First up, most people think Victoria Peak Hong Kong is the Peak, which is not true. The Peak, which is where the touristy stuff is and where the tram goes, is lower. To get to Victoria Peak Hong Kong you actually need to walk up Mount Austin Road for about 20-30 minutes. This is actually just a small lookout and the views here are overlooking Southside, not as good as the actual Peak. Even though this post is on Victoria Peak Hong Kong, it’s really about The Peak, because 99% of people think The Peak is Victoria Peak.
I’ve been up Victoria Peak Hong Kong probably close to 100 times but rarely hang around other than to check out the view as it’s usually on a run. Grobblers also been up there but only when he was younger so thought I’d take him up and do what the tourists do since it’s his school holidays. We took a bus from Pokfulam into Central, walked over to the Victoria Peak Hong Kong Tram and took that up.
The few times I’ve gone past the Victoria Peak Hong Kong Tram and bothered to have a look it was absolutely jam packed with people and have never looked forward to lining up. However, today was a weekday, mid morning, and not that many people there. At first the cue was long but that’s for lining up to get the tickets, which you can do online, but not on the same day. As we were going to check out Madamme Tussauds at the Peak I decided to go to their counter which is separate for the Tram only counter. No people waiting there and we got some kind of combo for the two of us which cost around $800 – not cheap. That included the The Peak tram, Madame Tussauds and the Skydeck or whatever they call it.
Anyway, what I thought was a long line and long wait turned out to be nothing, the Victoria Peak Hong Kong Tram fits quite a lot of people in it so all of us got on board. It’s pretty steep going up, sit on the right side if you want the view of the city while going up. About 5-10mins up I think. Neat to do but you won’t be rushing back to tell your mates about it. Once up the top we headed straight to Madam Tussauds, which is pretty much a lot like what I expected, except the models were nothing like the real thing.
A lot of them were Chinese, Korean, and I had no idea who they were, the rest of them looked like themselves, with the exception of Tiger Woods, which they totally buggered up (see photo below!). Trump and Obama were there, and surprisingly there were hardly any people there so we didn’t have to wait to take immature photos, or in Grobblers case, take photos of him squeezing Trumps gonads. It’s actually ok, Grobbler didn’t know who most of them were, but it was ok and a bit of mindless, tacky fun which we both thought was ok.
Next up, the sky deck at the Peak. Been up here a few times during sunset and usually it’s an absolute shit show with thousands of mainland Chinese pushing each other and you out the way to get the best vantage point. Luckily for us not many people were up here but it was a bit of a shit day so the view wasn’t that great. I’ve been to a lot of these city observation decks things and I have to say, the one at Victoria Peak Hong Kong is still one of the best I’ve seen anywhere.
Here’s a tip, avoid this, and head around Luggard Road. You’ll need to walk about 1 minutes until you get the best unimpeded views of Hong Kong. Jump over the railing (other side of the cliff!), and there’s rock you can stand on which has awesome view. The best thing about this is you won’t have anybody in your shot and won’t have to fight for the spot. It’s a much better view and you can views over the Western side of the harbour.
As usual at this type of place, its busy, full of tourists so go early when it opens. There’s plenty of restaurants up at Victoria Peak Hong Kong, most of which are over priced and not that good, but ok. There’s your usual shops full of useless souvenirs and a few other shops. The main shopping arcade is currently under construction but still open. If you’re going to go up here, go for the walk around Harlech Road, down and up to meet Luggard Road. It’ll probably take you an hour walking slowly. There’s not much to see on the Harlech Road but Luggard Road has some awesome views as mentioned above.
You can also head up to Mount High West, which is a short but rather sweaty climb (in the summer) at the bottom of Harlech Road. That has some nice views overlooking Cyberport. You can see our hiking in Hong Kong posts for more about that.
Going down on the tram there’s not much of a line. If there is, you might want to get a taxi or bus down. For sure, Victoria Peak Hong Kong is touristy, a bit tacky but there’s no beating the views, especially on a nice day, or as long as it’s not clouded over. But if you’ve never been to Hong Kong it’s definitely worth going up here.
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