Skip navigation

Get lost in shopping heaven

Have your eye on designs? Hong Kong is a shopaholic's dream

HONG KONG ISLAND
An aerial view of Hong Kong.
Anat Givon / AP file
  Top slideshows
Image: The Empire State Building at night
Getty Images
  The Big Apple
Long referred to as the center of American business, New York is a melting pot of cultures and landscapes. Take a visual tour of some of the Big Apple’s most famous attractions.
Image: Waimea Canyon, Kauai
Lonely Planet Images
  Hawaiian paradise
The Hawaiian Islands are the perfect vacation destination for travelers of all types.
Image: Mount Rainier National Park
Lonely Planet Images
  National spectacles
Nearly 400 national parks can be found all across America, and feature breathtaking vistas, rock formations millions of years old, and more.
By WILLOW DUTTGE
updated 6:48 p.m. ET Oct. 3, 2006

HONG KONG - A whirlwind day of shopping in Hong Kong can take travelers from some of the world's glitziest malls to shady back-alley rooms selling Louis Vuitton knockoffs, from clusters of souvenir shops hawking Mao Zedong watches to the twinkling blue waters of the South China Sea.

A good place to begin a shopping spree is at Pacific Place, a chic mall near the central business district on Hong Kong Island. Just looking at the shopping center's store directory can give a shopaholic goosebumps. There's Prada, Hermes, Chanel, D&G Dolce & Gabbana, Versace and more.

Walking down the mall's wide and airy walkways is like being inside the glossy pages of Vogue magazine. It's a wardrobe wish-list. The boutiques boast an excellent collection of couture, but not low prices.

Story continues below ↓
advertisement | your ad here

After a couple hours of shopping quality rather than quantity, shoppers can walk to a bus terminal from the skybridge to hop on a double-decker bus to Stanley Market on the south side of Hong Kong island.

Take a seat on the bus' top level for the best views. The bus will leave the city and follow a curvy, tree-lined mountain road. Stunning views of the sapphire South China Sea will come into view throughout the excursion.

Slide show
Typhoon Matsa Hits China's East Coast
  Alluring Asia
From Seoul to Shanghai and Thailand to Tibet, Asia’s diverse cultures and landscapes are a traveler’s dream!

more photos

The trip to Stanley only takes 30 minutes. The beauty of shopping in Hong Kong is that all the malls and shopping districts are relatively close together.

Once at Stanley, a shopper can weave around tourists and pop into shops selling everything from beaded purses to a watch with a waving Mao Zedong and a North Face jacket. Some stores specialize in selling factory seconds with minor defects.

Once or twice a year, businessmen can be seen with their arms full of Brooks Brothers dress shirts. A shop intermittently gets a truckload of the designs and sells them for $10.

After a stint shopping at Stanley, have lunch at one of the area's many cafes and pubs, then hop a bus back to central Hong Kong to scourer a traditional street market. The Tai Yuen street market in Wan Chai is a gritty neighborhood near central made world famous by the 1960 movie "The World of Suzie Wong" - a love story about a prostitute and foreign painter. But the 'hood has a hot shopping spot.

Bras, socks, purses, jewelry and pet turtles are displayed from street stalls. Shirts piled in bins sell for as low as $1.29. Also take a peek at clothing stores near the markets, which have even more fab finds.


Resource guide