Catharina Cheung

Looking to make your weekend worthwhile? You’ve come to the right place. Whether you want to catch some live music, check out a new art exhibit, or just find a casual spot to relax with friends, Hong Kong knows how to keep you busy. Come rain or shine, day or night, here’s everything you need to plan the perfect weekend.  RECOMMENDED:  📆 Hong Kong events in October🎡 Top attractions in Hong Kong🛍️ Your ultimate Hong Kong checklist 2026

October has arrived, bringing with it a splash of autumn to the city! And while we eagerly await the costume-filled fun of Halloween at the end of the month, there’s plenty to keep us entertained until spooky season. This month is bursting with exciting events – think art exhibits, concerts and music fests, and delicious pop-ups that will satisfy any foodie in town. We’ll see you out and about! RECOMMENDED:  🍽 New restaurants to try in Hong Kong this October🍺 Oktoberfest events in Hong Kong👀 65 best things to do in Hong Kong right now

Not sure how to spend your free time this week? We’ve rounded up some of the best happenings across the city – from art exhibitions and food pop-ups to music nights and kid-friendly activities – so you don’t have to go searching. But if all else fails, you can always turn to one of Hong Kong’s best restaurants, or cross things off our ultimate Hong Kong checklist. Whatever you decide, we’ve got you covered for the next seven days. RECOMMENDED:  🎨 Art exhibitions to check out right now🥹 Free things to do in Hong Kong

The Mid-Autumn Festival is upon us and aside from gazing at the moon, messing around with lanterns and candles, and scoffing down a frankly unnecessary amount of mooncakes, one of the traditional things to do during this festival is to guess at lantern riddles. Historically, Chinese people would write these riddles on lanterns – hence their name – and players must guess the answer from a word, a poem, or a phrase, but we’ve simplified things a little to keep things fun. So grab your lanterns and loved ones, and go see how brainy you are this year! RECOMMENDED: Find out more about the Tai Hang Fire Dragon Dance that happens during this time out year

Mid-Autumn Festival, also known as the Lantern or Moon Festival, takes place annually on the 15th day of the eighth month in the Chinese calendar. This year, that day falls on September 25. To celebrate this holiday, families and friends gather to revel in festivities like feasting on mooncakes, playing with lanterns, and moon gazing. While we’re no strangers to this yearly affair, what is Mid-Autumn really about? How did it all begin? And why do we even celebrate it? Read on for the answer, from the festival’s time-honoured traditions to its history and legend.  RECOMMENDED: 💃🏻 18 Amazing free things to do in Hong Kong🔎 Hidden neighbourhoods to explore in the New Territories

One of the major things we love about living in Hong Kong is that, like so many other best-of-both-worlds instances we get to enjoy, our city celebrates a wonderful mix of both Western and traditional Chinese festivities – which of course means a good number of public holidays each year (17 days, to be exact). With some clever planning, you can make the most of your annual leave, so read on for our handy guide on which days you should take off around the weekends and public holidays of 2027 to maximise your breaks like a pro! RECOMMENDED: If you’re staying in the city, make your time off more exciting with these quirky and unusual activities in Hong Kong.

Mid-Autumn Festival comes with plenty of beloved traditions – moonlit strolls, lantern displays, spending time with family and friends, and of course, getting your fill of mooncakes. Whether your loyalties lie with traditional lotus paste and double salted yolks or you’re just keen on trying out some new and inventive flavours, Hong Kong’s top hotels, bakeries, and restaurants have truly outdone themselves this season. To save you the hassle, here are some of the best mooncakes in town worth buying, gifting, and slicing up around the table this year.

Over the past half-decade or so, much has changed in the way we live, work and play in our cities. It wasn’t too long ago that lockdowns rendered the city centre all but obsolete and brought to the fore the vital role of our immediate neighbourhoods and communities.  Now, the balance has been restored. Our local neighbourhood remains fundamental: mini-villages where the barista knows your order, where local restaurants, bars and indie businesses thrive, and where communities continue to band together for all sorts of cool stuff, from art walks and day festivals to creating greener streets and pedestrian-friendly spaces. And six years on from the pandemic, the city centre is seeing a renaissance, with brand-new music venues, galleries, coffee shops and more opening up and welcoming a new generation of hybrid workers and the back-to-the-office crowd (and, of course, city-breakers and tourists).  On this year’s list of the world’s coolest neighbourhoods, you’ll see this mix play out. There are downtown hubs and seaside strips, homely enclaves and warehouse districts, all nominated by our global network of on-the-ground experts. This lucky lot spends their time exploring every corner of their hometowns to discover the best places to eat, drink, shop and hang out right now, so you can trust we know what we’re talking about. To decide the final ranking, a panel of Time Out editors vetted each neighbourhood against a range of criteria, including food and drink, nightlife, unique loc

