The Best Things to Do in Hong Kong This Week

The single biggest happening of the Hong Kong week is, of all things, a book fair — and a colossal one. The 36th Hong Kong Book Fair fills the Convention Centre from Wednesday 15 July, with close to 800 exhibitors, this year's "Cultural Legacy · Joyful Journeys" theme, author talks and the kind of end-of-run discounts that have shoppers leaving with wheelie cases full of books. It runs late — until 10pm most nights — and shares the halls with the Sports & Leisure Expo and the World of Snacks food fair on a single HK$30 ticket, so there's plenty for non-readers too. Go on a weekday evening to dodge the worst of the weekend crush; our Book Fair guide has the layout and tips. Still browsing after? Our pick of the city's best independent bookshops keeps the habit going.

Saturday belongs to the anime crowd out by the airport. LiSA — the voice behind Demon Slayer's "Gurenge" and a run of huge Sword Art Online and Fate theme songs — brings her 15th-anniversary 'LiVE is Smile Always ~15~' tour to the AsiaWorld-Arena on 18 July, her first Asia tour in two years. Expect a full-throttle set of anime anthems and a hall full of glowsticks; standing zones are 12+ and 140cm+, seated tickets from HK$699. Book through official channels only — our LiSA concert guide has set-time and travel details.

The 2026 FIFA World Cup reaches its climax this weekend, and Lan Kwai Fong has been building to it with a six-week street carnival. The grand-finale weekend (Fri 18 – Sun 20 July) closes the roads for outdoor food and drink stalls, live performances, big screens and fan zones down D'Aguilar Street. One honest caveat for local fans: with the final kicking off at 3pm US Eastern, that's roughly 3am Monday in Hong Kong — a proper late one. Our LKF street-party guide and our where-to-watch roundup have the screens and kick-off times.

Midweek racing signs off for the summer in style. Wednesday 15 July is the season-finale night at Happy Valley — the very last meeting of the 2025/26 campaign, with the beer-garden crowd packing the floodlit infield, live music and food stalls to send the season off before racing breaks until September. It's the quintessential Hong Kong evening: HK$10 into the public enclosure, skyscrapers looming over the home straight, and no need to know a horse from a hurdle to enjoy it. This is the last chance until autumn — check the HKJC fixture and read our Happy Valley guide first.

For a cooler, calmer night, PMQ's candlelit tribute concerts make a lovely weekend option. A string ensemble plays by the glow of hundreds of candles in the intimate Qube, with "The Lord of the Rings" on Saturday 18 July (two sittings, 5pm and 7pm) and "Ed Sheeran & Coldplay" on Sunday 19 July. Sets run about an hour; tickets are online-only through Fever from HK$265 and sell out for popular themes, so book ahead. Our Candlelight guide lists the full season of programmes.

Still the cultural ticket of the summer — and free — but the clock is ticking. "Blooming: The Art of Gardens in East and West" hangs Claude Monet's Water Lilies (1906) and Water Lily Pond (1900), on loan from the Art Institute of Chicago, among Qing garden paintings and treasures from Beijing's Palace Museum and Versailles — 106 works in all, only until 29 July. It's a short walk from the harbour and the crowds only grow as it nears the end, so go on a weekday morning. Our guide to the Monet exhibition tells you what to look for.

Out in Sha Tin, the Heritage Museum is showing original Leonardo da Vinci manuscripts alongside more than 100 Renaissance works on loan from European institutions, on until 27 July — its final fortnight. The unglamorous New Territories address keeps it far less of a scrum than the same show would be on the Island, and, best of all, it's completely free. Pair it with the Che Kung Temple next door, and note the Book Fair-week crowds may drift this way too. Our Meet Mona Lisa guide has the highlights.

The headline show at M+ rewards a slow visit: the Korean artist's survey of giant cyborg sculptures, mirrored infinity rooms and crumpled silver landscapes runs to 9 August, more than 200 works staged with Seoul's Leeum Museum of Art. It's made for a slow, air-conditioned afternoon — time your ticket for a weekday, once the summer-holiday crowds have thinned. Our Lee Bul guide has more.

The reliable, no-cost way to fill a warm evening: the harbour's nightly light-and-sound show fires up across the skyline every night at 8pm, with towers on both shores pulsing in time to music. Stake out a spot on the Tsim Sha Tsui promenade or the Avenue of Stars about twenty minutes early — it's the harbour's best free show, any night of the week. Our Symphony of Lights guide has the best viewing spots.

When the sun finally drops, head to Kowloon. Start at the Temple Street Night Market for clay-pot rice, cheap eats and fortune-tellers under the neon, then walk north to the Ladies' Market on Tung Choi Street for a kilometre of stalls selling everything from sunglasses to souvenirs. It's hot, loud, cheap and quintessentially Hong Kong — and free unless your bargaining fails you. Our guide to Hong Kong's best markets maps the rest.

For a breezier change of pace from the city heat, point yourself south. The lanes of Stanley Market are good for linen, silk, souvenirs and a friendly haggle, and the seafront promenade is lined with easy alfresco lunch spots looking over the bay. Combine it with Murray House and Blake Pier, or walk round to St Stephen's Beach for a quieter swim before the afternoon heat peaks. The bus ride over the hills is half the fun.