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This very popular area is located on the western south side of Hong Kong Island. Whether you see Pok Fu Lam as a coastal neighbourhood or a garden suburb, this district on the fringes of the Mid Levels is widely favoured by expats. There are plenty of open green spaces where it’s typical for residents and visitors to enjoy stunning ocean views. The residential apartments are generally well proportioned, with three or more bedrooms in the newer developments. The convenience to Central with multiple forms of transport makes this district easy to get to and from and appeals to both families and singles alike. Pok Fu Lam consists of many executive, luxury homes in Hong Kong that are worth checking out.

From Deep Water Bay to Stanley, Shouson Hill to Big Wave Bay, there are few destinations that can pack as much variety and terrain into such a relatively small area as the Southside. Holding several of Hong Kong’s best beaches and national parks it's easy to see why this district has always been the favoured place for expat families and wealthy locals to live. With the opening of the MTR South Island line in December 2016, getting from Central to the golden sands of Southern District is easier than ever. The first stop, Ocean Park, is a mere six minutes from Admiralty Station. From there it’s a short taxi or bus ride to some of Hong Kong’s finest beaches, stretching from Deepwater Bay in the south-west to Big Wave Bay in the south-east.

We moved to Hong Kong around a year ago. As we were looking for apartments for sale in Hong Kong, we knew exactly what we wanted for a small family; an apartment that was furnished, within our budget, and had good access to Central and Pok Fu Lam. My husband moved first and had been here for three months before we moved the family. After looking at a few areas, we decided that Kennedy Town would be the right place. We found our perfect home in an older style walk-up building with 2 bedrooms, open plan living, and kitchen with a proper oven and a small helpers room. Fortunately for us, the apartment had been newly renovated and came with updated kitchen appliances.

My wife and I moved to Discovery Bay six years ago from where we had been living on Lamma Island. Now that we have two young boys, we plan to remain here for the foreseeable future. We were attracted to the serene, green lifestyle that Discovery Bay offers, especially being only 30 minutes from Central by ferry. With its many parks, playgrounds, and countryside walks, it is the perfect place to bring up young children. Of course, that works best if you have good educational facilities on offer and D Bay's two International schools fit the bill.

I often get a nod of approval when I tell people that I live in Sheung Wan. For some reason, this suburb can make people think you are quite “cool” in choosing to live here. I find myself doing the same thing, nodding with approval when someone else tells me they also live here. I chose to live in Sheung Wan because I like the older-style apartments, where I can feel that my ceilings are towering above me. I don’t mind a walk-up, although that’s not for everyone and there are much newer buildings than mine with lifts. I like that I can walk to Central and pretty much everywhere I need to get to. At night if I’m out, I’m generally no more than a five or ten-minute shuffle down the hill. I'm so close to the many restaurants and bars of Soho and Wyndham Street.

Joining clubs in Hong Kong has always been a part of the social fabric of this city that dates back to the British Colonial days. Once considered essential for both business and social standing, most of these clubs still exist today with a wide selection of upgraded facilities and activities on offer. If you have been lucky to live here for a number of years, you may have had the foresight to sign up. In contrast, nowadays, for most of us, it’s a waiting list and steep joining fees or be content to wait for an invite from an existing member to enjoy the facilities and rub shoulders with Hong Kong’s elite. 

Being just a little out from the central districts, this neighbourhood located more or less behind Causeway Bay and Wanchai really does have a lot to offer. It is largely considered to be a little less expensive for renting or buying, or more pointedly, you get more space for your dollar. This fact alone has to be a good enough reason to feel Happy in the Valley living in Hong Kong, but there is more to it as well! Expat families love it here because of the many activities and the fun things to do all year round.

We have so many amazing beaches here where the sand is white and delicate, and the waves are perfect with great facilities and shops on hand. But all of these benefits quickly fade away the minute you are standing in the middle of the road, there are no taxis, people are lined up down the street to get on the one bus and Uber will not come on a single journey this far out. The sunburn hurts and you just want to get home.

Here is a suburb that gets a lot of flack and mostly for a good reason, being a late-night destination, full of drunks and prostitutes. Well, maybe some of that is true, but you could throw a net around the offending streets these days, as the worst streets have decreased and the good streets have increased. Yes, it’s a bustling, noisy inner-city district. Still, the changing face of Wan Chai has been taking place for some years now and it deserves to be considered by working professionals (by this I refer to bank and office workers, not sex workers) as a highly respectable address to live. You could draw a line on a map straight down Hennessy Road and say everything south forget about it and everything north is well worth it.