This list is from 2025. Our latest ranking for 2026 is live here. For the past eight years, we’ve made it our mission to scope out the coolest pockets of the world’s greatest cities in order to create our definitive annual ranking. The places where stuff like nightlife, art, culture, and affordable food and drink can be found on every corner and down every backstreet. Where diversity is championed and independent businesses thrive, from old-school boltholes to the newest avant-garde art space. Put simply, the world’s coolest neighbourhoods are places that represent the soul of our cities, while maintaining their own unique local character that draws people in to live, work and play. So, what are the neighbourhoods that fit the bill this year? To find out, we asked our network of writers and editors across a breadth of cities to nominate the vibiest district in their hometown right now. We then ranked every neighbourhood against criteria including culture, community, liveability, nightlife, food and drink, street life and that hard-to-define sense of ‘nowness’.  On our list this year, you’ll find everything from homely, village-like enclaves with tight-knit communities to revitalised city-centre hubs and formerly dormant, industrial areas transformed into creative districts. Many are underrated spots that sit in the shadow of their commercialised counterparts; others have become unexpected culinary hotspots or magnets for the city’s artists, writers and activists. What they al

You don’t need any occasion to show your appreciation for someone with some beautiful blooms, but they sure do make a celebration that much more special. Even if you don’t have a lavish present or a Michelin-starred booking in the works, a beautiful bouquet of flowers can still be a lovely gift to melt someone’s heart. From well-established spots to modern florists with a hipster spin, here are some of our favourite places to pick up blooms. RECOMMENDED:  🕰 The latest Hong Kong shopping news🛍 Places for cheap shopping

We know it doesn’t feel like it, but the official summer months are supposed to be over at this point in the year (surely the surge of Mid-Autumn mooncakes have tipped you off?) – which of course means hiking season and finally being able to do outdoorsy things like exploring Hong Kong’s secret islands without melting like a human popsicle. In between, have a look at these events that we’ve picked out for you to do in September. We’ll update the list as new things happen, so bookmark this page and check back regularly! RECOMMENDED:  🌕 Mid-Autumn Festival date, traditions & legend: Everything you need to know🥮 The best mooncakes for Mid-Autumn Festival👻 Hungry Ghost Festival guide, AKA Why are people burning stuff in the streets?

Every year, we create a definitive ranking of the world’s greatest cities for eating and drinking. The aim is to celebrate the chefs, kitchens and street food stalls that feed the city, bringing locals and visitors together to savour life’s one greatest pleasure: an excellent meal. So, how is the list decided? This year, Time Out’s Best Cities for Food with Intrepid Travel was created on the back of a survey of more than 24,000 locals, based all around the world. We asked them to rate the overall quality of the food scene where they live, how affordable it is to eat out and the food spots they believe their city does best.  We then paired their thousands of responses with the insight of Time Out’s expert food panel – editors and food critics from across Time Out’s network – who voted for the cities they think are the most exciting dining destinations on the planet right now. Only the highest-scoring city in each country made the final 20, ensuring our list reflects culinary capitals globally.  As our list demonstrates, it’s a very fun time to be eating out in the city right now. Restaurants from Lisbon to Lima are serving up some of the most striking, daring and downright delicious plates of food you can find. On the menu? Satsuma creamsicles in New York, fish bone noodles in Copenhagen and fancy phở in Ho Chi Minh. There’s fine-dining in Melbourne and ‘fun dining’ in Cape Town, food trends from sandwich crazes to elevated tacos, and coffee and cocktail scenes well worth trav

Say goodbye to the summer by hopping onto this party across two boats decked out in your best Y2K look – we’re talking cargo pants, mini skirts, and possibly even a Juicy Couture velour tracksuit. The same fashion rules apply to swimwear so there’ll probably be plenty of halter necks and bandeau tops. DJ Crystal will be spinning a mix of the biggest names from 2000s airwaves such as Britney Spears, Rihanna, and Destiny’s Child, while Y2K props will be dotted around the junk for photo opps. Tickets to this special junk are going for $690 for early-bird prices and $790 for regular entry – the first 30 guests will also receive a gift from Glisten – and this is inclusive of six hours on the water with free-flow alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages, alongside pizza from Amalfitana to line your stomach.

