While Hong Kong is home to its historic fishing villages and stakes its claim as a global financial center, the contemporary city is also an international creative design hub. Hong Kong is an architectural palimpsest with imposing skyscrapers, sleek modern buildings and restored colonial architecture woven between tightly packed residences. Space is a premium, and the humidity can feel stifling, but the city’s spirited pace is inspiring. From hiking Victoria Peak for panoramic harbor views, to eating your weight in dim sum and shopping for silk, tea and local snacks, there’s lots to explore. Fly Cathay Pacific, one of the world’s top airlines, for a luxurious introduction to Cantonese hospitality en route.
Photography provided by The Upper House
Stay
This tranquil residential tower was interior designer André Fu’s first hotel project in 2009 and launched his career. Fu is now among Asia’s most sought-after designers, and you can shop his first retail boutique, André Fu Living, next door at the Pacific Place shopping center. The Upper House famously has the largest entry-level rooms in Hong Kong, and Fu’s simple, modern design feels more like a stylish friend’s spacious apartment than a standard hotel room, complete with a wine fridge and surround-sound system. The bathrooms are beautiful, with Bamford toiletries and floor-to-ceiling skyline views from deep soaking tubs. A leisurely bath is a brilliant antidote for jet lag.
In lieu of a traditional spa experience, the 117-room boutique hotel hosts a series of wellness residencies with local partners, offering heated sculpt classes, yoga, crystal energy healing and flawless hair and makeup services to prepare for a glamorous night out.
Photography provided by Roganic
Dine
Chef Simon Rogan’s namesake restaurant has a new location in the Lee Gardens designer mall, and the dining room feels like a soigné treehouse, designed in partnership with HK Timberbank using upcycled wood salvaged from typhoons and urban development for striking columns and archways unfurling from a broken marble mosaic floor.
Set menus are shared among the table, allowing diners to choose their own culinary adventure from a series of main courses, plus snacks and desserts. Roganic’s zero-waste philosophy results in creative bites like Jerusalem artichoke skin stuffed with cheesy truffle sunchoke, and the flexible menu feels more approachable than classic fine dining. Bluefin tuna tartare wrapped in kohlrabi resembles shumai dumplings in a playful trompe-l’œil and kuruma prawn–stuffed carrots swim in luscious prawn head sauce with rosehips and black garlic. An abbreviated lunch experience is available and nonalcoholic beverages utilize kitchen scraps in refreshing ways, like tomato skin–infused kombucha.
Do
One of Hong Kong’s newest museums, M+ is Asia’s first global museum of contemporary visual culture, encompassing art, design and architecture in the West Kowloon Cultural District, a growing arts and culture hub with parks, performance venues and museums. Permanent collections at M+ examine the connections between landscape and humanity in an increasingly virtual world, and reveal how design objects and furniture represent identity and respond to cross-cultural interaction and historical developments.
This summer, The Hong Kong Jockey Club Series: Picasso for Asia — A Conversation, presents more than 60 works by Spanish master Pablo Picasso alongside pieces by Asian and Asian-diasporic artists and an AI-generated animation by Singaporean artist Ho Tzu Nyen on the museum’s facade, paying tribute to the golden age of Hong Kong cinema. Launching in June, the first major Islamic art exhibition in Hong Kong will showcase some of the finest carpets from Iran, Turkey and India, along with ceramics, metalwork, manuscripts and jades.
Photography provided by PMQ
Shop
This creative hub on Hollywood Road was originally built as dormitory housing for police officers (Police Married Quarters) in the 1950s and is now home to more than a hundred emerging creative entrepreneurs and artists. Visitors can roam freely between designer studios and shops, or join guided tours for a more in-depth understanding of the landmark’s history. Fashion highlights include Anaphe’s sustainable silk garments, Qipology’s elegant modern qipaos and Kowloon City Boy’s bold urban streetwear. Shop for locally made gifts including leather goods, handbags, jewelry, toys and small batch skincare while supporting Hong Kong’s up-and-coming creative talent.
Beyond shopping, there are cultural activities and workshops such as indigo dyeing, making macramé, coloring mahjong tiles and making traditional Chinese flower knot buttons so travelers can create one-of-a-kind souvenirs. Stop for dinner or buzzy weekend brunch at Michelin-starred French restaurant Louise for succulent Brittany Dover sole, caramelized onion tarts and excellent espresso martinis.
Photography provided by Yong Fu
Dine
For a taste of Chinese fine dining that simply doesn’t exist in the United States, visit Michelin-starred Yong Fu in the heart of Wan Chai, specializing in Ningbo cuisine from Zhejiang province. A trail of delicate metallic-embossed gingko leaves leads up to the main dining room with six tables and a separate floor with six more beautifully appointed private dining rooms seating up to 18 guests in traditional Chinese banquet fashion.
Seafood is king in this coastal region, from signature cured mud crab with mashed ginger and coriander to whole plum fish served on a sizzling iron plate and tender yellow croaker served in a sumptuous egg soup flavored with fish maw and black pepper. Executive Chef Liu Zhen is a Ningbo native and extraordinary culinary ambassador, opening Yong Fu’s original location in Shanghai in 2011 and now sharing his culture with an even greater audience of appreciative gourmands.
Photography provided by Four Seasons Hotel Hong Kong
Stay
Located in the heart of Hong Kong Island’s Central District, this gleaming skyscraper is an ideal home base, connected directly to the IFC Mall and easily accessible by the Airport Express. With 10 restaurants, and eight Michelin stars (more than any other hotel in the world), Four Seasons is the ultimate gastronomic hotel, whether you’re craving a French feast at Caprice or an Italian seafood omakase at Noi, with caviar and lobster galore. Lung King Heen is a Cantonese classic still at the top of its game with delightful dim sum and rare Chinese delicacies like bird’s nest soup.
The 45th floor club lounge boasts beautiful views and an outdoor terrace, while a dreamy spa offers pedicures with Victoria Harbor views and exquisite Joanna Vargas facials by talented aestheticians. Guest rooms feature black-and-white Chinese ink paintings on wardrobe sliding doors, sparkling marble bathrooms and geometric Ming Dynasty–inspired étagères.
