How to get to Victoria Peak by Night (Hong Kong)

You wouldn't think this would need to be a blog post, right? When in Hong Kong, you should be able to just jump in any cab and say "Victoria Peak" and you'll get to where you need to go without complications. Well, this wasn't the case for us, and I learned that the hard way. Let's just say I'm very thankful I have a patient fiancé.

Our first night in Hong Kong was the only part of our trip I didn't really have any idea what to do. We checked in to our hotel and wandered the streets for a few hours, indulging in street food in Mong Kok and venturing into a couple dive bars. Around 8:30PM I realized we still had a whole night ahead of us without any plans (it was Hong Kong after all, which is pretty much the city that never sleeps of the East). We had a tour arranged the next morning that included a drive to Victoria Peak, but I had also been longing to see a nightview of the Peak for so long. With plans the next few evenings, I told Anson we had to go right then to get a glimpse of the beautiful night lights of the HK skyline.

I read up a few things online about how to get to Victoria Peak on your own, and many other blog posts made it seem like a piece of cake. Well, I'm here to be that anti-post to let you know that if you don't 100% know what you're doing, you will likely get lost in the jungle and may find yourself potentially battling monkeys or mysterious cat-like creatures of the night.

First and foremost, you will want to take the MTR (HK's public transit station -AKA Subway in American terms) to Central Station. Depending on where you are located, you may have to switch lines. We were in Mong Kok, so we took the Tsuen Wan (red line) toward Central. At Central station, we got off and took Exit A (World Wide House) and ended up on Connaught Road. Here we flagged down a taxi (you may have to walk down the road a little bit but you can pretty much flag down one of the red taxis as soon as you get up to the street level).

One important tip here is to never assume the taxi driver will know where you want to go just because you tell them the name of a popular tourist spot. A lot of places online said we could simply tell our cab driver "Victoria Peak" and we wouldn't have issues. On the contrary, our cab driver was definitely a little confused (maybe because he wasn't sure why we were trying to go up there at now 9:30PM), but after some hand motions and pointing up to the sky, he understood we wanted to go to Hong Kong's highest point. I recommend at least pulling up directions on your GPS as the final destination will typically show in both English and Chinese/Cantonese, which can eliminate some of the language barriers for you.

Note: There are two different locations for what is considered "the Peak". There is "Victoria Peak" and "Victoria Peak Garden." The Garden is the absolute highest point, however, I promise you that this is not where you want to go at night. We thought this was the place to be, though, seeing as it was the highest point. Our cab driver kept trying to drop us off at the actual Victoria Peak and I kept telling him no, no... "Up!" I'm pretty sure I was mistaking his lack of English knowledge for pure confusion as to why I would want to go to the garden at night. He dropped us off at the garden, which from Central station to the tip top was about $81 HK Dollars (or just under $12 US Dollars), and immediately I was like... nope. This isn't right. [If you take a taxi from Central Station to just the Victoria Peak shopping center, it is approximately $74 HK Dollars/ $10.5 US Dollars]. We ended up on the other side of the mountain (one that does not have a view of the skyline), which was completely dark and deserted. The cab driver was gone by this point, and here I was standing alone with my fiancé on top of Hong Kong surrounded by jungle in the dead of night.

With no other plan in mind, I typed "Victoria Peak lookout" into my GPS and we began our hike down the mountain to find the view I was chasing. However, after 20 minutes of walking, we came within reach of the actual peak just over a hill, and of course there were closed gates preventing us from going any further. We could barely see anything and were going strictly off the light from our cellphones to find any reasonable walking path. (Right now, I'm praying that my mother doesn't read this post as I am avoiding an indefinite lecture). We came across animals running over the paths in front of us, but in the dark couldn't make out exactly what kind of animals, so I'm going to chalk it up to something harmless like puppies or pandas or something else cute. Not going to lie, I was freaking out scared, and so was Anson, but neither of us admitted this to each other until after the fact. After another dead end, we navigated some more through our GPS to take us to the Victoria Peak shopping center, which ended up being another 20 minute walk down through the dark jungle. There were several "lookout/picture opportunities" presented on my GPS, but all of which required another 15 minute hike IN to the jungle, and I was not about that at now 10:30PM. So we continued down the mountain.

Alas, once we got to the shopping center, I finally found the view I was looking for. If you walk past the shopping center a couple hundred feet, you'll come along the "Lion's Pavilion" which will present you with a beautiful overlook of the city skyline. After only a couple hours of searching, we made it! Despite everything, it was worth it, but I would never want anyone to have to take the route we took just to see the city lights, so I'm hoping my advice can be somewhat helpful if you find yourself in Hong Kong looking for the same picturesque view.

After we took in the view, and of course, took our pictures to prove we actually made it, we discovered a trolly... WHICH IS THE MOST EFFICIENT WAY TO GET UP AND DOWN FROM THIS VIEW Y'ALL. I was kicking myself for not having found it sooner. It's called the "Peak Tram Upper Terminus" and can't be missed as it's located right in the middle of the shopping center by the lookout. We paid to take this trolly down (rather than trying to find a cab at the top of the mountain so late at night). A one way ticket was $37 HK Dollars/person ($5.3 US Dollars). However, if you wanted to get a roundtrip ticket and take the tram up from the lower Terminus, it was $52 HK Dollars roundtrip ($7.4 US Dollars). Had we discovered this earlier we 1) wouldn't have been nearly as lost 2) wouldn't have had to hike through the jungle potentially having to battle wild animals and 3) would have saved some money because it was much cheaper than a cab. So, this is definitely something to keep in mind if you are venturing to the peak on your own, either day or night!

Regardless, the Peak is a must do when in Hong Kong, no matter what time of day or how you choose to get there, as it offers breathtaking views of the city that cannot be captivated in a picture. So take some time out of your trip to pencil it in!