Ocean Park has been transformed into a dark playground of terrifying sensory experiences with scares around each corner that will either send your pulse racing or freeze the blood in your veins. Created in collaboration with Jackson Wang’s original fantasy IP, the Under the Castle Haunted Experience opens with a beautiful masquerade that quickly turns into a labyrinth of warped mirrors where reflections move out of time, a pulsating crystal cavern, a nursery of wide-eyed dolls, and other horrors. Other large-scale haunted experiences include a wrecked theme park distorted by evil in the Voodoo Boo Terror Park, Troublesome Night 8 which is inspired by Hong Kong’s legendary Troublesome Night movie franchise, and the Forbidden Asylum with psychiatric patients and a ghastly secret. See the details here and decide if your heart can take all the horrors!

Hong Kong’s largest gelato market has taken over PMQ, with 20 brand stalls bringing together artisanal gelato crafted by master gelatiers from Hong Kong, Macau, Italy, and Portugal. This edition debuts over 30 event-exclusive and brand-new gelato flavors, so have fun ordering cup after cup. Interesting treats include Kai’s Gourmet caviar gelato, garlic and cilantro flavours from Dino Gelato, and The Frozen Club x Kwan Hong Bakery’s Hong Kong-style French toast gelato. Admission is free but you can also purchase a Gelato Tasting Pass ($188) on-site, which allows you to redeem six mini gelatos at designated stalls. There’s nothing better than licking your way through inventive gelato flavors like foie gras brandy, black truffle, or pineapple bun-crusted crème brûlée in this heat!

Hailing from Malmö in Sweden, this museum famously gathers over 80 of the world’s most polarising foods for your multi-sensory (dis)pleasure. Expect a real assault on your senses with a combination of real foods, models, photo and video archives, scent installations, and interactive displays. Some of the disgusting foods on display include Surströmming, fermented herring from Sweden that’s long been considered the smelliest canned food on Earth; fermented shark meat from Iceland; cheese with live maggots that’s officially banned by the EU; frog smoothies; and more. Of course, after seeing everything, visitors will also have the opportunity to taste a curated selection of unusual foods. These could range from Australian Vegemite and crunchy crickets, to final bosses like Icelandic fermented shark! Keep your vomit bag handy, but if you manage to complete the challenge, you’ll earn the title of ‘Tastebud Warrior’.

For two weekends, The Mills is bringing together over 50 standout coffee brands from Japan and Hong Kong. The exclusive Overseas Coffee Experience Zone spotlights 11 premier independent roasters and specialty coffee spots from across Japan. Among these Japanese artisans who are flying in to hand craft their signature brews are some independent micro-roasters making their first-ever appearance in Hong Kong, so if you’re missing a taste of coffee in Japan, the solution is to make the much shorter trip to Tsuen Wan.  Over 40 popular specialty cafés, bakeries, and pastry makers will also be around to visit for free, including Manteigaria with its Portuguese egg tarts, Wave Patisserie serving French pastries, and Soul Coffee & Matcha by IDFC with signatures like their Matcha Strawberry, French Caramelised Banana Toast, and Coconut Hojicha.  Meanwhile, there will be a vinyl music experience onsite with Basement X holding a time-limited pop-up. Flick through over 100 selected records ranging from jazz, R&B, and more that will be played live and are also available for purchase. We dare you to find more chill weekend plans than records, coffee, and snacks.

