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If time is short or legs tire, the five-hour Heritage Tour offers a whistlestop glimpse of ancient temples, ancestral clan halls and walled villages. The daily Land Between Tour takes in Hong Kong’s highest mountain, and various rural markets and fishing villages. HKTB can provide booking numbers.

This innovative and free series of walks and lectures by a group of experts on local culture, traditional Chinese medicine and feng shui, offers some excellent insights into traditional Hong Kong and Chinese culture. A daily talk is held at a set location covering a different topic each day. Get details from the HKTB.

It may be a stone’s throw from Central’s skyscrapers, but the self-guided Western Walking Tour takes you into a different world past dried seafood shops, herbalists and temples. Pick up a brochure from HKTB offices. A more remote alternative is the Lung Yuek Tau Heritage Trail, a short but fascinating walk starting at Fung Ying Sin Koon Temple, which passes elegant ancestral halls, and tiny, still-inhabited walled villages.

You’re almost guaranteed to see Hong Kong’s endangered pink dolphins off Lantau Island on this four-hour tour, and if you don’t you can go again free. Learn from the knowledgeable guides about the lives of these creatures and the threats they face.

See all of Hong Kong’s museums and galleries the easy way via the bus that shuttles between the art, science, space and history museums in Tsim Sha Tsui and the smart, impressive new Heritage Museum at Sha Tin. A one-week bus pass with unlimited entry ticket to all museums is available from HKTB offices. The special bus runs on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday from 10am to 6pm.

Take in the skyline of Central from the harbour by day or night,or sail beneath the Tsing Ma suspension bridge. A range of harbour cruises is on offer. Visit HKTB offices for details.

Feel the earth move and the hooves thunder as you cheer the finishers home in the ultimate Hong Kong night out. Splendid Tours runs the Come Horseracing Tour during race meetings (see Happy Valley Races & Shatin Racecourse).

Local historian Jason Wordie’s weekly Detours column and the outward-bound Explore column in theSunday Morning Post Magazine may provide inspiration and useful information on Hong Kong’s hidden corners.

If money is no object, hire a junk for the day and explore Hong Kong’s secluded beaches and craggy islands. See theYellow Pages for listings.

For the most dramatic perspectives on Hong Kong, HKTB recommend Grayline Tours’ 12-minute helicopter ride, followed by lunch on Jumbo Restaurant and a cruise from Jumbo to Stanley. Scenic Hong Kong Panorama offers a cruise to the Sai Kung Peninsula, helicopter ride and lunch.