Why Hong Kong Is Still Worth Visiting in 2026 (And What Most Tourists Miss).

Join Paula Barnes as she shares her personal journey and insights about Hong Kong, covering its neighbourhoods, attractions, food, and travel tips. Perfect for travellers and expats alike.

Key Topics

• Hong Kong neighbourhoods and their unique vibes
• Top attractions including: The Peak, Big Buddha, and Disneyland
• Local cuisine and shopping tips
• Seasonal travel advice and public transport options
• Neighbourhood Diversity in Hong Kong
• Seasonal Travel Planning

Action Items

• Plan a visit to Lantau Island and The Big Buddha
• Use the Octopus card for convenient travel
• Explore neighbourhoods beyond Kowloon and Hong Kong Island

Useful Resources

• Best things to do in Hong Kong for first timers 
• Lantau Island Must-Do's!
• Best things to do in Hong Kong at night!
• Get Your Guide Storefront 

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Transcript

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[0:24] Paula Barnes: Okay so welcome back to the Truly Expat Travel podcast and I'm your host Paula and today I'm doing another recording of just me I'm flying solo and that is because today we're going to talk about Hong Kong and it's not that I live there right now but it is that that I am I have lived there before I've lived there twice and my husband is currently there a lot at the moment.

[0:51] Paula Barnes: and I've just come back from there. We did New Year's Eve and then I did two weeks there. So yeah I can talk a lot about Hong Kong even though I'm currently right now as I speak still living in Singapore. So let's get started. It's not going to be a long episode but it's going to be one that's full of a lot of information anyway. Anyway let's get started and I'll talk to you and explain to you why what my journey of Hong Kong was.

[1:20] Paula Barnes: is and why Hong Kong is such a special place for me. Now let's go back I'm gonna say 30 years ago a long time ago when my husband and I who were boyfriend and girlfriend at time actually no we were engaged we were backpacking through Asia and our very first stop was Hong Kong. What made it stand out more than anything was that I remember landing in Hong Kong back when it was the old airport and it was scary.

[1:49] Paula Barnes: It was really, really scary. And so I also remember it was nighttime and feeling like I was going to land into someone's, like literally into someone's bedroom. was really, anyway, it was a really tough, tough landing. It was the very first time I'd ever gone to an Asian country. So for me, it was quite a bit of a culture shock. So that night we stayed in a hotel in Nathan Road.

[2:17] Paula Barnes: So for those who don't know what Nathan Road is, it's probably one of the most well-known roads in kind of Kowloon on the mainland of Hong Kong. It's got lots of things like night markets, very, very local. It's very Hong Kong. Whereas Hong Kong Island, which I'll explain a little bit later, is very much...

[2:43] Paula Barnes: westernized to some degree but also it's modernized is probably a better word not westernized modernized as opposed to I feel like Kowloon is still quite busy but lots of still lots of tourists but it's still quite authentic if that's the best way to explain it. Anyway I digress let me get back into my story where I was the reason I wanted to say this was that the next morning we woke up

[3:13] Paula Barnes: and we went for a walk down Nathan Road. Firstly, I was like, this stinks, this whole area stinks, it's so dirty, why would anyone wanna live here? And there was, I remember there was rats running around and I was like, oh yeah, this is awful. And obviously it's nothing like how I feel now, but at the time being, I'd only ever traveled to Europe outside of Australia before, I'd never gone anywhere else. I was 23, no, 22.