Don Pedrop has recently launched The Good Bottle Club, a recurring dinner series built around an invited sommelier or a standout winery. The idea is for each featured winery or sommelier to share their favourite wines, while the kitchen whips up a five-course menu to match the bottles. The first dinner will highlight Catena Zapata, Argentina’s oldest family-run winery that was named the World’s Most Admired Wine Brand 2025 by Drinks International. Expect robust flavours to go with each pour, such as bluefin akami with dulce tomatoes and green olives paired with the 2023 Catena Alta Chardonnay; seared beef tongue with romesco and butternut squash with the 2022 Catena Zapata Birth of Cabernet Sauvignon; and a classic roasted Argentinian striploin with bone marrow bordelaise, crispy potatoes, and glazed carrots accompanied by the 2022 Catena Zapata Malbec Argentino.

Launching for the first time this year, the Harbourside East Lawn will be taken over by al fresco fun over four consecutive weekends, conveniently spanning the Mid-Autumn Festival, Golden Week, and the Hong Kong Cyclothon. 16 vendors will offer food and drinks, ranging from Lau Kee Boat Noodles, Asian-French from Pano, vegan and vegetarian fare from Play with Years and Yau Veggie Truck, to coffee from Cupping Room. There will also be craft cocktails by The Captain’s Bar x Tankyu Distillery, modern street food staples from Kowloon Walled City, Korean-inspired bites from Dotom, doughnuts from Donut Demo x Being Soda, and craft beer from Mak’s Beer x Fisholic. You won’t even have to bring your own picnic mats if you don’t want to, because WestK-branded picnic essentials will be available for rentals. Foldable chairs for both adults and children, picnic tables, picnic mats, portable fans, and even lanterns can be borrowed at $40 to $50. If you purchase designated food sets, you can even borrow two foldable chairs for free on the same day, so make sure you keep those receipts. Don’t forget to get up from your mat every now and then to check out the themed workshops, live music performances, and wellness leisure activities like farm-to-table experiences, harp therapy, and botanical ceramics.

Bar-nightclub hybrid Gossip is hosting a one-night-only charity guest shift to raise funds in response to the devastating floods that swept through parts of Nepal, leaving more than 1,400 dead with over 6,000 still missing even after three weeks. Instead of roping in seasoned bartenders, six F&B industry founders, community and media personalities, and spirits distributors will step up behind the stick to honour the Nepalese hospitality teams who so often are the backbone of Hong Kong’s bars and restaurants. Guest bartenders include the founder of Barkada Jen Balisi, the founder of Creme Club Sonia Lau, lifestyle influencer and PR manager Tasha Lam, and more. 100 percent of the night’s proceeds will be donated directly to the Prime Minister’s Disaster Relief Fund in Nepal.

No Curfew Club is back with a night for the revival of punk rock and we’re already shaking. Each hour of the event will focus on a different genre to cater to everyone’s mood. Alt-rock and acoustic jams from Coldplay, Hoobastank, Incubus, and more will warm up the speakers at 5pm, followed by high-energy pop-punk anthems from 6pm – think bangers by Fall Out Boy, Avril Lavigne, and Blink-182! The next hour might just see us crying a mascara-laden tear or two with alt-rock and nu-metal tracks from Linkin Park, Evanescence, Nickelback, and System of a Down. Finally, from 8pm onwards, we’ll be treated to peak emo and rock bangers by My Chemical Romance, Green Day, Paramore before our voices give out. If you haven’t screamed yourself hoarse by the end of the night, you’re definitely not doing it right.

Zuma will be hosting a double guest shift on September 21, with a Negroni Week opening party helmed by Matteo Cadeddu from Opium Bangkok (recently named No. 25 in Asia’s 50 Best Bars 2026) and Michele Montauti, director of beverage and bars at Aman Nai Lert Bangkok. The speakeasy-style Opium is no stranger to guest shifts in our city, always serving liquid hits, but this is a great chance to also try drinks from Bangkok’s ultra-luxurious Aman Nai Lert hotel and residences. Then on September 24, pop over to Pony & Plume in Capella at Galaxy Macau where Joash Conceicao from Singapore’s Offtrack will be behind the stick. They recently snagged No. 16 in Asia’s 50 Best Bars 2026, so if you’re not planning a trip to the Lion City soon, hop on a ferry to Macau instead.

On the 25th anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks in New York, HKI Gallery hosts ‘The World Trade Center: Before Memory’, an exhibition examining life before the tragedy. Hong Kong artist Gretchen So took these monochrome photographs on medium-format film in the early 1990s, when the Twin Towers were still standing as part of New York’s everyday cityscape. So never intended to memorialise anything, and her photographs don’t necessarily present the World Trade Center as the subject. Instead, the outlines of the two skyscrapers simply exist in the frame as she captured New York’s streets, bridges, waterfronts, and public spaces – just an intrinsic part of the city as So saw it. Go visit and think about how the 9/11 incident has affected you, where you were when the news broke, and if you remember life before it happened.

