A waterfront walk facing the most photographed skyline in Asia, with a nightly light show pointed at it.
The southern tip of Kowloon faces Hong Kong Island across about a kilometre of water, and the promenade along it is where the skyline photograph is taken from.
It is free, open at all hours, and busy every evening.
The view
Roughly fifty towers rising straight out of the water with the Peak behind them. Two IFC on the island and ICC behind you in West Kowloon are the two tallest.
The harbour is working — ferries, container traffic, tugs and the occasional junk cross constantly, which is what keeps it from being a postcard.
The Symphony of Lights
A nightly 8pm show of lights, lasers and searchlights choreographed across around forty buildings on both sides of the harbour, running since 2004. It holds a Guinness record as the world’s largest permanent light and sound show.
Opinions vary. It is ten minutes, it is free, and the buildings are worth looking at with or without it. The soundtrack is broadcast at the promenade and on radio.
The Avenue of Stars
A tribute to the Hong Kong film industry along the waterfront, with handprints, plaques and a statue of Bruce Lee. It reopened in 2019 after a three-year redevelopment which added shade, seating and planting, and it is considerably better than it was.
Hong Kong cinema between roughly 1970 and 1997 was the third-largest film industry in the world by output, and the plaques are a reasonable primer.
The Clock Tower
A 44-metre red-brick and granite tower of 1915, all that survives of the Kowloon–Canton Railway terminus demolished in 1978. This was the end of the line from Europe — you could, in principle, board a train here and reach London via the Trans-Siberian.
It is a declared monument and it is floodlit at night.
Along the promenade
The Hong Kong Cultural Centre, a windowless sloping-roofed building of 1989 that is widely disliked for having no windows facing the best view in Asia. Its concert hall is excellent.
The Hong Kong Museum of Art beside it reopened in 2019 after a major refit and is free for the permanent collection.
The Hong Kong Space Museum with its dome.
Walking west past the Cultural Centre takes you to the West Kowloon Cultural District, M+ and the Palace Museum in about twenty minutes, with a park and a much quieter waterfront.
Practicalities
Free. Exit MTR Tsim Sha Tsui at E or L6, or arrive on the Star Ferry, which lands at the western end.
Very busy at 8pm. Considerably calmer by nine.
More Landmarks
Victoria Peak
The view that sells Hong Kong, reached by a tram at a gradient that pins you to the seat.
The Star Ferry
A ten-minute crossing on a green-and-white boat that has run since 1888 and costs less than a bottle of water.
Tian Tan Buddha and Po Lin Monastery
A 34-metre bronze Buddha on a Lantau hilltop, reached by 268 steps and a cable car over the sea.