10 Kid-Friendly Things To Do In Hong Kong

We're coming up on one year since we adopted our daughter and I was feeling kind of nostalgic for China, specifically Hong Kong. So for this week's Monday Listicles I'm straying from the proposed topic and instead sharing...

When I'm traveling, I'm like a big kid, so here's my list for little and big kids:

1.    Ride the Star Ferry (Victoria Harbor) – This regularly-running ferry is a cheap way (and I love cheap) to get out on Victoria Harbor and to see the skyline of both Kowloon and Hong Kong Island. It’s a short ride and what kid doesn’t love riding on a giant boat? This one!

Star Ferry with Hong Kong Island skyline

2.     Ride a Junk (Victoria Harbor) – We loved riding on this restored junk - a typical sailing vessel of old China. It was fun and gave us awesome views of the skyline. This was my favorite attraction in Hong Kong.

3.     Tsim Sha Tsui Promenade (Kowloon) - The promenade is home to the Avenue of Stars, similar to the Hollywood Walk of Fame. We saw the stars for Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan and Jet Li - we didn't recognize anyone else. The promenade allows beautiful views of Victoria Harbor and the Hong Kong Island skyline. It's a hoppin' place with regular performances and is great for viewing A Symphony of Lights, a light and music show displayed every evening at 8pm on the waterfront. It's also wide enough for the kids to run around, which is what my kids loved most about it. Most importantly, there's a Starbucks on the Promenade.

4.     Kowloon Park (Kowloon) – A large public park close to the promenade and Victoria Harbor. You can walk through the gardens to visit the aviaries and a playground, passing by McDonald’s kiosks, strategically placed throughout the park. We really enjoyed this park, especially because it was free.

Strategically-placed McDonald's kiosk
(weird thing - I think it only sold ice cream)

5.     Victoria Peak (HK Island) – We rode the tram up to the top of the peak. I’ll be honest, it made me a little nervous, but it was so worth it. The views were spectacular and even romantic…unless you’re in the middle of a silent-treatment fight with your spouse, like I was. In that case, not so romantic. We were there during monsoon season, so it was very cloudy, but the skies cleared for a few minutes and we were able to look out on Victoria Harbor and the skyline...even though we weren't talking to each other.

My husband faking it for the photo.

6.     Disneyland – (Lantau Island) – This is smaller than Disney World and Disneyland in California, which means it’s more manageable and cheaper. Monsoon season can be difficult with the rain (we experienced three separate one-hour long rainfalls that day), but there were few lines and they are prepared for the rain - most attractions are indoors or are covered. We all loved it...until the evening when we got soaked to the core. But we persevered through to the fireworks, which we quickly learned terrified our newly adopted son.

7.     Ocean Park (HK Island) - This is like Sea World, I would imagine, if I’d ever been there. They have performing sea lions, an oceanarium, and amusement park rides. My favorite attraction was the gondola ride from the lower part of the park to the upper part. It was on the edge of the mountain. It was gorgeous. I would have provided our own photo, but we lost our camera on this particular trip. Our kids enjoyed this park, but in the afternoon began to get cranky from the heat and all the walking. Again we persevered through to the end, where our son, four years older, still did not enjoy the fireworks.

Gondolas at Ocean Park
source

8.     Hong Kong Zoological and Botanical Gardens (HK Island) – This free zoo is one of the oldest in the world. It houses a variety of mammals, reptiles and birds. It has a playground kids will love, including a small merry-go-round that both entertained and scared our two year old son, making for some great blackmailing video footage for when he becomes a teenager.

9.     World’s Longest Escalator (HK Island) – I dragged my husband to Central-Mid-Levels Escalator because I can’t resist seeing the “world’s largest” anything. We rode it for a few blocks, which was cool, however, I was a bit disappointed because it turns out it’s the longest system of escalators and moving walkways in the world, at 25 minutes one way. The longest individual escalator in the world is a three minute ride one way - it's not clear which one is, indeed, the longest.

10.   Other attractions we didn’t have time to do/see: 

Noah’s Ark – This is a new attraction. I don't recall seeing anything about this on our last trip in March 2012. They claim to have the world’s only full-scale biblical ark replica. But I checked their claim; it’s not the only one. A guy in the Netherlands built one in November 2012. You can see pictures and an article about that here (it's pretty cool). And there’s another one being built in Kentucky, outside Cincinnati as part of an amusement park. Noah's Ark appears to be a resort, science center, adventure center, and gardens situated on Ma Wan Park island near Disneyland.

Ride a Double-decker bus – We chose not to take this attraction up to the Victoria Peak Tram because 1) we missed the bus, and 2) it looked like a short walk. Wrong. It may not have been a long walk except for the fact that anywhere on Hong Kong Island form the harbor is uphill. Steep uphill. One of us pushing a stroller with a child and the other carrying a child on his back, did not make for an easy walk. We'll make sure we don't miss the bus next time.

If you've been to Hong Kong, what attractions did you enjoy? If you haven't been, what's a favorite attraction you've visited any where in the world?

Some information taken from http://www.discoverhongkong.com.

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