The Nepali community have long been an important part of our local restaurant and bar scene, offering an affable warmth and friendly dedication to their hospitality – and now Hong Kong’s food community is gathering in strength to return that generosity during their time of crisis. Three-Michelin-starred French restaurant Amber will host a 16-hands meal, with proceeds that go directly to the Hong Kong Red Cross’ Nepal flash floods emergency appeal. Apart from Amber, participating restaurants include the Mandarin Grill + Bar; Always Joy seasonal izakaya; the two-Michelin-starred Cristal Room by Anne-Sophie Pic; Leela; Torikaze; and Yong Fu Hong Kong. Each chef from these restaurants will contribute a signature course to the event menu, alongside bespoke bites and petit fours.

As we edge closer to the end of the year, there always comes a growing swell of excitement for the arrival of our large-scale music and culture festival Clockenflap. This year’s event is already shaping up to be a good one, as the organiser has just dropped the first wave of this year’s music lineup and we’re glad to see some fantastic musicians coming our way! Alt-R&B singer-songwriter Keshi tops the bill on Friday night, while none other than Paramore’s frontwoman Hayley Williams will be headlining on Saturday, which means Hongkongers will be the first in this region to experience Williams’ solo performance live.  Photograph: Courtesy Clockenflap2025 Clockenflap’s 2026 lineup also includes shoegaze rock band Slowdive, alt-R&B star Malcolm Todd, South Korean indie favourites Hyukoh, influential alt-rockers The Jesus and Mary Chain, and Sonic Youth’s Kim Gordon. We’re also particularly excited to see rock legends Queens of the Stone Age (and Josh Homme, obviously) live on home soil – who else is manifesting that they bring on Dave Grohl as a guest drummer?? General ticket sales for Clockenflap will open at 3pm on Saturday, October 10, with single-day tickets going for $1,380 and three-day weekend passes at $2,180. Festival-goers under 18 years old can enjoy a discounted price of $980 for single-day tickets and $1,680 for three-day passes. However, eligible American Express cardholders can already access their exclusive pre-sale with 15 percent off all tickets from now until

When Hongkongers think of going up to mainland China, we tend to immediately envision huge malls that take hours to shop through, restaurants with prices at a fraction of Hong Kong’s menu listings, and cheap massages all day – in other words, all city-based activities. We don’t usually consider our neighbouring Chinese cities in the Greater Bay Area when it comes to quiet retreats, but in nearby Zhuhai, there is definitely one such urban oasis that’s perfect for unwinding in nature. Nestled within Phoenix Hill and overlooking the Xiangshan Lake, the MGM Reserve Zhuhai is a luxurious, contemporary resort that sits right on the edge of Zhuhai’s city centre. It takes little to no effort to get there from Hong Kong; I hopped onto a 70-minute ferry ride from Shun Tak Centre in Sheung Wan then straight into a cab from the ferry terminal, which only takes about 25 minutes to reach the sprawling resort estate. Photograph: Courtesy MGM Reserve ZhuhaiMGM Reserve Zhuhai courtyard Inspired by the aesthetics of Cantonese gardens and Lingnan-style mansions, the architecture of MGM Reserve Zhuhai and its grounds draw urban living and an appreciation of nature into a contemporary sanctuary that remains firmly rooted in tradition. Lingnan mansions, engineered to handle the subtropical humidity of the Guangdong region, are all about courtyards – multiple entry points and bays are typically configured around a central open-air courtyard for optimal air circulation. Walking through the hotel e

