This is where Hong Kong began. The colony grew from a thin strip of shore on the north side of Hong Kong Island, with the British banks and churches at one end and the Chinese traders, temples and tenements at the other, and both ends are still here, wedged between the glass towers. This walk starts at the Star Ferry pier in Central, climbs past the old courts and the cathedral to the police station and prison that once kept order in the colony, follows Hollywood Road west to its smoky temple and drops down to the dried seafood shops of Sheung Wan. It covers about 3.7 kilometers, a little over two miles, and it is one of the most rewarding self-guided walking tours for seeing how the city was put together.

Before you set off

Plan on about an hour of walking and two to three hours in all, more if you go into the galleries at Tai Kwun or browse the shops at PMQ. The first half has a real climb: the streets above Queen's Road are steep, with stairs and sloping lanes, but the distances are short, and the second half runs back downhill to the waterfront. Wear shoes with grip, since the paving gets slick in the rain. Hong Kong is hot and very humid for much of the year, so start in the morning, carry water and duck into the air conditioned lobbies when you need to. Between roughly May and October, check the weather before you go: when a typhoon signal or a heavy rainstorm warning is raised, the ferry can stop and much of the city winds down. Weekday mornings show Central at its busiest and Sheung Wan's shops at their liveliest. Man Mo Temple is a working temple, so dress respectfully, move quietly and keep your camera down around people at prayer.

Star Ferry Central Pier

Start on the pier and watch a ferry come in, the deckhand throwing a rope across with a practiced swing. The green and white boats of the Star Ferry have crossed Victoria Harbour since 1888, when a Parsi merchant from India, Dorabjee Naorojee, began a service between the island and Kowloon. Every boat carries a name ending in Star, and the ride across, under ten minutes, is still one of the great short journeys in the world. Now turn around and look inland. The ground beneath you was water when the colony was founded. Land has been reclaimed from the harbor again and again, and the original shoreline ran roughly along Queen's Road, several blocks behind the towers. Look for the tower with hundreds of round porthole windows. That is Jardine House, the headquarters of Jardine Matheson, a trading house founded by two Scots in Canton in 1832. They grew rich on tea, and on opium shipped into China against the emperor's ban, and their business was at the heart of the quarrel that led to the First Opium War and to Britain taking Hong Kong Island. The colony was, from the start, a trading post for firms like theirs. From the pier, walk inland, south, along the covered walkways past Jardine House, crossing Connaught Road, and Statue Square opens ahead. About eight minutes.

Statue Square

This open square was the showpiece of British Hong Kong, and it took its name from the statues of British royals that once stood here, including Queen Victoria. The Japanese removed them during the wartime occupation, and only one figure came back to this spot: Sir Thomas Jackson, a chief manager of the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank in the late nineteenth century. That tells you something about the colony's priorities. On one side stands the granite building with a dome and colonnades, finished in 1912 as the Supreme Court. It later housed the Legislative Council and today holds the Court of Final Appeal. Look up at the figure of Justice above the entrance, blindfolded and holding her scales. Across the road to the south rises the headquarters of HSBC, founded here in 1865 to finance the China trade. The current building, designed by Norman Foster and completed in 1985, hangs its floors from giant steel frames so the ground level can be an open public plaza. Walk under it and look up through the glass belly into the atrium. Guarding the side that faces the square are two bronze lions, known as Stephen and Stitt after two bank managers, still scarred from the fighting of the Second World War. On Sundays this whole area fills with domestic workers, many from the Philippines and Indonesia, picnicking together on their day off. From the square, pass under the HSBC building, cross Queen's Road Central and climb the short lane uphill to the cathedral. About five minutes.

St John's Cathedral

Man Mo Temple Step out of the traffic into a quiet garden, and here is one of the oldest buildings in the city: St John's Cathedral, a pale Gothic church with a square tower, consecrated in 1849. It is often called the oldest Anglican church in East Asia, and it sits on the only freehold land in Hong Kong. Everywhere else, land is held on a lease from the government, but this plot was granted outright to the church. Inside, the long nave is cool, plain and calm. The church suffered badly during the Second World War. The occupiers stripped it and turned it into a social club, and almost all the original stained glass was lost, so the windows you see now were made after the war. Look around the garden too, at the memorials to soldiers and civilians who served in the colony. Just up Garden Road from here is the lower station of the Peak Tram, which opened in 1888 and still hauls passengers up the steep slope to Victoria Peak; it makes a fine detour another day. When you are ready, leave the grounds by Battery Path, the old lane running west from the garden, then make your way west and uphill to Wyndham Street and follow it as it curves up to Hollywood Road. Turn left, and Tai Kwun's gateway is just along on your left. About ten minutes.