[4:09] Paula Barnes: and was green is probably the best word to say very unsure of what Asia had to offer and the smells got to me and I wasn't feeling well and I remember we were looking for dim sum we're looking for we were looking for yum cha yum cha everyone no one knew what we talking about but years later I realized that we were looking for dim sum you know in Australia we call it yum cha I know in Japan we call it they call it yum cha but it is dim sum and we didn't know that we just

[4:38] Paula Barnes: thought it was yum cha because that's what we had in Sydney or in Australia and then that was number one and number two was we stayed in this hotel so it was back when you can only book through travel agents yep back those days where there was no internet and so she suggested that when we first land that we stay in a hotel a really nice hotel instead of backpacking because we were backpacking through all of Asia and we were like okay okay little did we know that that hotel was so expensive it actually ate up a

[5:08] Paula Barnes: quarter of our budget because we had to pay when we got there and we were like wow this is so expensive and it was like a shoe box I don't even know if that hotel is still there but it was for us backpackers it was like wow so we we walk out and then you've got the man you know the butler not the butler the guy at the door the doorman with the he had the

[5:34] Paula Barnes: like very well-dressed and the turban and just so it was such a culture shock that we were like my god. What I wanted to say is that that is not how I feel now in fact I would say Hong Kong is the complete opposite to what I thought it was gonna what it was back then. When we went back and we moved there it was our second posting we'd ever done we'd done Taiwan before that and I

[6:00] Paula Barnes: loved it. I loved every bit of Hong Kong. I loved the place. I loved the raw, like I loved that raw, authentic, local feeling that you get and every place is different you know like so you go to Kowloon on the mainland and like I said it's still quite authentic. You go to Hong Kong Island and it's much more modernized. There's lots of great bars. You've got the business district there.

[6:28] Paula Barnes: lot of you've got a lot of expats there too right and then then you go on to the islands and Lantau Island which is where I used to live where you got Disneyland you've got beaches and you've got a real local lifestyle which I just loved when the kids were little and had so much freedom when the kids were you know like there was it's such a safe place it was that they could run around and come home when the lights were on which you know you can't really do that in many places anymore.

[6:57] Paula Barnes: So their upbringing was very different. It was kind of like how I grew up in Australia. Then I guess why I wanted to talk about it now and my journey with Hong Kong is that because we've just recently come back and we spent New Year's Eve in Discovery Bay, which is where I used to live, it was so lovely because we got, you catch a ferry because you have to catch a ferry.

[7:25] Paula Barnes: to the island and when you get there it's Orlando Island is also where the airport is by the way. But when you get to Discovery Bay and you get off and then all the kids and my children who are in their 20s all ran into people they knew. We ran into people we knew. You know we had dinner there. We went and walked around to where we used to live, the school. It was nostalgic. It was really, it felt like home.

[7:52] Paula Barnes: That's the only way I can explain it felt like I'm and then we caught up with friends They were more like family while we were there like it was just it was a really lovely time So anyway, that's why I am inspired to talk about Hong Kong today. So let's get started on my questions. I haven't started on my questions yet

[8:10] Paula Barnes: So let's get started. I guess on question one, I've already, you know, what was my journey? I'm not gonna talk about my expat journey, but my Hong Kong journey. And then now we're gonna talk about what would you say Hong Kong is famous for? Hong Kong is famous for its food. Definitely its food, its nightlife, the neon signs. It's also very famous for...

[8:35] Paula Barnes: Hong Kong Sevens it's very famous for yum cha or na it's dim sum and it's also famous for shopping lots and lots of shopping lots of hiking there's a lot of hiking in Hong Kong and even when you are this is the one thing I remember I noticed the most was that when I was walking around the city I had forgotten how hilly everything is in Singapore everything's flat so it

[9:04] Paula Barnes: make sure you put walking shoes on don't put anything that's not you know like heels and stuff you can wear heels here but there it was it was a little more tricky so i would say that is probably what is most famous for and also apparently

[9:19] Paula Barnes: If you're thinking of buying luxury brands that is the best place to buy them. The tax is so much I can get it back anyway but that's why there is so many people buying luxury items there because it is one of the one of the cheapest places in the world to buy luxury goods which we'll I'll talk about where I think is a really great place to shop in a minute. And what are some of the best known attractions? I would say the peak

[9:47] Paula Barnes: going up the tram, that is one thing. It is known for having the steepest tram in the world. It is, you can walk all the way up to the peak but I highly recommend the tram because it's actually quite fun unless you're going to walk all the way to the peak and then catch the tram down either or all the other way around. But yes definitely do that, that's an attraction. The Big Buddha, the Big Buddha in Lantau Island, those cable cars if you're scared of heights like me, not the best.