Time is such an inescapable part of existence that it’s easy to not think about, marked only by the sun’s rising and setting and the minutiae of our daily routines. But how we experience time can open up a lot of interesting debates and imaginations, and this grey area is what the City Contemporary Dance Company (CCDC) is attempting to explore with their dance festival this year. The City Contemporary Dance Festival (CCDF) is the dance company’s biennial event, gathering top-notch creatives from the global dance scene every two years to showcase Hong Kong contemporary dance to the international stage, while bridging Chinese and overseas cultures through artistic exchange. Themed ‘Time Fantasy’ this year, the CCDF 2026 soars higher than ever, bringing in more talents from different countries than any previous iteration to put on 18 original contemporary dance pieces that tackle the slippery concepts of time, reality, dreams, memories, and prophecies. CCDF’s festival and programme director Karen Cheung explains by asking if we have ever seen, smelt, or tasted something that triggered a memory, or suddenly had a flash of imagination at what the future might hold. Most of us definitely have. “We are always anchored at a single point, but that point is constantly in motion and always shifting. Time connects our past and our future,” she expands. Photograph: Courtesy CCDCSang Jijia (L); Jiří Kylián (R) A great example of CCDC exploring how we don’t view our world through a single

While the Central and Soho nightlife district couldn’t be easier for bar and club hopping, there’s something to be said about staying in a single venue that you don’t even feel the need to leave because the experience stays fresh. Central’s newest bar addition Patina is designed as a multi-concept destination that combines three bar experiences into one space. Named after the marks and patterns that develop on an object through age, use, and exposure, Patina is designed to reveal more layers the deeper you head into the space. The Iron area lies right behind their doors, all metallic surfaces and soft lights, serving a menu of 12 clarified cocktails and Japanese bites.  Photograph: Courtesy PatinaPatina Head upstairs to find Copper, a warm, amber-lit space that promises music, mixology, and high-energy glamour that is probably where visitors will spend most of their night after a few drinks downstairs. Finally, Patina is hidden behind velvet curtains, accessible only for those who have completed the rounds in both previous spaces. Among the teal and jade hues in intimate lighting, here you can kick back with bespoke tableside martinis – not commonly found in most Hong Kong bars – as well as a whisky collection that includes independent labels. Progress through Iron, Copper, and Patina in sequence to witness this bar evolving as the night ages for seamlessly differing experiences, all without ever having to step back out onto the streets. Photograph: Courtesy PatinaPatina

In a fast-paced city like Hong Kong where businesses seem to change up every time you walk down the street, it’s rare for a shop to keep their foothold long enough to be considered historic, but Sincere Department Store is one such name. Unfortunately, this century-old brand, one of Hong Kong’s oldest department chains, has announced that it will close its Central store at the end of 2026. Sincere Company Limited issued a statement on October 4 announcing that the Central store lease will expire on December 31. The department store was unable to reach an agreement with the landlord regarding a lease renewal, and has therefore decided to cease operations around early December this year. Photograph: CHSincere Department Store in Cnetral Sincere intends to look for a new location in the Central and Sheung Wan area, where they have always operated, but as of the date of the announcement, a suitable venue has yet to be found. This means that we could be left with only one branch at the King Wah Centre in Mong Kok, as well as Sincere’s online store. Founded in 1900, Sincere Department Store is the first Chinese-owned department store in British colonial-era Hong Kong, and one of the longest-running in our city. It pioneered fixed pricing, sales receipts, and the employment of female sales clerks. In the 1930s and 1940s, Sincere’s Shanghai location – the first Hongkonger-owned Western style department store then – was hailed as the first of the “Four Great Companies”. Sincere Depa

After wrapping up for a long seven years, Discovery Bay’s music festival The Big Picnic is returning to treat Hongkongers to a full day of live music performances, drinks at a beach bar, food vendors, and a market full of creative goods. For 11 straight hours on Saturday, November 21, festival-goers can chill on the beach, dance to music, take it easy with food and drinks, do some early Christmas shopping, or all the above in one convenient location. The last time we saw The Big Picnic was back in 2019, and the festival has always been fun for the whole family, so it’s great to see them make a comeback. Photograph: Courtesy The Big PicnicThe Big Picnic Discovery Bay This year’s music lineup includes Jaywalkers, Helium 3, Murphy and the Lawyers, Samba Lantina, the Hong Kong Male Welsh Choir, and many more performers. There will also be a Handmade Hong Kong market featuring small vendors and local makers selling creative finds or, in the organiser’s words, “the kind of shopping that feels good”. Early-bird tickets are currently available until October 16 at $198, while youngsters between the ages of five to 17 pay $98, helpers get a special rate of just $50, and little ones up to five years of age can go free. From October 17 to November 20, general admission prices will go up to $258 for adults, with a final hike up to $288 during the last chance push from November 21 or if purchased at the door. The Big Picnic will be held at Tai Pak Beach in Discovery Bay, from 11am to 10a

