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’ 39 levels tall. At 88 storeys, Two IFC was until recently Hong Kong’s tallest (though not prettiest) building. Given the local penchant for bestowing nicknames on everything, Two IFC has been christened ‘Sir YK Pao’s Erection’, a reference to the owner of the company that built the tower. The claimant to the title of Hong Kong’s tallest building now looms across the water in West Kowloon: the 118-floor, 484m (1590ft) International Commerce Centre. You can’t get to the top of Two IFC, but you can get pretty high up by visiting the Hong Kong Monetary Authority Information Centre, which contains a research library and exhibition areas related to Hong Kong’s currency, fiscal policy and banking history. There are guided tours at 2.30pm Monday to Friday, and 10.30am Saturday.