[10:16] Paula Barnes: choice of things to do but it is a beautiful scenery. You go to the monastery, you go up to the big Buddha, it's really pretty. I would highly recommend that. In terms of attractions definitely the night markets in Kowloon and you know catching the Star Ferry it's the oldest ferry there it's a hundred and something years old. That's very cool and it's so cheap and it doesn't take very long.

[10:42] Paula Barnes: So the Star Ferry and if you want to go at night the Star Ferry around about 8 o'clock I think it is is where all the night laser thing is Show is and then you if you're on the Star Ferry, it's actually quite cool because you get to see it all You can do the Avenue of the Stars on Kowloon in TST as well. So that that's very cool Then other other things that you can do

[11:08] Paula Barnes: you can do Tai Po Tai Po Tai Po let from my my memory is horrible but if you go to the fishing village in Lantau island there that's quite cool and you can catch you can do like a tour to see the pink dolphins but I have to say in the six or seven times that I ever did it I never saw one not one but you know people have seen them so but it is good to see all the village on stilts.

[11:38] Paula Barnes: I also go down to Stanley. There's Stanley markets, there's Repulse Bay to go for a swim in the beach. Also the junks. The junks was always a really cool part of living in you know the junk boats where you go on and then you can jump off the side and swim. You know you can have a lunch on there, dinner on there, whatever it is that you that you're celebrating but I think as a tourist I know as a tourist you can actually go on board with other people and do like a tour. There's also the original

[12:07] Paula Barnes: boats you can do a tour along there I did that last year I think it was last year that's also quite fun to do as well as the trams the trams are so cheap they they're really cheap way to get around in on Hong Kong Island but there is a Hong Kong there is a tram tour you can do I really highly highly recommend it I did it last last year for the first time and I really enjoyed it.

[12:33] Paula Barnes: You also have Disneyland of course. It is much smaller than most other Disney lands but which makes it actually fun and it's not crowded but nothing like Japan. was just last year I've said it before we went to Japan and went to Japan and went to Universal Studios in the same my god it was overload of amount of people. But Hong Kong doesn't seem to have as many

[13:01] Paula Barnes: people so you can still get on rides and you're not waiting stupid amount of times for it and I highly recommend going on single rider and I probably shouldn't say that because then everyone will be doing it but go on single rider because you do get up to the lot to the front much quicker as long as you don't mind sitting next to someone some random person you don't know then definitely go single rider. When's the best time to

[13:25] Paula Barnes: Okay so I'm gonna say that there are two seasons in Hong Kong which is your hot sweaty season and then you've got your summer and then you've got your winter which is a mild winter to most other other places.

[13:40] Paula Barnes: But it is definitely nicer, it's cooler. I like the winter because although when I I went Christmas shopping in December in Hong Kong and it was cool but I had a t-shirt and jeans on and I was super, I was very comfortable. So I really enjoyed the winter. But then after New Year's when I was there, it was cold. It was...

[14:08] Paula Barnes: probably okay I'm gonna I'm gonna embarrass myself because I was in Japan and that was cold that was in the minuses but it was probably around about 10 degrees 11 degrees that's cold I find that really cold so but I did really enjoy the winter if you are a person that just loves the Sun and is happy with the 30 something degrees and the 80 % humidity and the rain then

[14:35] Paula Barnes: Hong Kong in summer can be a lot of fun as well because there's beaches that you can go to in Lantau or in Repulse Bay. There's junks that saying that you can go to. There's actually lots of hikes that are lovely with waterfalls that the kids used to love going swimming in. So there's a lot of stuff you can do in summer that you can't do really in winter. So my answer to that is.

