Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong — Area Guide & Where to Stay

What are the main landmarks in Hong Kong Island?

Hong Kong Island shows its defining sights along the north shore facing the harbour. The waterfront leads. The central business district rises from the harbour edge in a wall of towers that climb the hillside behind, the single feature that marks the island from across the water in Kowloon.

Steep green hills back the built-up strip and roll south toward the open coast. Beyond the harbour to the west, Lantau Island closes the view over the water.

What is the history of Hong Kong Island?

Hong Kong Island was the first of the three parts of Hong Kong to be settled as a port, known originally and on road signs simply as Hong Kong. The harbour made it. British administration took the island first, drawn by the deep sheltered water on its northern shore, and the town grew up the slope from the waterfront well before Kowloon and the New Territories were added.

From that early shore the island became the historic core of the whole territory, the second largest island in Hong Kong after Lantau Island.

Where is Hong Kong Island?

Hong Kong Island lies in the southern part of Hong Kong, separated from the Kowloon peninsula by the harbour and rising to steep hills above its built-up northern shore.