On average, Hong Kong gets 137 days of rain a year. Enough to put a damper on your mood if you don’t have a back-up plan. Fret not, here are ten unique and fun activities for you to enjoy a Hong Kong rainy day.

hong kong rainy day
Photo by Gregory Lane

Top tip: For when it’s more than a bit of rain, see our guide to surviving bad weather in Hong Kong.

Indoor rock climbing

Spanning over 18,000 sq ft, Verm City is the biggest climbing gym in Hong Kong. More importantly, it’s open during amber/red/black rainstorms (all three rainstorm signals in Hong Kong).

The venue is split into two sides: a serious bouldering side and Clip N’ Climb, with fun climbing installations suitable for beginners and children. Children under 12 have to be accompanied by an adult and children under four aren’t allowed inside.

Climbing shoes are available to rent for HK$40.00.

Dim sum and newspaper

Har Gao steamed shrimp dumpling
Steamed shrimp dumpling | Photo by istock.com/c_yung

Enjoy a lengthy dim sum session in a teahouse and pair it with a newspaper of your choice. Lin Heung Kui in Sheung Wan, Sun Hing Eatery in Kennedy Town, and Duen Kee Teahouse on Tai Mo Shan, the tallest mountain in Hong Kong, are some of the most laid-back teahouses to enjoy some dim sum, conversations with strangers and newspaper-reading.

Shopping malls

Whether you’re looking for a knick-knack or a luxury handbag, Hong Kong offers some of the best shopping experiences in the world. Check out our list of the best shopping neighborhoods in Hong Kong and pick the best market/shopping mall to indulge in retail therapy during rainy season.

We particularly recommend K11 Musea—a 10-storey shopping mall with tons of dining and entertainment options under one roof!

Indoor basketball

Opened after a major facelift last November, Kai Yip Recreation Ground in Kowloon Bay is a sheltered sports ground. It is located on the rooftop of a shopping mall and carpark complex in a public housing estate. It houses three basketball courts, a children’s playground and a few jogging lanes.

The revitalisation project has also injected a number of playful local elements into the design of the sports ground.

Museums

Hong Kong Museum of Art Chinese Antiquities
Hong Kong Museum of Art | Photo by Hiufu Wong

Weather woes? Time to check out our list of Hong Kong’s most unique museums. From a museum dedicated to teaware to an ancestral hall inside a 200-year-old walled Hakka village to an immersive history lesson of Hong Kong—this covers all your cultural and educational needs.

Karaoke

Moody rainy days are arguably the best day to unleash your inner Adele. For a three-hour karaoke session (or as locals call it “sing k”), you will be charged a minimum fee, somewhere between HK$58.00 and HK$249.00, which can be spent on food and drinks ordered within the establishment. So basically the singing is free.

One of our favourites is Red MR in Wan Chai. It’s located in the same building as Loyal Dining (a modern Cantonese restaurant serving delicious classic Hong Kong dishes), and customers can order from the restaurant’s menu.

Tips: If you go there on a quiet weekday evening, they may let you sing your heart out til 6 am the next day at no extra cost.

Neway is another popular karaoke chain in Hong Kong.

raining hong kong
Rain vs neon in Wan Chai | Photo by Gregory Lane

Art galleries

There is no better place than H Queen’s for the artistic type to visit on a rainy day.

The skyscraper in Central is the first building in Hong Kong dedicated solely to art galleries and restaurants.

Some international galleries at H Queen’s include White Stone, David Zwirner and Hauser and Wirth Gallery.

Temples

hong kong rainy day
Photo by Emily Dickson

Nothing proves your spiritual dedication than praying in the rain. With fewer tourists and a more mysterious atmosphere, rainy days are some of the best times to visit temples. Some of the best places of worship include Wong Tai Sin (unique home to three religions: Taoism, Buddhism and Confucianism), Man Mo Temple (a 1847 temple dedicated to the deities of Literature and War) and Chi Lin Nunnery (a Tang-style Buddhist temple with one of the most beautiful gardens in Hong Kong).

Alternatively, for a unique church experience, visit Tao Fung Shan Christian Centre. Founded in 1930 by a Norwegian missionary, the monastery looks more like a traditional Chinese village and the church looks like a Chinese pagoda.

Make a cake at BakeBe

Want to bake an Instagrammable birthday cake without the trouble of preparing all the ingredients and doing dishes? BakeBe is Hong Kong’s first self-service baking studio. The 1,800 sq ft space stocks over 50 ingredients, 23 ovens and more professional cooking equipment.

Through using an app, visitors can learn to bake any cake. How about a Day Dreaming, a difficulty level 4 (out of 5) cake with LED cloud light, rainbow-coloured fresh cream, Oreo cake base, marble cloud fondant and twinkle decor? Or a simple caramel earl grey mousse?

The baking class takes up to three hours and cost between HK$220.00 and HK$600.00. See the full menu options here, plus difficulty, cooking time and price.

PMQ Taste Library

If you don’t want to get your hands dirty, you can simply read about food at PMQ Library. For a small fee, you can access the 2,000 sq ft library and its collection of 3,000 food-themed books on food literature, food history, food guides and more. The library also hosts monthly book reviews as workshops for food lovers.

To complete the food experience, you can book a meal at Taste Kitchen. Taste Kitchen is an experimental restaurant for up-and-coming chefs in Asia to learn and try operating a restaurant. It hosts a new pop-up restaurant concept almost every month.

This article was originally published in August 2019. Last updated: September 10, 2021.

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Filed under: Things to Do

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