By 
It is a weekday evening in Sheung Wan. The air is warm and wet, a tram rattles past ringing its bell, and the smell of roasting meat drifts out of a shopfront where glazed ducks hang in the window. Ten minutes later you are on a ferry crossing Victoria Harbour, and an hour after that you could be on a quiet hillside trail with nothing but the sound of insects. Hong Kong packs that much into a working day, and that is the real reason people move here.
This guide is for people thinking about relocating, not for a long weekend. It sets out five honest reasons to make the move, and then the trade-offs that newcomers tend to underestimate: tiny, costly flats, the summer weather, long working hours and the language. Read both halves before you decide.
Reason one: a food culture you can live on every day
Food in Hong Kong is not a treat for special occasions. It is the backbone of daily life, and much of it is cheap, fast and eaten in places with plastic stools and shared tables. Once you learn how the system works, you can eat well every day without ever cooking in a kitchen the size of a cupboard.
Yum cha and dim sum
Going for yum cha, literally "drink tea", is a weekend ritual for families across the city. You choose a tea for the table, then tick dishes on a paper order sheet. The classics are worth learning by name:
- Har gow, translucent prawn dumplings.
- Siu mai, open-topped pork and prawn dumplings.
- Cheung fun, slippery rice noodle rolls with soy sauce.
- Char siu bao, fluffy buns filled with barbecued pork.
- Lo mai gai, sticky rice steamed in a lotus leaf.
A few customs help you fit in. When someone pours your tea, tapping two fingers on the table is a quiet thank you. If the pot is empty, leave the lid tilted open and staff will refill it. In busy places you may be seated with strangers, which is normal and nobody expects conversation.
Cha chaan teng and siu mei
The cha chaan teng, a local tea restaurant, is where many residents eat breakfast and lunch. The menus mix Cantonese and Western influences: macaroni soup with ham, French toast filled with peanut butter, satay beef noodles, and a glass of Hong Kong-style milk tea, strong and silky, made with evaporated milk. Order yuenyeung if you want coffee and tea mixed together. A pineapple bun, which contains no pineapple at all, with a slab of cold butter inside is a local classic, as are egg tarts from a bakery.
Look out too for siu mei shops, the roast meat counters with ducks, geese and strips of char siu hanging in the window. A plate of roast meat over rice is one of the quickest and most satisfying lunches in the city. Wonton noodle shops, congee shops and the street snacks of Mong Kok, such as curry fish balls and egg waffles, fill in the rest.
Markets and cooked food centres
For groceries, the neighbourhood wet markets sell fresh fish, meat and vegetables, usually more cheaply and more freshly than supermarkets. Many municipal market buildings have a cooked food centre upstairs, a plain hall of stalls serving hot dishes at shared tables. These are where office workers and families eat, and they are a good way to learn what locals actually order.
Beyond Cantonese cooking, the city has strong Chiu Chow, Hakka, Shanghainese, Indian, Nepalese, Filipino, Thai and Japanese food. If your move is part of a longer break rather than a career change, Spend The Gap Year In The Best Possible Way has ideas for structuring that time, and eating your way around Hong Kong deserves a place in the plan.
Reason two: getting around without a car
Very few residents own a car, and most do not need one. Public transport is so thorough that a car is often a burden: parking is scarce and costly, and traffic in the urban areas can be slow.
The MTR and the Octopus card
The MTR is the rail network that ties the city together, running under the harbour, across Kowloon and out into the New Territories and Lantau. Stations are clean, signs are in Chinese and English. Queue at the marked lines on the platform and let people off first; locals take this seriously.
The Octopus card is the stored-value card almost everyone carries. It works on the MTR, buses, trams, ferries and minibuses, and also at convenience stores, supermarkets, vending machines and many small shops. Top it up at stations or convenience stores. Fares and concessions change, so check them on the official sites.
Trams, ferries and minibuses
- Trams, known locally as "ding dings" after their bells, run along the north shore of Hong Kong Island from Kennedy Town to Shau Kei Wan. They are slow and narrow, but the upper deck gives you a front-row view of street life.
- The Star Ferry crosses Victoria Harbour between Tsim Sha Tsui and Hong Kong Island. It is a genuine commuter route, and the view of the skyline from the open deck never gets old.
- Outlying island ferries leave from the Central Ferry Piers for Lamma, Cheung Chau, Lantau and Peng Chau.
- Minibuses, the small cream vehicles with green or red roofs, reach places the trains do not. Green-roofed ones follow fixed routes; red-roofed ones are more flexible. On some routes you need to call out your stop to the driver, so learn the Cantonese name of where you are going.
