In short
Hong Kong occupies an island, a peninsula and two hundred and fifty other islands. Hong Kong Island carries the business district, Central, and the steep neighbourhoods above it. Kowloon, opposite, is denser and more working-class — Mong Kok is one of the most densely populated districts in the world. The New Territories and the outlying islands are green and rural.
The most striking contrast is not between old and modern, but between the vertical density and the mountains that begin ten minutes away.
Arriving and getting around
Chek Lap Kok airport is linked to the centre by the Airport Express in twenty-four minutes.
The Octopus card works on the MTR, buses, ferries, convenience stores and vending machines. It is one of the oldest contactless cards in the world.
The Star Ferry has crossed the harbour since 1888 for a trivial sum: the best view-to-price ratio in the city, and an ordinary piece of public transport.
The Peak Tram, the funicular to the island's summit, is markedly more expensive and often saturated.
What it really costs
Hong Kong is one of the most expensive property markets in the world, and hotel rooms are small for their price.
Eating, by contrast, can cost very little: the cha chaan teng, popular cafés, and neighbourhood stalls serve full meals cheaply.
When to come
October–December: the dry, clear, temperate window, and it is clear-cut.
Summer is hot, very humid and wet. Typhoon season runs from May to November: a number 8 signal halts transport, shops and offices for several hours, sometimes a day.
What nobody tells you
Hong Kong is a hiking destination. About three quarters of the territory is unbuilt, and the trails — the Dragon's Back, the MacLehose Trail — are reached by bus from the centre. It is what visitors least suspect.
Lantau holds the Tian Tan Big Buddha and a stilt fishing village at Tai O; Lamma has no cars.
The Central–Mid-Levels escalators form the longest covered system of their kind in the world: they run uphill in the morning and downhill the rest of the day.
Hong Kong is a special administrative region of China, with its own entry rules, currency and legal system. Entry formalities differ from those of mainland China and depend on nationality: check them with the Hong Kong Immigration Department before departure.