How to Spend 3 Days in Hong Kong: Day 1 Itinerary

One of my best friends, Kelly, recently got an amazing promotion to CNN’s Hong Kong bureau! She picked up and moved across the world and is crushing it in her new position. Kelly is also the person who introduced me to WC back in college (they went to high school together). That’s to say she’s more than a friend; she’s family.

I knew I wanted to visit her sometime this year, but it worked out I was able to go sooner than later. In April, my cousin, Melanie, met me in San Francisco and we flew to Hong Kong for the first part of a weeklong girls’ trip that also included Taiwan.

We arrived on a Friday evening after a red-eye flight but it worked out well because we were basically ready to sleep by the time we ate dinner and got to our hotel. That meant we woke up the first morning refreshed and ready to kick off our 3 days in Hong Kong with a full day of sightseeing. Here’s a look at how we spent our first day in Hong Kong:

3 Days in Hong Kong Itinerary – Day 1:

Nan Lian Gardens

On our first morning, we took the train (thankfully Kelly was already familiar with the train system) to the Diamond Hill MTR station. From there, we walked about 10 minutes to Nan Lian Garden. This urban park is such a gem with beautiful landscaping, ponds full of koi, and several water features. There’s also a teahouse, though it wasn’t open as early as we were there.

Nan Lian Garden is free to visit and open from 7 am to 9 pm daily. If you only have 3 days in Hong Kong, I definitely recommend including this, as well as our next stop, Chi Lin Nunnery, in your itinerary.

Chi Lin Nunnery

Across the footbridge from Nan Lian, you’ll find the entrance to Chi Lin Nunnery.

The nunnery garden is home to a variety of beautifully manicured bonsai. There are also several lotus ponds with flowers in bright pinks, purples, and yellows. I took a ridiculous amount of photos of the lotus!

After you’re done wandering the garden, it’s time to put your phone away. Once you enter the temple area, no photography is allowed. You can take your time checking out several rooms with statues of various Buddhas.

Please note: this is a working nunnery and visitors and nuns alike will be worshiping in the temple while you’re visiting. It’s important to be quiet and respectful.

Lion Rock Hike

After the nunnery, we hailed a taxi to Fat Jong Temple, the starting point for the Lion Rock hike. Some blogs we read estimated the hike would take about an hour but it was a tad longer for us, maybe about 1 1/2 to 2 hours. The walk starts with a steady uphill climb along the road, and eventually takes you into Lion Rock Country Park. Once in the park, you’ll go up a good amount of stairs and wander through the woods. Along the way, you’ll pass by a series of pillboxes and other war relics from WWII.

Unfortunately, the morning we hiked it was very foggy so we didn’t get ANY views on the way up. Even at the top, we had almost no views of the mountain peak or city below.

We did get very lucky in one aspect early on in the hike though: monkeys!

Fortunately, the sky started to clear on our way back down and we go our first glimpse of the city. This hike would definitely offer spectacular views on a sunny day!

Lunch at Paradise Dynasty

After the hike, we were famished! Melanie had read good reviews for Paradise Dynasty so we took the train to Mong Kok for lunch. I ordered the Paradise Dynasty specialty Xiao Long Bao which comes with 8 different flavors.

You start with the original flavor in the middle, move on to the black truffle, and then eat your way clockwise around the bamboo tray. In order, the remaining flavors are cheese, crab meat with roe, garlic, BBQ pulled pork, szechuan, and kimchi. This ended up being one of my favorite meals in Hong Kong!

Meowtini Cat Cafe

Visiting a cat cafe was on my hopeful list items to squeeze in during our 3 days in Hong Kong. And, as luck would have it, our lunch spot was right around the corner from Meowtini Cafe. Unlike cat cafes in the U.S., these cats seemed to be residents rather than up for adoption.

The cats are SO cute and very friendly. They’re also quite well fed as you can buy a little cup to spoon feed them. I find it funny I happened to be wearing my “dog mom” hat that day!

Star Ferry to Kowloon

After changing at the hotel and freshening up for the evening, we took the MTR to the Central station. From there, we boarded the famous Star Ferry that takes you across Victoria Harbour from Hong Kong Island to Kowloon.

It was still foggy but the ride was enjoyable and it was nice to get a view of both sides of Hong Kong from the water.

Dinner Views & Laser Light Show

Once on the Kowloon side, we walked through the museum district and headed toward the waterfront to check out the Avenue of Stars (similar to Hollywood’s Walk of Fame). We were surprised to find a lot of police in the area, blocking the way and detouring pedestrians.

Come to find out the 43rd Hong Kong Film Awards were taking place that night (basically their version of the Oscars)! It was pretty cool because lots of locals were gathered trying to catch a glimpse of their favorite movie stars as they arrived for the event. Of course, at the time we saw the crowds, we had no idea what they were there for so I didn’t think to take any photos. I did snap one later in the evening of people sitting in the park watching the awards show on a big screen. The actual ceremony was taking place in the Hong Kong Cultural Centre just steps away!

Further down from the cultural district, we were able to access the promenade and get stunning views of the skyscrapers along the Hong Kong Island waterfront. I think the fog actually made it even more magical.

Our main goal for going to the Kowloon side in the evening was to catch the Symphony of Lights which takes place daily at 8:00 pm and lasts 10 minutes. Since the outside was pretty chaotic with the awards show, we decided to find a restaurant with a view over the harbor where we could watch the laser and light show. We were able to snag a last minute reservation for the Lobby Lounge at the Regent and enjoy cocktails and dinner while watching the show.

The only downside about watching from indoors is you miss the music that goes along with the show. The accompanying symphony is broadcast along the Tsim Sha Tsui waterfront.

That’s a Wrap on Day 1 in Hong Kong!

By the time we got back from Kowloon to our hotel, we were ready to crash. And, of course, we had a pretty full agenda for the next day including a visit to the Tian Tam Buddha and a ride on the Ngong Ping 360. We’ll share all the details of day 2 in our next post on how to spend 3 days in Hong Kong.

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