Hong Kong Parks and Playgrounds
Hong Kong Parks and Playgrounds
We have travelled extensively with kids and I've found that taking a break in a good park can buy you a whole day of "boring" sight seeing. Luckily, Hong Kong offers tons of beautiful parks and children's playgrounds to escape the concrete jungle for a few minutes or a few hours. Below are a few of our top recommendations.
Hong Kong Park
Hong Kong Park is a beautiful park in the heart of the city. It has a huge outdoor playground and an aviary where you can see exotic birds up close. It really is an oasis amongst all of the skyscrapers on HK island and the view of the park with the skyline in the background is spectacular. While you're there walk down by the ponds where you can see tons of turtles relaxing or playing in the water.
Zoological and Botanical Gardens
Just a 5 minute walk from HK Park you'll find the Zoological and Botanical Gardens. It's an beautiful large park that is home to a number of animals that the children will love to visit from orangutan to tortious.
Nan Lian Gardens & Chi Lin Nunnery
This is one of my favourite places in Hong Kong and includes both stunning gardens and beautiful nunnery. Here you'll be able to see beautiful natural elements with cultural and historical significance in a stunning setting while your kids run and play in the garden - the perfect win-win for any travelling family.
Chi Lin Nunnery is a Buddhist temple that covers 33,000 square meters and includes a beautiful thousand-buddha pagoda as well as a number of other halls, lotus ponds and gardens.
Nan Lian Gardens is 3.5 hector, Tang landscaped garden with a circular route that will take you through a scenic route that includes a pavilion bridge, a lovely teahouse and a golden pavilion overlooking the water.
Kowloon Park
Kowloon Park is one of the biggest public parks in HK and is located in the TST area. There you'll find a small Chinese Pagoda on a lake, with a well manicured hedge maze for the little ones. Note that the hedge is quite short so this is a bigger attraction for smaller children as taller ones can easily find their way out.
They also have a couple of great playgrounds, one of which is set amongst cannons and turrets that are sure to delight!. There is an outdoor pool, an aviary with pink flamingos, and beautiful gardens. The park also hosts events and performances including live demonstrations of the lion dance.
Victoria Park
Victoria Park is another large public park on Hong Kong Island. This one is located at Causeway Bay and includes a large green space where you can run around or throw the frisbee (something that's missing from most of the parks in HK. There is also a good playground, and a remote control boat pond. And, if you go early in the morning you can watch the ladies doing Tai Chi, or even join in if you're so inclined.
Chater Gardens
Chater Gardens is Christian's favourite park for one reason - it has a great view of Bank of China Tower, the most iconic buildings in the city. Another urban garden with beautiful plants and trees, fountains and paved pathways this is a nice, small oasis in the city but doesn't have any playground space for the kids.
Kwun Tung Promenade
Kwun Tung Promenade is a really interesting park on the east side of Kowloon. The Kwun Tung area used to be an industrial area filled mostly with warehouses and shipping. As the area has begun to change new restaurants and art galleries are taking over the warehouses and a lovely promenade was built along the waterfront. To bring to life the history of the area artists have created sculptures from shipping containers and have painted the pillars under the highway with beautiful scenes of every day life and fantasy. There are children's playgrounds, adult gym equipment and tons of green space. It's a fun way to spend a couple of hours on a sunny day.
