Central

Until 10am you can only ride it downhill; from then until midnight it runs the other way. The whole run is about 800m and takes 20 minutes end to end, and you can step off at any landing into the lanes.

The Peak Tram of 1888 climbs at up to 27 degrees, steep enough that the towers outside the window appear to lean. At the top Lugard Road loops 3.5km round the hill with almost no gradient in it.

The ground floor was left out and the tower hung from its legs instead. From the plaza you look up through a glass underbelly into the banking hall, and on Sundays domestic workers spread mats across that empty floor and stay all day.

Stacked triangles carry the load. Columns stand only at the four corners, and the tower drops one face at a time as it rises. The 43rd-floor viewing level is shut, leaving the outside. Feng shui rows about its blades aimed at neighbours dogged it for years.

It was a prison. Victoria Prison, the central police station and the magistracy shared one wall. The compound opened as an arts complex in 2018, and one cell block was left as it stood for visitors to go inside. The gate takes no admission.

Four lamps stand at the head and foot of these steps, all the gas lighting Hong Kong has left. Nobody arrives at dusk to light them; they come on by themselves. The steps under them were laid between 1875 and 1889.

Walk into the aviary instead of around it. A timber deck is slung across the ravine and puts the birds at eye level. One white house of 1846 survives in the park and holds the tea ware museum.

It housed married police officers, so identical rooms run the length of each corridor, and every one of them is now a studio. Most open at 11am, and a market fills the courtyard at weekends.

Not a sightseeing boat but a commuter route people still take to work. The crossing runs under 10 minutes, and a lower deck ticket costs less than an upper. Down there the engine is loud and the spray comes over the rail.

Bars are packed along the two lanes that bend into an L. Heels suffer on a gradient this steep, and on Friday nights the road shuts to traffic and drinkers spill across it.

An Anglican cathedral consecrated in 1849, and on record as the only freehold land in Hong Kong. Entry is free, and by day, between services, you may sit a while on the wooden pews. The lower Peak Tram terminus is a block away.

Formally opened in 1871, the oldest park in Hong Kong. Albany Road splits it down the middle, and an underpass from the botanical side leads to the primate cages with orangutans and lemurs. Entry is free.

Built in 1846 as the residence of the British commander, the oldest Western-style building left in Hong Kong. Today it shows teapots and cups and admission is free. It sits inside Hong Kong Park and closes on Tuesdays.

Despite the name, Queen Victoria was carted off in the Japanese occupation and moved to Victoria Park after the war; the one figure left is Sir Thomas Jackson of HSBC. Across the road, a blindfolded Justice stands on the roof of the old Supreme Court.

A 1939 market hall banded with horizontal lines. It shut in 2003, was restored and reopened, and now fills three floors with Hong Kong snacks and small shops. The open central well and the original staircases survive.

A sloping street market said to have had stalls since the 1840s, with vegetable, fish and tofu sellers lining both sides. Redevelopment took part of it, but the lower blocks still trade. Go early to see the fish still flapping.

A slope paved in uneven granite slabs, laid in steps, hence its other name, Stone Slab Street. The stalls either side sell wigs, party costumes and props, and crowds pack it before Halloween. Rain makes the stone slick, so firm soles help.

The roof garden on level 4 of IFC Mall is open free and faces the Kowloon skyline straight across the harbour. Plenty of people carry up a coffee or beer bought in the mall and take a bench. It also works as a seat for the Symphony of Lights.

A museum of the sea built onto Central Pier 8. Junk models and trade-route maps lead on, and the highlight is a long scroll painting Qing forces clearing out the pirates. From the window seats you watch the ferries come and go.

Below the government headquarters a lawn tilts gently towards the harbour. The building is shaped as an open door, so from the grass you see sky through its middle. People unroll mats at dusk, and the harbourfront promenade runs straight on from it.

Built in 1855 for the governors, it gained a tower on the roof when a Japanese engineer remodelled it during the occupation. Normally you see it only through the iron gates; the garden is unlocked only several days each year, spring azalea time among them.

A Gothic Catholic cathedral raised on Caine Road in the Mid-Levels in 1888. Step off the escalator partway up and it is a few minutes on foot. Under the stained glass it is quiet, yet Sunday masses gather English, Chinese and Tagalog congregations in turn.