China Guide
Hong Kong
The Peak
Opening time: Peak Tram: daily 7am– midnight
Price: Peak Tram: HK$24 single, HK$30 return
Address: Peak Tram terminal is in Garden Road in Central (bus #15C from the Outlying Islands Ferry Pier)
Victoria Peak – usually known as just The Peak – rises 552m over Central and Victoria Harbour. Since the 1870s, The Peak has been the premier address for Hong Kong's elite – which these days usually means Chinese tycoons – and reasons to come up here include not just the superb vistas and forest walks, but also the ascent in the Peak Tram. This is, in fact, a funicular railway, which runs from the Peak Tram terminal up an incredibly steep track, climbing the 386 vertical metres to its upper terminus in about eight minute
Near the top, the ugly, wok-shaped Peak Tower features lookout platforms and a branch of Madame Tussauds, with wax models ranging from Zhang Zemin to Jacky Chan. Wherever you get them from, views from up here are stupendous, down over the Island's intensely crowded north shore (incredibly, you're not much higher here than the top of IFC2), across the busy harbour to a lower-rise, unspectacular Kowloon, and the green peaks of the New Territories.
To reach The Peak's very summit from this area, follow Mount Austin Road for twenty minutes to its end at the Victoria Peak Garden, formerly the site of the governor's residence. There's also an attractive, signposted hour-long circuit walk around The Peak, a shady stroll through forest with surprisingly large, old trees in places, plus more sweeping views down over the SAR.
An excellent way to descend The Peak is to walk down one of several tracks, the quickest being the Old Peak Road, around the side of the Peak Tower. A steep, twenty-minute hike lands you amongst high-rise residences southwest of the Zoological and Botanical Gardens.