inbetweenflights

PHOTOGRAPHY BREAK IN HONG KONG

Discover the best photography spots in Hong Kong

Hong Kong is definitely one of the best places for street photography: sky scrappers, retro taxis, neon lights, communist tall buildings. This city definitely has its own personality.

It has been on our list for a long time, mostly because of the famous neon lights. Hong Kong’s neon lights are iconic, representing a significant part of the city’s visual culture and history, particularly from the 1950s to the 1980s. While once ubiquitous, they are now diminishing due to safety concerns and the rise of LED technology. Efforts are underway to preserve and celebrate the remaining neon signs as art and cultural artifacts.

Hong Kong is also the city with the most skyscrapers, defined as buildings taller than 150 m (492 ft), in the world, with a total of 564 such buildings as of 2025. Historically, New York City was the city with the most skyscrapers from the development of early skyscrapers until 2003, when it was overtaken by Hong Kong.

Although it felt a bit claustrophobic for living, in our opinion, the city is very vibrant and interesting to visit. There are many restaurants, coffee shops, places to hang out and at the same time everything is quite affordable and hotels have quite a nice standard ( way above Europe! ).

Getting around Hong Kong

It is extremely easy to get around the city. The public transport network is extremely well developed and cheap at the same time. Google Maps works very well for planning. There are plenty of taxis around the city and they are affordable, too.

However, it is worth mentioning that buying an Octopus card will make your life extremely easier. This is a card that works in essence like a top up card but it it used maily for public transport and taxis ( because one cannot use the regular cards in the public transport ). But in addition, it can also be used in supermarkets, vending machines etc.

There are 2 types of Octopus cards: the regular one ( for locals ) and tourist Octopus. You will want the tourist Octopus and you can buy it from the train station in the airport.

Best area to stay

I would say either Hong Kong Island or Kowloon. The specific areas are:

  • Wan Chai: Blend of tradition and modernity ( HK island )
  • Causeway Bay: shopper’s haven ( HK island )
  • Central and Sheung Wan: the heartbeat of Hong Kong ( HK island )
  • Tsim Sha Tsui (TST): cultural and shopping extravaganza ( Kowloon )

Some restaurant reccommendations

We got the reccommendation for these places but we didn`t have time to try it ourselves. We went mainly to dodgy local places in between photo shootings. 😂

Cool spots

We found a nice hipster shopping center with restaurants – The Mills – in Tsuen Wan area. Tsuen Wan is a rather communistic area but it has it flavour. ( picture below )

Neon lights photo spots

Although we mainly photographed Mong Kok, we did some research and you can find the list of the spots below. However, since the goverment is removing the signs ( because they are deemed unsafe.. ) we can`t guarantee if you will still find all of them and for how long.

The main spots are:

  1. Tsuen wan Market Street
  2. Portland Street, Mong Kok – this is where we took most of our photos
  3. Tung Lo Court, Sham Shui Po – we only went there during daylight
  4. Franki Centre, Kowloon Tong
  5. Richland Shopping Arcade, Tuen Mun
  6. Wing Wo Seafood Restaurant, Sai Kung

Our favorite photo spots

1. MONG KOK

Portland Street

2.VICTORIA HARBOUR

View from Hong Kong Island

3.QUARRY BAY

The famous Montane Mansion or “Monster building”, as locals call it

King`s Road

4.NORTH POINT

Just to the Weast of Quarry Bay

5.WAN CHAI

One of the best areas to stay in HK

View from Novotel Century

6.CENTRAL

View of the Central area from the Promenade

The famous double deck tram ride

7.SHAM SHUI PO

One of the best underrated panoramic spots is Garden Hill – Shek Kip Mei

We were literally alone there

Shek Kip Mei Estate on Woh Chai Street

Tung Lo Court Building

Other instagrammable buildings in Sham Shui Po area ( that we didn`t manage to see ) are:

  • Pak Far Building
  • Wo Hing Building
  • 20 Cheung Fat Street
  • 301-303 Castle Peak Road
  • 368 Un Chau Street
  • 148-150 Castle Peak Road

8.KENNEDY TOWN

9.VICTORIA PEAK

The famous view point over Hong Kong. The exact location is Peak Tower – Sky Terrace 428.

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