[15:00] Paula Barnes: It actually is good any season. It seems to be busy every part. mean Hong Kong is one of those places that is always busy. It doesn't matter what time of year. Singapore is the same. It's just always busy. So when it comes to getting around is there any public transport or do you need to get a car? Do not get a car. Don't get a car. It's so silly. The public transport there is so good. You can catch Ubers.

[15:26] Paula Barnes: You can catch taxis and you catch trains, can catch trams, can catch buses. All of them are reliable. All of them are really easy. You can tap on and tap off with your card now. You never used to be able to. Or you can purchase an Octopus card when you're there. But you can actually get it on your phone now. So can tap with an Octopus card on your phone. So yeah, either way, it's the easiest and

[15:52] Paula Barnes: it's the most convenient way to get around. Ubers are everywhere as well so it's either or. So definitely do not get a car.

[16:03] Paula Barnes: When it comes to souvenirs, less touristy things like magnets and stuff, what would I purchase? That's a good question actually because I think with Hong Kong there's so many beautiful little boutiques as well that you can pick up something

[16:21] Paula Barnes: that is a little more less touristy. You know I remember when I was when people were leaving Hong Kong and for a souvenir not a souvenir but for a gift when they were leaving we'd always kind of buy the same thing and it would be a Shanghai Tang what do call it a frame picture frame a silver one.

[16:46] Paula Barnes: it's unique it's it's a little on the pricey side but it's so beautiful and it's such a lovely keepsake I really think yeah I love Shanghai Tang and if you do go into Shanghai Tang if you their their room spray is so nice it's so nice that I actually still buy it and put it in my bathroom and stuff because it's such a such a really lovely smell it just reminds me of Hong Kong

[17:15] Paula Barnes: They're the things that I would highly recommend. can go down to, you can go, I mean, there's dime a dozen in the ladies markets and stuff. There's loads and loads of things there. But they're kind of, you can get anything there. But it's very cheap and cheerful sort of stuff. also, you know what I used to always do as well is that if I was going up to Shenzhen or even not Shenzhen, even if I was going to one of the,

[17:44] Paula Barnes: little shops that they've especially in Kowloon that they have like the Chinese medicine shops and there's a lot of tea shops. I would always buy those flower teas which is a really lovely thing to bring home and buy a see-through teapot and then when you put the hot water in it flowers and there's a beautiful flower. That's kind of I would recommend bringing back as a gift or a souvenir. I know if it's a souvenir but it's definitely a gift.

[18:14] Paula Barnes: the things I would get from Hong Kong.

[18:17] Paula Barnes: So looking back to the when you first arrived what was my wow moment? Okay my wow moment was I didn't realize how different each area of Hong Kong was. I thought Hong Kong was Kowloon and TST. Very local, very busy, loads of smells, crazy you know lots of people but when I realized there was so

[18:41] Paula Barnes: many other places in Hong Kong that you can get away from the hustle and bustle I realized wow okay I really could live here and especially when I lived in Discovery Bay because it's so quiet in comparison to the rest of Hong Kong that I really remember a friend of mine who had moved there from Taiwan and said come and visit Discovery Bay this is where I live and I remember arriving and seeing back then there was no taxis you

[19:11] Paula Barnes: there's no cars, there's no cars now anyway and everyone drove a golf cart and I was like wow I really like this it was like a resort and that's what it did for the six years that we lived there felt like I was living on a resort and you had you know pools that you could go you could like clubs that you could swim at there was I did like loads of stuff like dragon boating and the kids played rugby it was such a beautiful place there's so many wow moments for me living in Hong Kong.

**[19:41] Paula Barnes:**So what does a typical local meal look like? Okay so definitely dim sum. Dim sum is something that you know there's a place in Hong Kong in Hong Kong Island that is the oldest dim sum place in I can't think of the name of it but I will put it in the show notes in Hong Kong and we were just there recently and it's it's cool it's very cool the food was amazing like the pork belly

**[20:08] Paula Barnes:**My kids love that pork belly and rice, amazing. And then, and pork neck, I think we had pork neck as well. And it was, you know, like that barbecue pork, it's so good with rice and it's hectic and it's affordable and there's people everywhere. You sit at a table and other people sit at the table with you and it's exactly what Hong Kong is about, most of Hong Kong is. And I love that.

