Hong Kong with kids

Hands-on, air-conditioned and cheap. The obvious answer to a cold or wet afternoon in Tsim Sha Tsui.

A walk-through reconstruction of old streets, a fishing junk and the 1997 handover. The best single explanation of the city for a child.

Houses on poles over a Lantau creek, with a boat trip out to look for pink dolphins. Combine it with the Big Buddha.

Contemporary visual culture on the harbour front, with a lot of room to walk and a children's programme at weekends. Under-11s go free.

Objects on loan from the Beijing Palace Museum, next door to M+. Cheap, air-conditioned, and small enough to finish in an hour.

At the top of the Peak Tram, so it slots into that trip rather than needing its own. An hour at most.

A short Cantonese opera programme with tea and dim sum, subtitled and deliberately kept to about ninety minutes.

Smaller than the other Disney parks, which with young children is a feature rather than a complaint. One day is genuinely enough.

A cable car over the headland, an aquarium and pandas. Better than Disneyland for over-eights, and cheaper.

A separate ticket from the main park and a separate day. Indoor and outdoor pools, so it runs through the cooler months too.

An indoor centre in a Tsim Sha Tsui mall, aimed squarely at under-tens. Adults are not admitted without a child.

A large indoor playground at the old airport site, with a toddler zone walled off from the bigger equipment.

The Singapore chain, so the format will already be familiar. Several branches — check which one your ticket is for before you set off.

An inflatables hall, cheap and loud, and an hour is plenty. Grip socks are compulsory and usually cost extra.

Trampolines, a foam pit and a slam-dunk lane in Quarry Bay. Sessions are timed, and it fills up after school.

A full-size ark on an island under the Tsing Ma bridge, with an adventure playground and animal models. Quiet on weekdays.

Sega's indoor sports arcade — digital football, climbing and racing in one hall. A good rainy-afternoon hour for older children.

A play space built around pretend-play sets rather than climbing frames. Better for the under-eights than the trampoline places.

An indoor discovery park in Tsuen Wan with a science slant and a sand area. Less frantic than a straight playground.

The board game as a walk-through attraction at the Peak, all sets and photo moments. Cheap, and it fills the wait for the tram down.

A very steep funicular, then a flat forty-minute loop with the best view of the harbour. Book a timed slot or queue an hour.

Costs almost nothing, takes eight minutes, and is the best introduction to the city there is. Do it at dusk.

A twenty-five-minute cable car over Lantau to a bronze Buddha at the top of 268 steps. Crystal cabins for the glass floor.

Sit at the front upstairs and ride the length of Hong Kong Island for a couple of dollars. Slower than the MTR, which is the point.

A twenty-minute turn over the harbour from Central. Cheap enough to do on impulse, and the cabins are enclosed and air-conditioned.

A proper rink inside a Tai Koo mall, with skate hire. The reliable answer on a wet day, and the mall solves lunch.

A rabbit farm out in the New Territories where children feed and handle the animals. A long way out on the West Rail, and worth it for a small child.

A restored open-top tram on a guided loop, which is a different thing from the ordinary tram — this one you book and it comes with commentary.

The longer circular tour rather than the ordinary crossing, with a hop-on ticket across the day. The Symphony of Lights sailing is the one to take.

A red-sailed junk across the harbour at dusk, forty-five minutes. The boat is the point — it is the one in every photograph of Hong Kong.

A sampan through the typhoon shelter past the houseboats, with a floating museum stop. Short, and the last of an older Hong Kong.

Open-top loops on both sides of the harbour. Useful mainly for the hills — Hong Kong is steeper than it looks on a map.

A ferry out to a car-free island of bicycles, seafood stalls and a pirate cave. The crossing is part of the day.

The princess makeover inside Disneyland, booked separately and well ahead. Expensive, and entirely the point for some children.

A self-service studio where children make tarts and cakes and take them away. Two hours, and it rains a lot in Hong Kong.

A licensed boat out to the Chinese white dolphins off Lantau. Sightings are not guaranteed and the operator keeps its distance by law — go for the chance, not the certainty.

Har gow, siu mai and custard buns, ordered by ticking a paper sheet. Go before noon or expect to queue.

Evening stalls and street food, with the goldfish and flower markets a few streets over. Hold hands — it is very tight.

Prepaid park dining, which is cheaper than paying at the counter and removes one decision from a long day.

The buffet at the Disneyland Hotel where the characters come to the table. Book it — it sells out before the park tickets do.

A hotel buffet next to Ocean Park, and the booking includes access to the hotel's kids' corner. Useful after a long day in the park.

The Central bakery that made the custard tart famous. A set voucher, redeemable at several branches, and about four dollars.

A Central dim sum room that takes bookings, which is the hard part solved. Ten dollars a head and children are used to it.

Shanghainese pan-fried buns in Wan Chai, Michelin-listed and cheap. Very hot inside — let a child wait before the first bite.

Cable car up to the Big Buddha, the monastery, then down to Tai O. Does in one guided day what takes two on your own.

One ticket across a choice of the city's paid attractions. Works out only if you will genuinely use three or more — add them up first.