches accessible only from the sea, the traditional villages on Lamma Island where electricity pylons and seafood restaurants coexist with older ways of life, and the open waters of the South China Sea beyond the outermost islands.

The Clear Water Bay Peninsula in the southeast of the New Territories offers some of the clearest seawater and most scenic coastal landscapes in Hong Kong, with dramatic cliffs, hidden coves, and views across to the Sai Kung archipelago. The fishing village of Pak Sha O in the inner Hoi Ha Wan Marine Park — one of Hong Kong's gazetted marine parks where fishing is prohibited — is home to one of the few remaining colonies of hard corals in Hong Kong's waters.