A Rainy Day in Hong Kong: The All-Indoor Route

Hong Kong rain is not a drizzle you walk through. It comes in warm, heavy sheets, often for the whole day. Fortunately this is a city built vertically and connected underground, and with a little planning you can cross it from morning to night almost without stepping outside.

The rainy-day toolkit

• The MTR runs underground and connects directly into major malls
• Central has an extensive elevated walkway system linking the towers, the ferry piers and IFC
• The Central–Mid-Levels Escalator is roofed for most of its length
• Check museum opening days before you set out — several close one weekday

Morning: dim sum in Central

8.30am. Start with trolley dim sum at Maxim’s Palace in City Hall, a vast banquet hall where carts still circulate between the tables — one of the last places in Hong Kong doing it the old way. Arrive early or expect to queue. Worth confirming current hours before you go.

Late morning: art at West Kowloon

10.30am. Take the MTR under the harbour to the West Kowloon Cultural District, where M+ and the Hong Kong Palace Museum sit side by side. M+ covers twentieth- and twenty-first-century visual culture across Asia; the Palace Museum shows collections in partnership with Beijing’s Forbidden City. Either one will absorb two hours; together they can eat the day, so pick one if you want to keep moving.

Lunch: under a roof in Tsim Sha Tsui

1pm. One stop east into Tsim Sha Tsui, which is effectively an indoor district — Harbour City alone runs for several connected blocks along the waterfront. Eat in the mall, or walk the covered route to K11 Musea for something more designed.

Afternoon: museums and a lobby tea

2.30pm. The Hong Kong Museum of Art sits on the TST waterfront with harbour-facing galleries, which means you get the view without the weather. Afterwards, afternoon tea in the colonnaded lobby of The Peninsula, open since 1928, is the most agreeable way to spend a wet hour in the city. Booking policies vary; check ahead.

Early evening: the crossing

5.30pm. Take the Star Ferry back to Hong Kong Island. The lower deck is enclosed, the crossing takes under ten minutes, and a harbour full of rain and neon is arguably better than a clear one.

Evening: Sheung Wan and dinner

6.30pm. Walk the covered walkways and the Mid-Levels Escalator up to Tai Kwun, the former Central Police Station compound, now a heritage and arts centre with indoor galleries and restaurants around sheltered courtyards. Stay for dinner there, or drop down to Man Mo Temple, dim and thick with hanging incense coils, before eating in Sheung Wan.

Tip: Skip Victoria Peak entirely on a wet day. The Peak Tram will still run and you will still queue, but the viewing terrace is frequently inside the cloud. Save it for a clear evening — it is worth waiting for.