8 Best Sights in Hong Kong, China

This peninsula town lies south of Deep Water and Repulse bays. There's great shopping in the popular Stanley Market, full of casual clothes, cheap souvenirs, and cheerful bric-a-brac. Stanley's popular beach is the site of the Dragon Boat Races every June. To get here from Exchange Square Bus Terminus in Central, take Bus 6, 6A, 6X, 66, or 260.

Aberdeen's harbor contains about 3,000 junks and sampans, and each might be home to multiple generations of one family. During the Tin Hau Festival in April and May, hundreds more boats converge along the shore. On Aberdeen's side streets you'll find outdoor barbers hard at work and any number of dim sum restaurants serving up dishes you won't find at home. You'll also see traditional sights like the Aberdeen Cemetery, with its enormous terraced gravestones, and yet another shrine to the goddess of the sea: the Tin Hau Temple.

Perfect for history buffs, the Gray Line Heritage Tour takes visitors to the sites of Hong Kong's five great clans in the New Territories. The route stops at several well-preserved monuments, including Tai Fu Tai—the home of a Man clan scholar in the late 1800s. There's also a chance to visit a historical walled village as well as a traditional ancestral hall. Before you leave, don't forget to make a wish under the Lam Tsuen Banyan Trees. Tours are scheduled on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday.

Mui Wo is a sleepy little town, but it has some good waterfront restaurants. Silvermine Bay Beach, a pleasant sandy stretch, is a half-mile northeast of the ferry pier. A gentle uphill trail leads to the Silvermine Caves and Waterfall, the small 19th-century mine that gave the bay its English name.

Whether you enter Sha Tin by road or rail, you'll be amazed to find this metropolis in the middle of the New Territories. One of the so-called "new towns," Sha Tin underwent a population explosion starting in the mid-1980s that transformed it from a town of 30,000 to a city of more than a half million. It's home to Sha Tin Park and the fantastic Hong Kong Heritage Museum, which is devoted to Chinese history, art, and culture.

The seaside locale is Southside's easternmost village. Every shop sells the same inflatable beach toys—the bigger the better, it seems. Cut through town to a windy road that takes you to the "island" of Tai Tau Chau, really a large rock with a lookout over the South China Sea. You can hike through nearby Shek O Country Park, where the bird-watching is great, in less than two hours. To get here from Central, take the MTR to Shau Kei Wan (Exit A3), then take Bus 9 to the last stop (about 30 minutes).

Tucked away on the western end of Lantau, this fishing village inhabited largely by the tanka (boat people), some of whom still live in stilt houses, is a great place to spend a few hours. There's a temple dedicated to Kwan Tai, god of war, that was established in the 15th century. Remains of salt pans line part of the shoreline, and a look seaward sometimes rewards you with a sighting of a rare Hong Kong pink dolphin. The 1902 Tai O Police Station, on the village's southwest tip, has been restored and converted into the Tai O Heritage Hotel, a great place for tea or a meal.

The name means "shopping place," which it more than lives up to. In the heart of the region's breadbasket, this utilitarian town's main open-air market is a feast for the eyes, with baskets of lush green vegetables, freshly cut meat hanging from great racks overhead, fish swimming in tanks awaiting selection, and all types of baked and steamed treats. To reach the village, take the MTR East Rail Line to the Tai Po Market stop.