Epic Day Trips From Hong Kong
Five genuinely different day trips sit within a couple of hours of Central, and one of them crosses an international border most visitors don’t realize they’re crossing.
Macau: a separate country in every way that matters
TurboJet hydrofoils leave the Hong Kong-Macau Ferry Terminal in Sheung Wan for the Outer Harbour Terminal in about 55 minutes (roughly HK$194 weekday, HK$212 weekend daytime, HK$232 at night); Cotai Water Jet runs to Taipa instead for similar fares. Prefer the road? The Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge shuttle bus, nicknamed the Golden Bus, crosses the 55km sea link 24/7 for HK$65 in the day or HK$70 overnight. Once there, the Historic Centre of Macau delivers the Ruins of St. Paul’s, Senado Square and A-Ma Temple in one UNESCO-listed walk, and the Cotai Strip mega-resorts (The Venetian, Londoner, Galaxy) sit a short taxi ride away. Macau runs its own immigration checkpoint and its own currency, the pataca, though Hong Kong dollars spend everywhere there at 1:1 (just don’t bring pataca change back with you; it’s worthless in Hong Kong). A Macau day trip from Hong Kong bundles the ferry and a guided loop of the highlights if you’d rather not plan the route yourself.
Lantau beyond the Big Buddha
Ngong Ping 360’s cable car is closed for scheduled maintenance from 8 to 18 September 2026 (the village and its indoor attractions stay open throughout; bus route 23 from Tung Chung or a blue Lantau taxi covers the same ground while the cable car is down). Once you’re up at Ngong Ping, the 268 free steps to the Tian Tan Big Buddha are worth the climb regardless of how you arrived. Push on to Tai O, the “Venice of the East,” where Tanka fishing families still live in stilt houses over the tidal mudflats; a small-boat ride through the canals plus a plate of charcoal-grilled egg waffles rounds out the day. A Ngong Ping 360, Big Buddha and Tai O tour covers the combination in one booking, though check the maintenance dates before you buy if your trip falls in that window.
The outlying islands: Cheung Chau, Lamma, Peng Chau
All three leave from Central’s Outlying Island Ferry Piers and none allow private cars. Cheung Chau (Pier 5) rewards a rented bicycle and a hike out to Cheung Po Tsai’s pirate cave; Lamma (Pier 4) has a gentle 5km ridgeline trail between Yung Shue Wan and the stilt-house village of Sok Kwu Wan, with open-air seafood on the far end; Peng Chau (Pier 6) is the quiet one, a former industrial hamlet now full of small ceramic studios and the view from Finger Hill.
Sai Kung and the UNESCO Geopark
Reach Sai Kung Town by MTR to Hang Hau or Choi Hung, then green minibus 101M or 1A. Beyond the Michelin-recognized seafood on Seafood Street, a kaito boat to Sharp Island reveals the tombolo sandbar exposed at low tide, and a green taxi out to the High Island Reservoir East Dam puts you face to face with the hexagonal volcanic rock columns documented on the Hong Kong Geopark site that most visitors never hear about. See our adventure tours guide for the kayaking and hiking options that turn this into a full day out.
Shenzhen and mainland China: read this before you book anything
High-speed rail from West Kowloon Station reaches Shenzhen Futian in 14 minutes (about HK$75) or Shenzhen North in 18 minutes (about HK$86), and it looks like the easiest add-on day trip in the guide. It is not. West Kowloon operates co-located immigration, meaning you clear Hong Kong exit and mainland entry in the same building, but it does not issue visas on arrival. A Hong Kong visa-free entry, whatever its length for your passport, does not carry over into Shenzhen or the rest of mainland China: that is a full international border. Travellers without an existing mainland visa or standing visa-free eligibility need to arrange one in advance, or rely on the 144/240-hour transit scheme with a confirmed onward ticket to a third country. Sort the paperwork before you buy a rail ticket, not after.
Book the Macau and Lantau tours ahead of a weekend visit; both terminals get genuinely crowded on Saturdays, and the Ngong Ping ticket queue alone can run 60 to 90 minutes without a pre-booked slot.