Fantasy and folklore has always been central to cultures all over the world, but any Hayao Miyazaki fan will be able to tell you that Asian fantasy is a whole other beast that has had a major global impact on visual culture. M+ is soon unveiling a special exhibition that explores the role of fantasy in Asia against the shifting socio-political realities of the past two centuries, and how artists have been using contemporary visual culture to navigate the times they live in. More than 400 works are highlighted across art, architecture, fashion, video games, film, and more, showing that fantasy is not just simple escapism – it is a way of reimagining the world altogether. Supernatural, magical, and futuristic stories are created after reflecting on lived experiences and offered as diverse visions of alternative realities to the one we exist in. Photograph: Courtesy Yumoto Koichi Memorial Japan Yokai Museum (L); Oscar Chan Yik Long (R)Utagawa Kunisada woodblock (L) and ‘The King of Ghosts’ (R) The exhibition is arranged chronologically and thematically across four sections so start with pre-modern fantasy in Asian folklore that manifests as deities, ghosts, monsters, and more, mainly to address societal morals or taboos. Aside from Japanese ukiyo-e woodblock prints, Chinese shadow puppets, and Tibetan Buddhist thangkas, check out a brand-new piece by Helsinki-based Hong Kong artist Oscar Chan, inspired by the deity Zhong Kui, the King of Ghosts. Walk through the bizarre Surrea

Early 2000s hit boy band Blue is celebrating their 25th anniversary of music making, and they’re bringing their celebratory tour to Asia, including a stop in Hong Kong! Fans of their nostalgic pop and R&B tunes should mark their calendars for Friday, January 22, 2027, when the four-piece act will take the stage at Tides, our newest music venue. It’s already been a quarter of a century since the release of their hit debut single All Rise, but Blue’s music remains timeless and iconic, and the night is sure to be filled with bangers such as Too Close, U Make Me Wanna, Guilty, Breathe Easy, If You Come Back, and more. Ticket prices are now on sale starting from $899, while the One Love VIP package ($2,099) will get you a pre-show group photo with all five members of Blue themselves, access to the pre-show soundcheck, a VIP laminate and lanyard, early entry, and an exclusive autographed poster. Tides is by no means a huge venue so get clicking now if you don’t want to miss out! Stay in the loop: sign up for our free Time Out Hong Kong newsletter for the best of the city, straight to your inbox Recommended stories: Four Hong Kong bars have been named in the global 50 Best Bars 2026 list Ne-Yo and Meovv to headline the Spooky Halloween music carnival this year LeonLollipop brings his iconic Gloomie cat to Harbour City for first solo exhibition

Ahead of the World’s 50 Best Bars 2026 rankings being unveiled in Milan on October 7, The 50 (formerly known as 50 Best) has dropped the extended list of global bars ranked 51 to 100 – and four Hong Kong watering holes have made the cut. Our highest entry on the extended list is Coa at No. 54, which is an agave haven that needs no introduction for lovers of tequila and mezcal. Penicillin, Hong Kong’s first closed-loop sustainable bar, comes in at No. 69, followed by the softly stylish neighbourhood bar Mius at No. 81, marking its debut on the World’s 50 Best list. Finally, The Savory Project rounds off Hong Kong’s delegates at No. 96 with its umami-rich, culinary cocktails. Photograph: Facebook / penicillinbarPenicillin Looking at a broader view of the whole list, the USA has the most representative bars from a single country with five spots in the rankings. Europe as a region takes 18 spots ranging from Barcelona’s historic Boadas at No. 52 to Edinburgh speakeasy-style bar Panda & Sons at No. 72. There are also 13 brand-new entries in this year’s list, among them MO Bar Shenzhen, which recently made its way to No. 5 in the Asia’s 50 Best Bars list earlier this year in July. Watch this space for when the top 50 bars list gets revealed later this week! Photograph: Courtesy MiusInterior The 50 Best Bars 2026, 51-100: Tjoget, Stockholm Boadas, Barcelona Double Chicken Please, New York Coa, Hong Kong Baba au Rum, Athens Cochinchina, Buenos Aires Boilermaker, Goa LPM

