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Mui Wo
Mui Wo (Plum Nest), Lantau's main settlement 'capital', is on Silvermine Bay, so named for the silver mines that were once worked to the northwest along the Silver River. In fact, many foreign residents refer to Mui Wo as Silvermine Bay.
About a third of Lantau's population lives in the township of Mui Wo and its surrounding hamlets. There are several decent places to stay here and though the options for eating and drinking are few, they are fine.
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Murray House
At the start of the Chung Hom Kok Peninsula across the bay from Stanley Main St, the waterfront promenade lined with bars and restaurants, stands this three-storey colonnaded affair. Built in 1848 as officers' quarters, it took pride of place in Central, on the spot where the Bank of China Tower now stands, for almost 150 years until 1982. It was re-erected here and opened in 2001 after, well, a slight glitch.
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Nathan Road
Kowloon's main thoroughfare was named after Sir Matthew Nathan, governor of Hong Kong from 1904 to 1907. As Kowloon was very sparsely populated at the time and such a wide boulevard thought unnecessarily extravagant, it was dubbed 'Nathan's Folly'.
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Ng Tung Chai Waterfall & Kadoorie Farm & Botanic Garden
The area around the Ng Tung Chai Waterfall is scenic and worth a detour. It is near the village of Ng Tung Chai, which is several kilometres north of Tai Mo Shan and just south of Lam Kam Rd. There is actually a series of falls and streams here reached by taking the path leading to Ng Tung Chai and the Lam Kam Rd from the radio station on the summit of Tai Mo Shan.
Read more about Ng Tung Chai Waterfall & Kadoorie Farm & Botanic Garden
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Ngong Ping
Perched 500m up in the western hills of Lantau is the Ngong Ping Plateau, a major drawcard for Hong Kong day-trippers and foreign visitors alike, especially since 1993, when one of the world's largest statues of Buddha was unveiled here. Po Lin (Precious Lotus; ; - ) is a huge Buddhist monastery and temple complex that was originally built in 1924. Today it is a fairground as much as a religious retreat, attracting many visitors.
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Noonday Gun
Noel Coward made the so-called Noonday Gun famous with his satirical song Mad Dogs and Englishmen (1924), about colonials who braved the fierce heat of the midday sun while the local people sensibly remained indoors: 'In Hong Kong/they strike a gong/And fire off a noonday gun/To reprimand each inmate/Who's in late'. Apparently when Coward was invited to pull the lanyard, he was late and it didn't go off until .
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Ocean Park
Ocean Park is an amusement park with a roller coaster and other stomach-turning rides. It is also a marine park, with dolphin and killer whale shows, seals and sea lions, a shark aquarium and aviaries featuring the 'Amazing Birds' theatre.
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Ocean Terminal
To the north of the clock tower on Salisbury Road is Star House, a frayed-looking retail and office complex. At its western end is the entrance to Ocean Terminal, the long building jutting into the harbour. It is part of the massive Harbour City shopping complex that stretches for half a kilometre north along Canton Rd and offers priceless views of Tsim Sha Tsui's western waterfront.
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Ohel Leah Synagogue
This renovated Moorish Romantic temple, completed in 1902 when that style of architecture was all the rage in Europe, is named after Leah Gubbay Sassoon, matriarch of a wealthy (and philanthropic) Sephardic Jewish family that traced its roots back to the beginning of the colony. Be sure to bring some sort of ID if you plan to visit the sumptuous interior.
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Old Wan Chai Post Office
A short distance to the east of Wan Chai Market is this important colonial-style building erected in 1913 and now serving as a resource centre operated by the Environmental Protection Department (2893 2856; ; - Mon-Tue & Thu-Sat, - Wed, - Sun).
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One & Two International Finance Centre
These two tapering, pearl-coloured colossi sit atop the International Finance Centre (IFC) Mall and Hong Kong station, terminus of the Airport Express and the Tung Chung lines. Both were partly designed by Cesar Pelli, the man responsible for Canary Wharf in London. One IFC, which opened in 1999, is a 'mere' 38 levels tall. At 88 storeys, Two IFC, topped out in mid-2003, is Hong Kong's tallest (though not prettiest) building.
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Pak Tai Temple
This colourful and recently renovated temple from 1783 is the oldest on the island and is the focus of the annual Cheung Chau Bun Festival in late April or early May. It is dedicated to the Taoist deity Pak Tai, the 'Supreme Emperor of the Dark Heaven', military protector of the state, guardian of peace and order and protector of fisherfolk.
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Pat Sin Leng Nature Trail
This excellent (and easy) 4.4km-long trail, which should take from two to 2½ hours, leads from the Plover Cove Country Park Visitor Centre at Tai Mei Tuk and heads northeast for 4km to Bride's Pool; there are signboards numbered 1 to 22 so there is little danger of getting lost. The elevation gain is only 300m, the scenery is excellent and the two waterfalls at Bride's Pool are delightful, but the place gets packed at the weekend.
