Chinese New Year / Spring Festival is the festival that celebrates the beginning of a new year on the traditional lunisolar Chinese calendar. Chinese New Year is one of the most important holidays in China. Hong Kong’s Chinese New Year festival is world-famous.
In Hong Kong, people mark the occasion with a unique fusion of modern fun and ancient customs. The three days comprising a night parade, spectacular fireworks, and horse racing often make it to the top of world festival event lists.
Crowds line the streets and make way for the parade in the Tsim Sha Tsui area (map) near Victoria Harbour. The night parade begins at 8pm but pre-parade street performances usually begin at 6pm. You’d better arrive early to get a good spot.
+ More information > Wikipedia • Wikivoyage
In modern China, migrant workers in China travel home to have reunion dinners with their families on Chinese New Year’s Eve. Buses and airlines starting from 15 days before the New Year’s Day. This 40-day period is called chunyun, and is known as the world’s largest annual migration. More interurban trips are taken in mainland China in this period than the total population of China.
Each year, around 15 festive, open-air flower markets temporarily sprout up across the city. Our pick: Victoria Park (map) – usually the largest venue – or Mong Kok’s (map) smaller street market.
Come midnight on the eve of Chinese New Year, thousands gather at Wong Tai Sin Temple (map) to make offerings – it’s believed that the earlier they arrive, the bigger the blessing. Set on the south side of Kowloon’s Lion Rock mountain, this sprawling complex of altars, pavilions and gardens is an important site for Taoist, Buddhist and Confucian worshippers.
The Temple Street Night Market (map) pedestrian street is a place to browse for bargains and to snack or have a meal beforehand.
On the second day of the Spring Festival, Victoria Harbour is scheduled to roar with a giant firework display with choreographed pyrotechnics. The show is set to last for about 25 minutes. It usually coincides with the daily record-setting Symphony of Lights with its colorful building lights and laser light show.
The best places to view the display are both sides of the harbor front in Tsim Sha Tsui , Central, Wan Chai, by boat on the water, or from The Peak.
MRT.com.hk (Commuter trains, Light Rail) • hktramways.com (city tram) • The Peak Tram
Octopus card – a contactless smart payment card, is widely accepted on railways, buses and ferries, and can be used for payment in most retail stores.
BAOLAU.com – transportation network in Asia includes flights, trains, buses and ferries.
The most common direction-finding app used by the Chinese themselves is Baidu Maps, though it is only available in Chinese. Amap is effectively the Citymapper for the whole of China.
+ Getting around (discoverhongkong.com) • Transportation • Tips for Your China Train Trip (chinahighlights.com)
BUS > A coach or bus in rural China is a different experience. City buses vary from city to city. However, if you can understand the bus routes then they are cheap and go almost everywhere.
RAIL > Train travel is the main method of long-distance transportation for the Chinese, with an extensive network of routes covering most of the country. >> seat61.com (*Rail travel in China)
AIRPORTS > Hong Kong International Airport / The main international gateways to mainland China are Beijing (Beijing Capital International Airport, Beijing Daxing International Airport), Shanghai (Shanghai Pudong International Airport) and Guangzhou (Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport).
WATERWAYS > Star Ferry + TurboJet • Cotai Jet • Chu Kong Passenger Transport.