**[20:38] Paula Barnes:**don't just stay in Kowloon you know don't just stay on Nathan Road go and stay there's so many other places that you can stay I actually quite like saying an Admiralty that kind of area because it's quite central or or in central itself near the escalators there's one big escalator that goes all the way up and there's great bars and restaurants along there. I highly probably I would say stay around there or if you want a really good view along Wan Chai, Causeway Bay that's always really lovely. So I wish people had told me that there was more than just there was more than just Kowloon when I first went and visited.

**[21:25] Paula Barnes:I'm very glad I went out to Lantau and ended up staying and living in Discovery Bay because the community out there is amazing. And if you get to go, head over just for the day and eat at the restaurants just in the plaza, sit and have a drink. There's a whole lot of...

**[21:43] Paula Barnes:**beautiful restaurants along there. There's an ice skating rink if you really want to go ice skating. You can go for a hike down to across to Mui Wo and then catch a ferry back to Central. I mean there's so much to do in Lantau. You can also catch a taxi from Lantau now or a bus over to Tung Chung where all the outlets are. So that since I've left has doubled in size. It's a quite a big massive shopping

**[22:13] Paula Barnes:**more with all factory Atlas prices so you've got high-end but you've also got the the other stuff like the Lululemons and the Nike and Adidas and stuff like that as well so I would if you want to go shopping that's a really good place to go and you can do the whole spend a day you can spend two days in Lantau to be honest because then you've got the Disneyland stuff as well.

**[22:38] Paula Barnes:**Now if you were planning the perfect three-day itinerary not for tourists but for friends what would you say to do in those three days? Okay so day one I would say go to Lantau go to the Big Buddha and go to do the cable car because that's what everyone does but then go and explore go down to the fishing village that I suggested or go and catch a taxi all the way to the other side to Mui Wo have something to eat and then catch a ferry back to Central.

**[23:08] Paula Barnes:**or you can go to one of the beaches, if it's summer, go to one of the beaches along the way because you can swim out there and it's beautiful.

**[23:16] Paula Barnes:**Day two I would say you have to go up to the peak. Whether it is that you're gonna go, you walk up like I said before and then catch the tram down or the tram up and down, you have to do that. I feel like that's a rite of passage. You just have to do that while you're there and have a look around. You can have some lunch up there. And then there is also a Madam's of Swords wax museum inside there. There is shops up there.

**[23:46] Paula Barnes:**just can't think what else what is there you can have look around the park there's a park there then I would spend and I would go early the earlier the better because it does get the bit it does get super busy and I would purchase the tickets online if you can because yeah it just the line is so busy

**[24:03] Paula Barnes:**Then I would, and then in the afternoon I would just have a look around to, you know, everywhere from Central, Causeway Bay, that kind of thing. There's so much shopping to do. You can, there's some really great bars, rooftop bars that you should have a look at. The views along there are so spectacular at night. It's hard not to, you can't, I mean, you can't compete with it. It's just beautiful. There's a lot of restaurants, there's a lot of bars. Have a look around.

