How to get around

If there is one thing about Hong Kong that both visitors and locals usually agree upon, it is a place where it is convenient to get around. 

More than 80 per cent of trips are made on public transport. 

In terms of speed, efficiency and convenient means of getting around the business and down-town shopping areas, the MTR subway system offers a safe, graffiti-free and inexpensive mode of transport. Many of the exits from the air-conditioned MTR stations emerge into major buildings and shopping malls, providing welcome relief from the humid summertime heat. 

Every weekday the MTR keeps more than 2.2 million people on the move, making it one of the most heavily used mass transit systems in the world, yet outside of rush hour the trains are rarely crowded. The MTR also forms part of Hong Kong's integrated rail system that links new towns with the business districts and the boarder crossing with mainland China. 

Departing every 12 minutes, the quickest connection between Hong Kong International Airport and Central district is the Airport Express railway, also operated by the MTR. 

In keeping with the easy-to-use rail system, fares can be paid with single-journey tickets or travel passes like the electronic stored-value Octopus smartcard. The Octopus card is an electronic cash system that can be used to pay fares on most trains, buses and ferries in Hong Kong. 

Taxi cabs come in three colours, red taxis serve the island and Kolwoon and can also enter the New Territories; green taxis serve the New Territories exclusively; and blue taxis serve Lantau, home of the Po Lin Monastery and spectacular Tian Tan Buddha. 

Drivers are generally helpful and many speak English, but it is wise to have the destination marked on a map or written in Chinese characters to save any confusion. The level of English skills may vary, but the fare doesn't, flag fall is HK$15 in Kowloon and on Hong Kong Island, and HK$12.50 in the New Territories and Lantau Island. It is quite normal for business travellers to ask for a receipt from the driver.  

Hong Kong's extensive bus system also offers a bewildering number of routes that take passengers just about anywhere. Buses of all shapes and sizes from environmentally-friendly double deckers to 18-seater mini-buses ply different routes late into the night, and in many cases around the clock. 

The 110-year-old Peak Tram, which defies gravity as it climbs between the skyscrapers at a giddying angle, to The Peak, Hong Kong's number one tourist spot is a thrill that tourists love. At the summit visitors can enjoy stunning views over Victoria Harbour where small distinctive green and white ferries of the Star Ferry Service shuttle to and fro as they have done so for more than 100 years. 

Together with the Star Ferry and the Peak Tram, Hong Kong's tram system is one of the most endearing icons of Hong Kong's heritage. From early morning until midnight brightly painted trams trundle along the same tracks   they have travelled since 1904.

Far more than just a cheap and convenient hop-on hop-off way of getting around town, the upper decks offer magnificent views as they weave through busy streets . 

In spite of the different choices of transport for getting around, visitors soon discover that Hong Kong is   compact and ideally suited for taking the number 11 bus - the old locals' term for walking.