A Slow, Arts & Crafts Lover's Day in Hong Kong 🎨
A slow-paced Hong Kong day for art and craft lovers — museums, heritage sites, and the best souvenir and stationery finds along the way.
If you love art, craft, and quirky finds, Hong Kong has more than enough to fill a full day — maybe even too much. Ganito lang 'yan: I went a little overboard on art on this particular day/s, and by the time I got to my last stop, the heat and the crowd had worn me down more than I expected. So take this as both a recommended list and a pacing lesson — spread these out if you can, don't cram them the way I did.
Here's where I went, honest reactions included.
🖼️ Places to See Art
1. M+
- 📍 Location: West Kowloon Cultural District
M+ Museum featuring Design Ah and some other exhibits, West Kowloon
- 🎫 Tickets: Bought through Klook — worked out cheaper than paying at the door, and skipped the hassle of sorting payment on arrival
- 🕐 Best Time to Visit: Check what's currently showing before you go — exhibitions rotate, and it's worth planning around what's on
- 🎨 Highlight: The current exhibition when I visited was Design Ah!, an industrial design showcase exploring the everyday use of ordinary items, with quirky, interactive activities built into the exhibit
- 💬 Notable Notes: The other exhibitions I saw (I didn't catch all the names) leaned into a mix of sad and heavy themes — worth knowing going in if you want to prepare yourself emotionally, or want to balance it with something lighter.
2. Hong Kong Museum of Art
- 📍 Location: Tsim Sha Tsui, along Victoria Harbour
- 🎫 Tickets: Free general admission
- 🕐 Best Time to Visit: No rush needed since it's free — worth taking your time to move through multiple exhibits
- 🎨 Highlight: Pieces that showed how deeply Western influence shaped Hong Kong art and fashion in earlier eras, plus intricately designed fans and furniture made for the upper class
- 💬 Notable Notes: There wasn't much on-site explanation for some of the artwork, so a few pieces were hard to fully appreciate without context. If you want a deeper read on what you're looking at, it might help to research a bit beforehand.
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3. Tai Kwun
- 📍 Location: 10 Hollywood Road, Central — the former Central Police Station Compound, which included the police headquarters, the Central Magistracy, and Victoria Prison, decommissioned in the early 2000s and reopened as a heritage and arts centre in 2018
- 🎫 Tickets: Free entry to the grounds; some exhibits are free as well
- 🕐 Best Time to Visit: Go earlier in the day or during cooler months — heat cut my visit shorter than I wanted
- 🎨 Highlight: Preserved prison cells and police heritage exhibits, alongside rotating art exhibitions
- 💬 Notable Notes: I didn't get to go through this as thoroughly as I'd hoped — the heat and the crowd pushed me to wrap up earlier than planned. Historically, it's a genuinely interesting stop, so I'd recommend timing your visit better than I did.
🎨 Art Shopping & Unique Finds
4. PMQ
- 📍 Location: Central
- 🎫 Tickets: Free to walk through
- 🕐 Best Time to Visit: Anytime during opening hours
- 🎨 Highlight: Historically known for quirky, locally made stationery and art finds
- 💬 Notable Notes: On this visit, it felt shifted — mostly clothing designers, leather goods, jewelry, and eyewear, none of which were quite my interest this time around. Some of the "quirky" items on display also looked similar to art sold in Taiwan, though I couldn't tell which direction the resale was going. If you loved PMQ before for its local quirky stationery scene, it's worth tempering expectations — it felt different from what I remembered.
5. Central Market
- 📍 Location: Central
- 🎫 Tickets: Free entry
- 🕐 Best Time to Visit: Good as a midday stop between other Central attractions
- 🎨 Highlight: Slowood, where I picked up healthy granola for my son, plus HK souvenir resellers and a mix of food kiosks and drink stalls
- 💬 Notable Notes: The souvenirs here run a bit pricier than dedicated souvenir shops, but if you'd rather avoid being shoulder-to-shoulder with crowds elsewhere, this is a solid trade-off. Good spot overall if you're hunting for quirky finds.
6. Hysan Place
- 📍 Location: Causeway Bay
- 🎫 Tickets: Free (shopping mall)
- 🕐 Best Time to Visit: Give yourself extra time — 14 floors is easy to lose track of, and I ended up staying much longer than planned
- 🎨 Highlight: The Eslite floor, packed with stationery, cards, pens, and cute finds — I also scored a 70% discount on a Taipei cloud-design AirPods 2 case here. This is also home to Ho Hung Kee, Michelin-starred since 2012 for their wonton noodle soup, so it was worth the visit for that alone
- 💬 Notable Notes: Getting lost across the floors felt almost intentional — it's how I ended up spending so much time in Eslite in the first place. A great stop if you're into stationery.
🎁 Souvenir Finds
7. Hong Kong Souvenirs Shop
- 📍 Location: Causeway Bay
- 🎫 Tickets: Free entry, pay per item
- 🕐 Best Time to Visit: Anytime
- 🎨 Highlight: HK-themed magnets, keychains, a flip-card style keychain, iconic HK stoplight designs, and miniature versions of Hong Kong's iconic buses
- 💬 Notable Notes: Great for bringing home gifts for friends who love magnets and keychains — the quirky, iconic designs make it easy to find something for everyone.
8. Jenny Bakery
- 📍 Location: Mirador Mansion, TST
- 💳 Payment: Cash only
- 🕐 Best Time to Visit: Decide your order before you reach the counter — the line moves fast, and they want things quick
- 🎨 Highlight: Original butter cookies
- 💬 Notable Notes: A family favorite — my parents love the original butter cookies. The tin can designs often change since they're frequently copied by fake "bear" butter cookie brands sold outside.
9. Bee Cheng Hiang
- 📍 Location: Causeway Bay
- 💳 Payment: Paid via Credit Card
- 🕐 Best Time to Visit: Good as a last stop before heading home — easy last-minute souvenir pick
- 🎨 Highlight: Meat jerky (bak kwa) and pork floss
- 💬 Notable Notes: A longtime family favorite, especially for my dad. With airport restrictions getting stricter, I've become more careful about buying jerky unless it's already vacuum-sealed — which they do have ready. Good souvenir if budget isn't a concern.
📋 Quick Reference: All 9 Spots
| Category | Spot | Tickets/Entry | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Places to See Art | M+ | Buy via Klook for a discount | Check current exhibition before going |
| Places to See Art | Hong Kong Museum of Art | Free | Limited on-site explanations |
| Places to See Art | Tai Kwun | Free | Go early or in cooler weather |
| Art Shopping & Unique Finds | PMQ | Free | Mostly fashion/leather/jewelry now |
| Art Shopping & Unique Finds | Central Market | Free | Good for quirky finds, some pricier souvenirs |
| Art Shopping & Unique Finds | Hysan Place | Free | 14 floors, home to Ho Hung Kee |
| Souvenir Finds | Hong Kong Souvenirs Shop | Free entry | Magnets, keychains, mini buses |
| Souvenir Finds | Jenny Bakery | — | Cash only, decide order before queue |
| Souvenir Finds | Bee Cheng Hiang | — | Credit Card, look for vacuum-sealed jerky |
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🥡 Final Thoughts
If you love art and craft, Hong Kong will give you more than enough to fill a day — just don't do what I did. Pace it out, factor in the heat, and don't be afraid to skip a spot if the crowd or weather isn't cooperating. Deserve mo 'yan — even the slow, imperfect version of the trip.
Hope this helps! More travels soon!
