Hong Kong · Hong Kong
Kennedy Town, Hong Kong — Area Guide & Where to Stay
Kennedy Town is the western edge of Sai Wan on Hong Kong Island, a harbour-side quarter of Central and Western District.
About Kennedy Town
Where to stay in Kennedy Town
Where you base yourself shapes the visit — here's the character of each area.
Beds here sit at the far western edge of Sai Wan, well past the dense core of Central and Western District. That distance is the trade. Travellers who want quiet evenings, harbour air, and a short ride east into the rest of Hong Kong Island take rooms on the Kennedy Town side, while anyone whose days revolve around the pools and courts at Shek Tong Tsui Sports Centre does better a little further inland.
Sheung Wan Sports Centre marks the point where the shoreline turns commercial again.
About Kennedy Town
What are the main landmarks in Kennedy Town?
Kennedy Town keeps no grand monument. The draw is the shoreline itself, the working western edge of Sai Wan where the harbour opens out and the slopes of Hong Kong Island rise straight up behind the streets. Public sports halls fill the gap for anyone with an afternoon spare.
Shek Tong Tsui Sports Centre stands just inland, and Sheung Wan Sports Centre lies further east along the north shore, both plain municipal buildings that see constant use.
What is the history of Kennedy Town?
Kennedy Town takes its name from Arthur Edward Kennedy, the seventh governor of Hong Kong, in office from 1872 to 1877. The label stuck. Growth ran along the shoreline at the far western limit of Sai Wan, hemmed between the water and the hill, which kept the street plan tight and the buildings close together for generations.
Boundary work later folded the neighbourhood into Central and Western District, the administrative unit it still sits inside.
Where is Kennedy Town?
Steep ground at its back and open harbour in front, the neighbourhood holds the western end of Sai Wan on Hong Kong Island.
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Updated September 2026