Victoria Peak - Tourism

Tourism

With some seven million visitors every year, the Peak is a major tourist attraction of Hong Kong. It offers spectacular views of the city and its harbours. The number of visitors led to the construction of two major leisure and shopping centres, the Peak Tower and the Peak Galleria, situated adjacent to each other.

The Peak Tower incorporates the upper station of the Peak Tram, the funicular railway that brings passengers up from Hong Kong's Central district, whilst the Peak Galleria incorporates the bus station used by the Hong Kong public buses and green minibuses on the Peak. The Peak is also accessible by taxi and private car via the circuitous Peak Road, or by walking up the steep Old Peak Road from near the Zoological Botanical Gardens.

Victoria Peak Garden is located on the site of Mountain Lodge, the Governor's old summer residence, and is the closest publicly accessible point to the summit. It can be reached from Victoria Gap by walking up Mount Austin Road, a climb of about 150 metres (490 ft). Another popular walk is the level loop along Lugard Road, giving good views of Hong Kong's Central district and Kowloon, and then returning via Harlech Road, encircling the summit at the level of the Peak Tower. There are several restaurants on Victoria Peak, most of which are located in the two shopping centres. However, the Peak Lookout Restaurant, is housed in an older and more traditional building which was originally a spacious house for engineers working on the Peak Tramway. It was rebuilt in 1901 as a stop area for sedan chairs, but was re-opened as a restaurant in 1947. In addition to being a major tourist attraction for Hong Kong, The Peak is also the summit of Hong Kong's property market. At the peak of The Peak, properties are more precious than anywhere else in the world.Most of the super rich in Hong Kong - including Cheung Kong (Holdings) chairman Li Ka-shing and the Kwok brothers of Sun Hung Kai Properties - live in detached houses in Island South or The Peak.

A house at Barker Road sold for HK$1.8 billion last year. At HK$68,228 per square foot, it is the most expensive location in the world. The buyer is reported to be one of Hong Kong's billionaire, Lee Shau-kee.