Walking the vertical city
Much of Hong Kong Island is built on steep slopes. The Central to Mid-Levels escalator, a chain of covered outdoor escalators and walkways, carries commuters up and down the hill, and a network of elevated footbridges links offices and malls in Central and Admiralty so you can cross the district without touching the street. A common mistake is choosing a flat on a map without realising it sits at the top of a hill with no escalator; walk the route before you sign.
Reason three: hiking trails, beaches and islands on your doorstep
Newcomers often expect a city of towers and little else. In fact much of the territory is protected country park, hilly, green and laced with well-marked trails.
Trails worth learning
- Dragon's Back, a ridge walk above Shek O on the south side of Hong Kong Island, with sea views on both sides and a finish near Big Wave Bay.
- The MacLehose Trail, a long-distance route across the New Territories from Sai Kung to Tuen Mun, divided into sections that work as day walks. The Sai Kung stretches pass wide, empty beaches such as those at Tai Long Wan.
- The Lantau Trail, which crosses Lantau's high peaks, including Lantau Peak and Sunset Peak.
- Lion Rock, the distinctive outcrop above Kowloon, a short, steep climb with a wide view over the city.
- Victoria Peak, where the circular walk around the summit is gentle and gives classic views over the harbour.
Go early, carry more water than you think you need, and check the weather warnings before you set out. Trails are well signposted but steep, and the humidity makes even short walks tiring.
The outlying islands
Lamma Island has no cars, a relaxed village atmosphere and a walking path linking Yung Shue Wan and Sok Kwu Wan, with seafood restaurants at both ends. Lantau is a large, hilly island, home to the Tian Tan Buddha at Ngong Ping, the stilt-house fishing village of Tai O and quiet beaches around Mui Wo. Cheung Chau is a small, busy fishing island with narrow lanes and a famous bun festival. Some residents choose to live on the islands for the space and the slower pace, and accept a ferry commute in exchange.
Beaches range from the popular Repulse Bay and Shek O on Hong Kong Island to remote bays in Sai Kung that take a hike or a boat to reach. Water quality varies, so check the government's beach water reports before swimming.
Reason four: a neighbourhood for every way of living
Hong Kong is often treated as one city, but daily life varies enormously depending on where you live. Choosing the right area matters more than choosing the right flat, because it decides your commute, your weekends and how much space you get.
Hong Kong Island
Central and Admiralty are the business core. Nearby, Sheung Wan mixes dried seafood shops and traditional medicine halls with galleries and cafés, and Sai Ying Pun and Kennedy Town to the west are popular with younger professionals for their restaurants and harbourfront. The Mid-Levels rise above Central, close to offices but steep. Wan Chai and Causeway Bay are dense, busy and full of shopping, while Happy Valley, around the racecourse, feels more residential. Further east, Quarry Bay and Tai Koo have large housing estates and office towers. On the south side, areas such as Stanley and Repulse Bay offer more space and sea views, at a price and with a longer commute.
Kowloon
Tsim Sha Tsui sits on the harbour with museums, hotels and the waterfront promenade. Yau Ma Tei and Mong Kok are intensely crowded on foot, packed with markets and neon, including the Temple Street Night Market and the Ladies' Market. Sham Shui Po is an older working-class district known for its fabric and electronics streets and its local food. Kowloon City is known for Thai restaurants and has a calm park on the site of the former walled city. Rents in Kowloon are often lower than on the Island for the same space.
The New Territories and Lantau
Further out, Sha Tin, Tai Po and Tseung Kwan O are large new towns with shopping centres, parks and rail links. Sai Kung is a seaside town popular with families and anyone who wants boats and hiking close by. On Lantau, Discovery Bay is a car-free residential community linked to Central by ferry, and Tung Chung is near the airport. These areas usually give you more space for the money, but check commuting times door to door before you commit.
Reason five: Cantonese culture, festivals and temples
Living here, rather than visiting, means the city's traditional calendar becomes part of your own year. Cantonese culture is not kept in museums. It plays out in streets, temples and family homes.
Festivals through the year
- Lunar New Year brings flower markets, red packets of lucky money called lai see, family visits and fireworks over the harbour. Many small businesses close for several days, so stock up beforehand.
- Ching Ming and Chung Yeung are days when families visit ancestors' graves, and hillside cemeteries become busy.
- The Dragon Boat Festival, or Tuen Ng, fills beaches and harbours with racing teams and drums, and families eat sticky rice dumplings wrapped in leaves.
- The Cheung Chau Bun Festival features a parade and towers of buns on the island.
- The Mid-Autumn Festival means lanterns in parks and mooncakes exchanged between friends and colleagues.
Most festivals are public holidays. Dates follow the lunar calendar and shift each year, so check the official public holiday list.
