Bus #7 from Outer Islands Ferry Pier, Central; #70 from Exchange Square, Central; or #72 from Moreton Terrace, Causeway Bay. Aberdeen was one of the few places on Hong Kong Island already settled when the British arrived in the 1840s - the bay here was used as a shelter by the indigenous Hoklos and Tankas, who fished in the surrounding archipelago.

Today the town comprises a tightly packed knot of tall concrete apartment blocks and street-level businesses overlooking the busy harbour, where a few hundred of Aberdeen’s sixty thousand residents still live on sampans and junks. There are two small temples amongst the high-rises: the Tai Wong Shrine (above the junction of Aberdeen Old Main St and Aberdeen Main Rd), dedicated to a local god who protects fishermen and oversees the weather; and the solid stone Tin Hau Temple, built in 1851, at the junction of Aberdeen Main Road and Aberdeen Reservoir Road.

Aberdeen’s main points of interest, though, are the morning fish market (busiest before 10am) and the chance to take a sampan ride around the harbour - head to the waterfront for either. The sampan rides (on demand, $50 after bargaining) cruise the straits between Aberdeen and Ap Lei Chau island opposite, offering photogenic views of houseboats jammed together, complete with dogs, drying laundry and outdoor kitchens, as well as boat yards and three floating restaurants, which are especially spectacular when lit up at night.

Daily 10am-6pm. $185, under-11s $93 includes all rides and entry. Bus #629 from the Star Ferry Pier, Central.

Filling a whole peninsula, Ocean Park is an open-air theme park and oceanarium; it also features a pair of giant pandas, for whom a special $80 million, two-thousand-squaremetre complex has been created.

The first section, the Lowland area, is a landscaped garden with greenhouses, a butterfly house, a 3D-fi lm simulator and a dinosaur discovery trail, with full-sized moving models. A cable-car hoists you from here 1.5km up the mountainside to the Headland section and its frightening “Dragon Roller-Coaster”, and the self-explanatory “Abyss Turbo Drop”. There’s also one of the world’s largest reef aquariums, with a massive atoll reef that’s home to more than two thousand fish, including giant rays and sharks. Looming over the lot is the Ocean Park Tower, 200m above sea level, giving superb vistas from its viewing platform and panoramic elevator. The Tai Shue Wan area below gives access to Middle Kingdom, a Chinese theme park with pagodas, traditional crafts and entertainment such as Chinese opera.

Bus #6, #6A, #61, #64 or #260 from Exchange Square, Central. Repulse Bay’s name comes from the ship HMS Repulse, from which the British mopped up local pirates in the nineteenth century; during the colonial period the area was known for the cocktail parties held at the grand Repulse Bay Hotel. Nowadays, the hotel has long gone and the bay is lined by ubiquitous apartment towers; the beach itself is clean and wide, though the water quality isn’t great, and it’s backed by a concrete promenade with some unmemorable cafes.

On summer afternoons tens of thousands of people can descend on the sands - the record is seventy thousand - but the atmosphere is always fairly downmarket. Connoisseurs of kitsch may want to amble down to the little Chinese garden at the end of the prom, where a brightly painted group of goddesses, Buddha statues, stone lions and dragons offer some tempting photo opportunities.

If it all proves too crowded for comfort, try the nearby beaches at Middle Bay and South Bay, fifteen minutes’ and thirty minutes’ walk south around the bay respectively.

Bus #6, #6A or #260 from Exchange Square, Central. When Britain seized Hong Hong there were already two thousand people living at the south coast settlement of Stanley, earning an income from fishing and piracy.

Today, it’s a small residential place, with low-key modern buildings surrounding Stanley Plaza and Murray House, built in 1843 for the British Army and moved stone by stone in 1982 from its previous site in Central, where the Bank of China now stands.

To the east, Stanley’s lively market (daily 10am-7pm) straddles the streets and alleys around Stanley Market Road, and is a good place to pick up touristy clothing, crockery and souvenirs. More impressive is the small Tin Hau Temple on the western side of the peninsula, dating from 1767.