Hong Kong’s first-ever carnival that melds scares and tunes is back for its second edition this year! Spooky Halloween 2026 returns to the waterfront in Wan Chai for three nights, with a line-up of talents performing on a stage with classic Hong Kong neon and retro lighting. Look out for cool installations like a towering nine-metre Colossal Titan from Attack on Titan, Godzilla, and plenty of custom giant inflatables. The festival has also collaborated with Edison Chen’s lifestyle brand Clot to bring the immersive Parade of Demons haunted maze, which is inspired by Eastern horror. Of course, it wouldn’t be a carnival without tons of themed game booths and food stalls, plus a massive Halloween bouncy castle and slide – spooky season fun for all ages. Photograph: Courtesy Spooky HalloweenSpooky Halloween If you’re in it more for the music, Friday night features underground EDM icons Holy Priest and Yousuke Yukimatsu, alongside AK Sports and DJ KPee who will additionally bring on a mystery guest. On Saturday, K-pop girl group Meovv takes the stage, as will Alton, AK, Frankie, and Lokman from local band Mirror, with Viva and IdG Bubbles. Finally, R&B heavyweight Ne-Yo will take the headline slot on Sunday, supplemented by Gordon Flanders, Marf from Collar, and Kiri T.  Photograph: Courtesy Spooky HalloweenSpooky Halloween All-access single-day passes for Spooky Halloween 2026 are on sale now for $930, while Mastercard holders have the option to get the Mastercard Private Suit

Cocktail bar-nightclub hybrid Gossip may be a popular spot for weekend dancing, but we hope you haven’t been too busy during your visits to try their drinks because they’re not just one of those clubs serving boring mixers and shots. Their whole deal is that quality cocktails come first; they just also happen to open up a banging dance floor. Founders Max Bajracharya and Amir Javaid now turn the spotlight onto the first half of a night out with a new 10-drink collection, each designed to deliver a scent before the taste hits, and named after secrets, rumours, and spectacle – all the ingredients that make a memorable night. Photograph: Courtesy GossipGossip cocktails Some cocktail highlights include the creamy Soft Scandal, a sour made with Huamani pisco, port, strawberry, miso, and milk whey; Spill The Heat, featuring mezcal, tequila, blood orange, jalapeño, and grapefruit soda; and Burnt Confession, with Hennessy VSOP cognac, Bulleit bourbon, sweet vermouth, chocolate, vanilla, and a veil of applewood smoke. Our favourite would be Diversion though, which contains Black Tears rum, chinotto, chipotle, and miso pineapple, and comes in a koi-painted ceramic cup. If you’ve only been heading up the FOCO building on weekends, you’re missing out because Gossip has a range of early-hour and weekday experiences. Tuesdays are for laid-back R&B soundscapes perfect for slowly sipping cocktails to, while live music takes on on Wednesdays, and Thursdays feature special events and guest t

If you actively enjoy horror movies and jump scares, then Ocean Park’s Halloween festivities will just right up your alley. From now until November 1, the entire park has been transformed into a dark playground of terrifying sensory experiences with scares around each corner that will send your pulse racing or freeze the blood in your veins in turn. Head to Thrill Mountain to find the Under the Castle Haunted Experience, created in collaboration with Jackson Wang’s original fantasy IP. A beautiful masquerade quickly turns into a labyrinth of warped mirrors where reflections move out of time, a pulsating crystal cavern, a nursery of wide-eyed dolls, and other horrors. Every corridor is a temporal loop and every mirror a trap, but you have to try and make it out! Photograph: Courtesy Ocean Park Hong KongOcean Park Halloween Fest There’s also the Dark Ride: Bumper Blaster where you can race alongside spooky characters, a game booth, and a pop-up store, while visitors who splash out for the ‘Under the Castle’ Plus+ VIP Access can additionally explore three interactive zones including an AI-powered photo booth, a gravity-defying optical illusion zone, and the Phantom Lounge dance floor which holds a surprise appearance from the ball’s mysterious host. Strap on 3D glasses at Voodoo Boo Terror Park and step into a wrecked theme park distorted with blood-red spirals and electric-blue fog, with paths that shift and spaces that seem to rebuild themselves before your eyes. Of course,