This small combination botanic garden and zoo is spread on almost 14 acres/5.6 hectares on the slope of Victoria Peak, slightly higher than the weltering city and providing a pleasant yet easily reached escape. Established in 1864, the Zoological and Botanical Gardens can’t compete with today’s zoos, but to me that’s part of its allure.

Retaining some of its Victorian charm, the botanical gardens contain more than 1,000 species, most of them indigenous to tropical and subtropical regions, including various kinds of bamboo, Indian rubber trees, Magnolias, Burmese rosewoods, and camphor trees. Flowers are almost always in bloom, from azaleas to bauhinia (Hong Kong’s emblem flower). Bromeliads, ferns and orchids thrive in the greenhouse. Remarkably, about 120 orchids are native to Hong Kong.

The zoo is small, concentrating mostly on birds, including flamingos, Palawan peacocks, birds of paradise, cranes and ducks, but there’s also an orangutan, lemurs, Chinese alligator, and other reptiles and mammals (cages, admittedly, could be roomier)