Interestingly, Tin Hau’s statue has to share the hall with a dozen other deities of Taoist, Buddhist, and local origins, along with a darkened tiger pelt, bagged nearby in 1942 - the last ever shot in Hong Kong.

There are also lanterns and model ships, reminding you of Tin Hau’s role as protector of fishermen, though there’s little fishing done from Stanley these days. Stanley’s best stretch of sand is St Stephen’s Beach, fifteen minutes south along the shore, with a short pier, a watersports centre, barbecue pits, showers and decent swimming.

Shau Kei Wan Mon-Wed & Fri-Sun 10am-5pm. $10, free on Wed. MTR, tram or bus #2 from Central to Shau Kei Wan, then a signed 1km walk along Shau Kei Wan Main St. The Museum of Coastal Defence occupies the site of the Lei Yue Mun Fort, built by the British in 1887 to defend Victoria Harbour. The bulk of the museum is set in the renovated redoubt, the exhibition rooms reached by a maze of brick tunnels. The museum covers all stages of Hong Kong’s maritime history, and exhibits include an opium-pipe display, moving letters from prisoners of war under the Japanese, and the richly embroidered satin army uniforms of Ming and Qing dynasty soldiers, studded with iron rivets. Outside, accompanied by stunning views of the rugged eastern end of Victoria Harbour, there’s a marked trail past restored gun emplacements, underground magazines, a torpedo station and a gunpowder factory.

Bus #9 from Shau Kei Wan (next to the MTR station); or Sunday only #309 from Exchange Square, Central (hourly 2.10-6.10pm; last bus back departs Shek O at 7pm).

Shek O is an unpretentious village down at Hong Kong’s southeastern reaches, with the best beach on the island: wide, with white sand and fringed by shady trees, it can get very full at the weekend and the water is sometimes not fit for swimming. There are also a few restaurants and expat bars in the village, and on Sunday extra snack stalls open, serving the crowds who come down to swim. Unsurprisingly, Shek O is one of the most desirable addresses in Hong Kong, and there are some upmarket pieces of real estate in the area. You can get a flavour of things by walking through the village parallel with the beach and following the path up to Shek O Headland for some sweeping panoramas.

For more space and fewer people, Big Wave Bay is a half-hour walk north of Shek O, with another good beach, barbecue pits and a refreshment kiosk.

Happy Garden Vietnamese Thai

Near the bus stop, Shek O. Daily noon-10pm. One of several laidback places with outdoor tables, luridly coloured drinks, and excellent food - try the water spinach with blechan beef, or huge Thai fish cakes. Mains cost around $60.

Jumbo Floating Restaurant

Shum Wan Pier Drive, Wong Chuk Hang T2553 9111. Daily 10.30am-4.30pm. Bus #75 from Exchange Square, Central to Shum Wan Pier then take an on-demand ferry; restaurant sometimes pays the homewards taxi fare if you spend enough. A Hong Kong institution, this ornate floating restaurant, done out with coloured dragons and heaps of gold and red paint, serves seafood and dim sum from 10.30am onwards, but the food is overpriced at upwards of $300 a head for a meal.

Lord Stanley at the Curry Pot

6th Floor, 90B Stanley Main St, Stanley T2899 0811. Daily noon-3pm & 6-10.30pm. Friendly little restaurant with ocean views from its sixth-floor windows, and delicately judged Indian food from all regions. The set lunch is fair value, but you also can’t go wrong by choosing a la carte - count on $100 a head in either case.

Stanley’s

1st & 2nd Floors, 90B Stanley Main St, Stanley T2831 8873. Daily noon-midnight. Chic French restaurant, which - despite high prices - is winning a lot of friends with its imaginative, regularly changing menu, and bay views.

Tse Kee

80 & 82 Old Main St, Aberdeen. Daily 10.30am-6pm. Well-known noodle restaurant that does excellent fishball soup for less than $30. There are two separate entrances, which can be confusing, but you end up in the same place whichever one you take.