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Peak Galleria
Both the Peak Tower and the neighbouring Peak Galleria are designed to withstand winds of up to 270km/h, theoretically more than the maximum velocity of a No 10 typhoon. You can reach the Peak Galleria's viewing deck, which is larger than the one in the Peak Tower, by taking the escalator to level 3. Inside the centre you'll find a number of expensive restaurants and retail shops, from art galleries to duty-free stores.
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Peak Tower
The Peak Tower, with its attractions, shops and restaurants, is a good place to bring the kids. On level 4 there's an outpost of Madame Tussauds with eerie (and scary) wax likenesses of international stars as well as local celebrities such as Jackie Chan, Andy Lau, Michelle Yeoh and Kelly Chen. There is an open-air viewing terrace with coin-operated binoculars on level 5.
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Ping Kong
This sleepy walled village in the hills south of Sheung Shui is seldom visited by outsiders. Like other walled villages still inhabited in Hong Kong, it is a mix of old and new, and has a lovely little Tin Hau temple in the centre. You can also go exploring around the farming area behind the village compound.
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Plover Cove Reservoir
Plover Cove Reservoir was completed in 1968 and holds 230 million cubic metres of water; before then Hong Kong suffered from critical water shortages and rationing was not uncommon. Even after the reservoir opened, water sometimes had to be rationed; taps were turned on for only eight hours a day through the dry winter of 1980/81.
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Police Museum
Housed in a former police station, this seldom-visited museum in neighbouring Wan Chai Gap, an attractive residential area en route to the Peak, deals with the history of the Hong Kong Police Force, which was formed in 1844. It's small and rather static although the intriguing Triad Societies Gallery and the very well-supplied Narcotics Gallery are worthwhile.
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Possession St
A short distance west of Cat St, next to Hollywood Road Park and before Hollywood Rd meets Queen's Rd West, is Possession St. This is thought to be where Commodore Gordon Bremmer and a contingent of British marines planted the Union flag on 26 January 1841 and claimed Hong Kong Island for the Crown, though no plaque marks the spot.
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Sai Kung Country Park Visitor Centre
While you're in Pak Tam Chung, visit the Sai Kung Country Park Visitor Centre, which is to the south of the village, just by the road from Sai Kung. It has excellent maps, photographs and displays of the area's geology, fauna and flora as well as its traditional villages and Hoi Ha Wan Marine Park.
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Sam Ka Tsuen Seafood Precinct
The 'village' of Lei Yue Mun is one of Hong Kong's prime seafood venues; around two-dozen fish restaurants line narrow, winding Lei Yue Mun Praya Rd overlooking the typhoon shelter. It's a colourful and lively place to dine by the water at night and is always busy. To get here from the Yau Tong MTR station, use exit A2 and follow Cha Kwo Ling Rd and Shung Shun St south for 15 minutes or catch green minibus 24M from outside the station. Bus 14C links the Yau Tong Centre halfway down the hill with the Kwun Tong MTR station.
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Sam Tung Uk Museum
This imaginative and well-tended museum is housed in a restored late-18th-century Hakka walled village, whose former residents, the Chan clan, were only resettled in 1980. Within the complex are a dozen three-beamed houses containing traditional Hakka furnishings, kitchenware, wedding items and agricultural implements, most of which came from two 17th-century Hakka villages in Bao'an county in Guangdong province.
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Sha Tin Racecourse
Northeast of Sha Tin town centre is Hong Kong's second racecourse, which opened in 1978 and can accommodate up to 80,000 punters. In general, races are held on Saturday afternoon - and sometimes on Sunday and public holidays - from September to June; a list of race meetings is available from the HKTB or the racecourse website.
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Sheung Yiu Folk Museum
This museum is a leisurely 20-minute walk from Pak Tam Chung south along the 1km-long Pak Tam Chung Nature Trail. The museum is part of a restored Hakka village typical of those found here in the 19th century. The village was founded about 150 years ago by the Wong clan, which built a kiln to make bricks. In the whitewashed dwellings, are farm implements, objects of daily use, furnishings and Hakka clothing.
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Shui Tau Tsuen
This 17th-century village, 15 minutes' walk north of Kam Tin Rd and signposted, is famous for its prow-shaped roofs decorated with dragons and fish along the ridges. Tiny traditional houses huddle inside Shui Tau Tsuen's walls. The Tang Kwong U Ancestral Hall (; - , - Wed, Sat & Sun) and, just north of it, the Tang Ching Lok Ancestral Hall in the middle of the village, were built in the early 19th century for ancestor worship.