**[24:33] Paula Barnes:**central you can look around central have a do some shopping then I would pretty much if I was going if if central and that was my focus that day I'd go to Admiralty Wanchai catch it you have to catch a train along a tram along because that's quite fun to do and then if it's a Wednesday I would go to happy Valley you have to go to happy Valley happy Valley is the racing even if you're not if you don't really like to pundle you're not a big

**[25:00] Paula Barnes:**better or don't like the races it's a fun environment. So you go it's you tip you tap your octopus card to get in I think it's like I don't know dollar two dollars or something to get in and then you can do whatever you want there are a lot of people there but it's the only place I've ever been to where you can stand right on the

**[25:17] Paula Barnes:**barracks there and you can literally touch the the horses if you wanted to it's so close it's a it's a real fun night I think so anyway I would do that and then on

**[25:31] Paula Barnes:**and then on the third day, I mean you've got a couple of options but I would definitely go to maybe Stanley, have a look around Stanley because you have the markets and stuff. Then go and have a look at, you can also go to Repulse Bay and have a swim if it's summer but if it's winter then maybe you can walk along, sorry, catch the Star Ferry over to TST and have a look around.

**[26:00] Paula Barnes:**at the Avenue of the Stars walk along that promenade and then catch the the boat I can't think of the name of the boat what I'll do is I'll put the link below and it does a really cool trip or cool

**[26:17] Paula Barnes:**what do call it cruise around the harbor you don't get any food or anything but it's an old style boat Chinese boat with red sails you probably see seen it a thousand times if you've been there before but that is also something I highly recommend that's beautiful that it really is beautiful and then that night I'd go to TST and I yeah sorry you're at TST go over to the night markets because it's an experience you have to kind of go and check it all

**[26:46] Paula Barnes:**out but three days isn't enough can I tell you three days enough because I would then have a day at Shenzhen which is the border of China and Hong Kong I would then do a day of hiking you know and then I would do there's so much more to do in Hong Kong and if you want more information go and have a look at my website because I've got loads of ideas of things to do

**[27:08] Paula Barnes:**You know those spots at locals guard like precious secrets. What's your favorite neighborhood? you know, it's got to be Discovery Bay. And like I said before you catch a ferry over, spend the morning or spend the day, spend the day at Lantau but spend the morning or lunchtime at Discovery Bay or even the evening. It's so pretty there. You can sit outside, have a drink or have something to eat. I couldn't go on about it because it's...

**[27:37] Paula Barnes:**I personally think you can even stay actually you can stay at Discovery Bay there's a hotel there as well there is a hotel in Mui Wo as well but Mui Wo there's not as much to do so I would really think of staying at least one night it's a whole it's a very different feeling to the rest of Hong Kong and most tourists don't go to Discovery Bay they go to Lantau Island because they go to sorry I keep looking up there because I've got a big photo of Discovery Bay on my wall so if if you go

**[28:07] Paula Barnes:**to Discovery Bay most people just go to Lantau Island for you know the Big Buddha or go to Disneyland but I I would suggest actually going to DB and and really enjoying and walking around because it's such a beautiful there's two plazas most people just tourist just go or people visit go to the main to main main one but you can walk all the way to the second plaza and that's just as pretty anyway

**[28:33] Paula Barnes:**I thought I would do a really short session on Hong Kong but because there's so much to tell you there was so much to talk about so yeah I hope you get to visit Hong Kong because it is one of those places that I feel is has always

**[28:50] Paula Barnes:**had a piece of my heart. It's really a part of my kids' lives. They grew up there and I am looking forward to the Hong Kong Sevens that are in April at the new Hong Kong Sevens stadium. yeah, anyway, if I don't see you before then, then I hopefully I'll see you at the Hong Kong Sevens. anyway, safe travels and I'll speak to you next week on Truly Expert Travel.

[29:15] Session 2 Paula Barnes: Thank you for joining me on the Truly Expat Travel podcast. If you liked this episode and you found it valuable, then why don't you go ahead and like and subscribe so that you don't miss an episode moving forward. I've got some amazing guests and some fantastic destinations coming up. But if this is the episode and this is the destination that you really wanna go to, then head over to trulyexpattravel.com where you'll find

[29:43] Session 2 Paula Barnes: travel guides and deep dive into this sort of destination. If that's not what you want and you can't find an episode that is a destination you want to travel to then head over and follow me on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok because I'm pretty sure you'll find something there. In the meantime safe travels and I'll see you next week.