Temples and customs
Man Mo Temple on Hollywood Road in Sheung Wan honours the gods of literature and war, and its interior is dim with smoke from huge hanging incense coils. Wong Tai Sin Temple in Kowloon is busy with worshippers shaking kau cim, bamboo fortune sticks, and fortune tellers interpret the results nearby. Chi Lin Nunnery, a wooden Buddhist complex with the Nan Lian Garden beside it, is a calm place to spend an hour, and the Ten Thousand Buddhas Monastery in Sha Tin rewards a steep climb. Temples to Tin Hau, goddess of the sea, are found in many coastal neighbourhoods. Dress modestly, do not photograph worshippers at close range, and follow what others do.
Modern culture is growing too. The West Kowloon Cultural District is home to M+, a museum of visual culture, and the Hong Kong Palace Museum, while Tai Kwun, the restored former Central Police Station compound, hosts exhibitions and performances.
The emotional side of moving so far from home is real, even in a city this lively. How to Overcome Homesickness Whilst Traveling has strategies that translate well to a longer move, and joining a hiking group, a dragon boat team or a Cantonese class is one of the quickest ways to build a social life.
The trade-offs: space, weather, work and language
The five reasons above are genuine, but so are the downsides.
Housing is small and expensive
Flats are compact by British standards, and rents are high, especially on Hong Kong Island. Listings often quote area in square feet, and you need to check whether the figure is the saleable area, the space you actually live in, or a larger gross figure that includes shared parts of the building. Many leases have a fixed term with a break clause, agents usually charge a commission, and landlords typically expect a deposit and rent in advance. Rules and norms change, so read the lease carefully and check current guidance on the government's housing and estate agents pages. Older walk-up buildings without lifts are cheaper, but think hard about carrying shopping up several floors in summer.
Humidity and typhoon season
Summers are hot and very humid, and damp gets into wardrobes, shoes and leather. Most households run dehumidifiers. During typhoon season, the Hong Kong Observatory issues tropical cyclone signals and rainstorm warnings; at the higher levels, offices, schools and much public transport stop, and everyone is expected to stay indoors. Learn what each signal means before your first summer, and keep some food and water at home. Winters are mild and drier, and they are the most comfortable months for hiking.
Work culture
Working hours in many industries are long, and expectations of availability can be higher than in the UK. Lunch is often short and eaten near the office. Ask direct questions at interview about hours, leave and what happens on typhoon days, and read your contract closely.
Language
English is an official language and widely used in business, government and transport, so you can live here without speaking Cantonese. But many older residents, small shops, markets and minibus drivers speak little English, and written Chinese uses traditional characters. Learning even a few phrases, such as m goi for "please" or "thank you" in a service setting, makes daily life smoother and earns real goodwill. Cantonese is tonal and challenging, so a structured course helps more than an app alone.
Before you move: visas, tax, schools and a trial visit
Practical rules for newcomers change regularly, so treat what follows as a checklist of questions, not answers.
- Visas: most people need a visa or entry permit to work or study. Several schemes exist for professionals, graduates and dependants, and their criteria are revised from time to time. Check the current options on the official Immigration Department website before you accept a job offer.
- Identity card: residents staying beyond a set period must register for a Hong Kong identity card. The card is needed for banking, healthcare and many everyday services, so book your appointment early.
- Tax: Hong Kong has its own salaries tax system, run by the Inland Revenue Department. Rates, allowances and filing deadlines change, and your UK tax position may also be affected by the move, so take advice on both sides.
- Healthcare: eligible residents can use the public hospital system, but waiting times for non-urgent care can be long, and many employers provide private insurance. Check what your package actually covers.
- Schools: local government schools teach mainly in Chinese. International schools often have waiting lists and may charge entry levies or debentures on top of fees. Apply early and check the Education Bureau's guidance.
- Banking: opening an account requires identification and proof of address, and banks set their own requirements. Bring documents from home and expect the process to take time.
Do a trial visit first
If you can, spend a week or two in the city before you commit. Use it to test commutes at rush hour, view flats in at least two different districts, and visit in the summer if you can, because that is when the weather and the housing compromises bite hardest. Ask residents what they would do differently.
Budget carefully for the first months, since deposits, agent fees and furnishing a new flat add up quickly. Traveling to Japan on a Budget & Making Money has general advice on managing money abroad that applies just as well here. And once you have settled, Macau is an easy ferry ride away for a change of scene; if its gaming halls are on your list, Casinos To Visit When Travelling In Asia covers the region.
Before signing any lease, ride the commute from that flat to your office at rush hour, walk back up the hill in the heat, and only then decide whether the view is worth it.
Official sources and further reading
Opening times, entry rules and prices change, so check them on the official sites before you travel:
- Discover Hong Kong: The Hong Kong Tourism Board's official site.
- GOV.UK: foreign travel advice: Entry rules, safety and health notices for every country, kept up to date by the UK government.
