Hong Kong Side Trips: 2 Day Itinerary
Two days, two side trips, both out of Hong Kong and back the same night: Macau’s old town on day one, Cheung Chau’s hiking trail and seafood harbour on day two. Neither requires packing a bag. Staying longer adds Lantau’s stilt village, Disneyland, Lamma, Ocean Park, and Shenzhen if you already hold a visa, see the 3 day through 7 day versions of this same list.
Book these before you go:
- Hotel in Tsim Sha Tsui or Central , close to every pier and terminal on this list
- Macau day trip covering the old town, not just a casino shuttle
- Outlying islands tour if you’d rather skip sorting ferry timetables
| Day | Side trip | Travel time from HK | One-way cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Macau (old town) | ~45 min bus, ~60 min ferry | HK$65-70 bus, HK$190-240 ferry |
| 2 | Cheung Chau | ~35-55 min ferry | HK$16.70-47.60 |
Day 1: Macau, the old town over the casinos
Head to the Hong Kong-Macau Ferry Terminal in Sheung Wan, or across the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge if you booked the cheaper Golden Bus. Bring a passport, Macau is a separate SAR with its own immigration control, not a Hong Kong district. Spend the day on the peninsula: the Ruins of St Paul’s, Senado Square’s wave-tile paving, and the Portuguese-colonial streets behind them. Skip the Cotai casino strip unless gambling is genuinely the point, it eats hours you could spend in the old town instead. Confirm current sailing times on Macau’s official tourism site or with TurboJet directly before you head back.
Day 2: Cheung Chau, the cheap escape
Ferry from Central Pier 5: the ordinary boat runs HK$16.70 weekday or HK$24.80 weekend, the fast ferry HK$32.90 or HK$47.60, roughly 35-55 minutes depending on which one you catch. No cars on the island. Walk the Mini Great Wall trail, duck into Cheung Po Tsai Cave, and finish with a seafood lunch by the harbour. It gets genuinely crowded around the Cheung Chau Bun Festival in spring, worth checking the dates before you book if travelling then.
Two days is enough to prove the point that Hong Kong’s side trips deserve more than a leftover afternoon. If Macau’s old town was the highlight, the Macau write-up and the full day trips guide go deeper on both stops and everything you’d add with a third day.