Hong Kong: stopover city

A 24-hour stay in Hong Kong will refuel you in fine style for the onward journey. Michelle Jana Chan suggests gentle and intense ways of filling the day.

Hong Kong travel guide

In pictures: where East meets West

Telegraph travel guides

It is impossible to resist the city's alluring synthesis of Chinese roots, British influences and the cosmopolitan cherry on top. Even from the air, Hong Kong captures the imagination with its gleaming skyscrapers, dramatic mountain peaks and lush outlying islands. On the ground, travellers are inspired by the frenetic dynamism that has come to epitomise the Chinese diaspora.

	Hong Kong has more than 7,000 skyscrapers - the highest number of any city in the world

Geographically, Hong Kong is the traveller's epicentre in Asia, the gateway to China and a convenient stopover to Sydney. A night-stop here is made even easier by the user-friendly airport and easy connections to town. Increased competition between carriers has caused prices to plummet. British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Qantas, Air New Zealand and Virgin Atlantic all fly direct from Heathrow to Hong Kong, and the low-cost carrier Oasis Hong Kong operates out of Gatwick.

For a 24-hour stopover, Hong Kong offers top-notch restaurants and trendy bars to kick-start your holiday. Homeward bound, it is one of the best places to load up on gifts and gadgets (there is no sales tax here).

Depending on your state of mind and body, here are two plans for a day.

Tired

Morning

Breakfast in bed at the Intercontinental, which boasts the best views of Victoria Harbour and Hong Kong's glassy cityscape. If your body clock is messed up, you might wake naturally to join the open-to-all t'ai chi class beside the Cultural Centre. Master William Ng, swathed in white silk, leads the group (Mon, Wed-Fri, 8am, and Saturdays 9am on the Peak; free of charge through the Hong Kong Tourist Board, details below). William explains how this gentle form of martial art boosts energy levels and relaxes the mind.

Hop on the MRT to the covered Jade Market at Yau Ma Tei. Here are dozens of stallholders selling bangles, carved pendants and lucky mascots, with quality ranging from pure jadeite to pure plastic. Unless you have an expert eye, stick to the cheaper trinkets (open daily 10am-4pm). Leave the market from the southerly exit down Reclamation Street for a peek at one of Hong Kong's wet markets, where stallholders sell clutches of lychee, muddy lotus roots and sugar-cane poles. Weave between butchers hauling dead pigs over their shoulders while dodging fishermen laden with crates of salted sardines.

Take a taxi back to Tsim Sha Tsui and catch the Star Ferry for a zippy journey to Hong Kong Island. It is only a 10-minute ride but it is the most magical journey in town (and just 14 pence). The ferry arrives at Central, outside Hong Kong's tallest building, the International Finance Centre (IFC). On the first five floors is the city's smartest shopping mall, with brands such as Etro and Evisu.

Afternoon

Eat al fresco at Isola Bar & Grill, which serves antipasti, thin-crust pizzas and home-made pastas in the rooftop garden. The north-facing views will ensure you get your bearings from both sides of Victoria Harbour.

After lunch, browse the IFC's stores before taking a taxi to Hollywood Road, a strip of inspired art galleries and cluttered antique shops. Slip down to the walk-in salon Happy Foot (Jade Centre, 98-102 Wellington Street, Central), where reflexologists will knead your tootsies or masseurs will do the full body treatment. A 50-minute foot massage costs just £12.

Afternoon tea is an institution at the Mandarin Oriental's Clipper Lounge, daily from 4pm, and it is the place to eavesdrop on deals and gossip. Choose smoky lapsang souchong tea to accompany the finger sandwiches, signature cheesecake and marbled sponge-cake. Then wander up through the Botanical Gardens and Hong Kong Park, with its expansive walk-through aviary (gardens 6am-10pm, zoo & aviary 6am-7pm, free of charge).

Evening

Recharge in your room with a chapter of Timothy Mo's novel An Insular Possession (Paddleless Press, £8.99) or Myself a Mandarin, the memoirs of a former British Special Magistrate, Austin Coates (Heinemann, £25).

After dark, the most spectacular views of Hong Kong's skyline are from the top of One Peking Road in Kowloon. Sip a cocktail on the 30th floor at Aqua Spirit with its top-to-toe windows. It is the ideal place to watch Hong Kong's nightly laser show, the Symphony of Lights, which illuminates buildings on the other side of the harbour from 8pm.

Afterwards, head downstairs to Hutong on the 28th floor (3428 8342) to indulge in innovative northern Chinese cuisine, such as the crispy, de-boned lamb. The dark, brooding design - within a futuristic glassy skyscraper - echoes the ancient family courtyards of old Beijing.

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Wired

Morning

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