I’ve lived in Hong Kong for almost 8 years and didn’t even know the Hong Kong Heritage Museum existed up until last week. We’ve been to the Hong Kong Science Museum, Space Museum (Under renovation for about the last 65 million years) and Hong Kong Museum of History, and they were ok, particularly the HK Science Museum. The Hong Kong Heritage Museum get some ok reviews so were happy to go.
Decided to go early on a Sunday morning, drove out from Pokfulam which took about 35 minutes. At time on a Sunday morning there’s very little traffic anywhere and it’s an easy drive out on highway for pretty much the entire way. You can find the exact location of the Hong Kong Heritage Museum on Toucan’s Hong Kong Map, or click here. It’s in Shatin, very close to New Town Plaza and bunch of other shopping malls including Ikea. It’s also close (walking distance) to Ten Thousand Buddha’s Monastery and Po Took Hill, which is actually quite interesting.
Anyway, Hong Kong Heritage Museum opens daily at 10a.m. check closing hours on the HK Heritage Museum Opening Hours page here. This page also gives you public transportation options to Hong Kong Heritage Museum and detailed directions. If you’re driving just stick “Hong Kong Heritage Museum Car Park” in Google maps and it’ll take you there.
Showed up before opening, not many people there except a tour group. Went in, staff were friendly, thought we needed to pay but it’s free. First we went to the kids section, which was, unfortunately, a bit stink, bordering on very stink. There’s a few interactive games you can play, a couple of models of some birds, some activity stations where you can draw and put things together. Lasted about 15 minutes in there and 12 of those were spent playing 2 interactive games. Compared to the HK Science Museum, this is way (WAY) worse and I would even go so far as to say it’s not even worth going to see the kids bit.
Next we ended up at the Bruce Lee bit, which is basically the entire top floor. Grobbler thought the videos of Bruce Lee making tight-sack sounds while fighting was hilarious. Other than the videos, there’s bunch of photos and the usual museum crap. If you’re a Bruce Lee fan then he Hong Kong Heritage Museum is probably going to be right up your alley, there’s also a giant statue of him outside. Grobbler was so keen on him that we had to buy some softish Nunchuks and I have already been kicked in the goolies twice from the new Bruce Lee causing havoc at home.
Below this floor is some ceramic plates. I’m sure there was a theme but whatever it is was, it’s not going to be of any interest to any kids unless they appreciate Chinese bowls and plates from a few hundred years ago. As you can see I have no appreciation for that either. Lasted about 1 minute in there before heading back downstairs.
On the ground floor we stumbled across the Chinese Opera section, which was actually not bad, I mean compared to the rest of the stuff at the Hong Kong Heritage Museum. There’s one interactive exhibit that Grobbler loved and insisted on playing it over and over and over and over and over. Basically you stand on one spot, cameras pick your movements up and mimic what you do. You can choose your outfit and away you go. Not heart-stopping entertainment but it was alright and enough to keep us buy for 15-20 minutes.
The Hong Kong Heritage Museum overall experience is ok. Don’t think it’s worth the 4 and something stars in gets on Google, but if you live in Hong Kong, are looking for something to do, and have never been before, then I guess it’s worth a visit if you combine it with something else. We spent about an hour and half there, walked over to New Town Plaza (which is rather confusing as there’s a bunch of older malls adding it and it’s difficult to figure out where the newest (and best) one is, had some lunch, then headed to Ten Thousand Buddha’s Monastery.
Not sure we’d go back, definitely not something I’d be racing out to tell my friends about (if I had any). However, there’s a nice cycling track right next to the Hong Kong Heritage Museum and you can have a good bike ride before and afterwards, which is what we were supposed to do but abandoned. Might be something you’d so once a year, or maybe once. The HK Science Museum is much better but if you’re around the Shatin area it’s worth popping into have a look.
Visit our Hong Kong Travel Guide for kids main page here or if you’ve got any questions about the Hong Kong Heritage Museum, send us an email on our contact page or ask us on Twitter.
