Where to stay in Hong Kong: the best neighbourhoods and hotels

Tsim Sha Tsui, at the southern tip of Kowloon, is where the postcard view lives. Walk the waterfront promenade at dusk and the island's skyline lights up across the water; behind you, Nathan Road and Canton Road bristle with shops, and the streets around Knutsford Terrace fill with bars.

It has the city's most famous hotel, the Peninsula, which looks over Victoria Harbour from the very tip of the peninsula, a stroll from the Star Ferry. The Regent has some of the best harbour views in town and a large outdoor pool, K11 Artus offers design-led apartment suites at Victoria Dockside, and the Marco Polo is part of Harbour City on Canton Road. For something quirkier, try the surrealist Luxe Manor.

East of the Star Ferry, the promenade runs on past the Hong Kong Museum of Art and the Space Museum to Tsim Sha Tsui East and Hung Hom. It's a little calmer than the core of Tsim Sha Tsui, with large hotels lined up along the water and the shops and museums within walking distance.

These are some of the best places to watch the nightly skyline show from your room. The Kowloon Shangri-La and InterContinental Grand Stanford both face the island across Victoria Harbour, Hotel Icon is a stylish 28-storey tower, and the Kerry Hotel sits on the Hung Hom Bay waterfront near the ferry pier.

West Kowloon is Hong Kong's newest quarter, built on reclaimed land around a cultural district of museums and parkland facing the harbour. It feels spacious and orderly after the crush of Tsim Sha Tsui, and it's well placed for the Airport Express and the cross-border high-speed rail.

The Ritz-Carlton is a short walk from the West Kowloon Cultural District, its rooms set high in one of the city's tallest towers. W Hong Kong adds a spa and outdoor pool, and The Olympian is an intimate hotel of just 32 rooms and suites near Olympic MTR station.

Central is Hong Kong's power centre, a forest of bank towers linked by air-conditioned walkways, with the Peak Tram, the Star Ferry and the ferries to the outlying islands all close by. Admiralty, next door, is built around the Pacific Place mall, with Hong Kong Park behind it.

This is where the grand hotels cluster. The Mandarin Oriental on Connaught Road has been a byword for service for decades, and its sister at the Landmark is pure modern glamour. The Murray, on Cotton Tree Drive, is a restored government building reimagined by Foster + Partners. Above Pacific Place, the Upper House is serene and boutique, and the Island Shangri-La towers over the harbour.

Climb the hill west of Central and the city gets more intimate. Sheung Wan is a mix of dried-seafood shops, galleries, temples and third-wave coffee, Hollywood Road is lined with antique dealers, and SoHo and Lan Kwai Fong are packed with bars and restaurants that stay busy late. The Mid-Levels escalator carries you up through it all.

Hotels here are small and characterful. 99 Bonham and The Jervois offer stylish apartment-style suites in Sheung Wan with city views, Madera Hollywood dresses its suites in golden-age Hollywood glamour, and Ovolo Central sits right between Wyndham Street and SoHo, a few minutes from Lan Kwai Fong.

East of Admiralty, Wan Chai mixes old tenement streets and markets with the harbourfront convention centre, and Causeway Bay is the city's great shopping district, a crush of department stores, malls and side-street boutiques. Happy Valley Racecourse and leafy Victoria Park are nearby, and the old trams rattle through the middle.

The Grand Hyatt sits on the Wan Chai waterfront with panoramic harbour views. The Hari is a stylish boutique-luxury hotel between Wan Chai and Causeway Bay, close to the racecourse. The Park Lane overlooks Victoria Park, and the Regal faces the park in the heart of Causeway Bay.

Lantau, Hong Kong's largest island, is home to the airport, Hong Kong Disneyland and the Big Buddha, along with green hills and quiet beaches. It's a world away from the skyscrapers, but the MTR and ferries make it easy to dip into the city.

Families should head for the Disneyland Hotel, a Victorian-style grand hotel near the park, or the Disney Explorers Lodge, themed around four tropical regions. Auberge Discovery Bay sits among green hills facing the sea, around 25 minutes from Central by fast ferry. For an early flight, Regal Airport connects to the terminal by a covered bridge.