This article is part of a guide to Hong Kong from FT Globetrotter
A pitfall of global drinking culture is that after a few sips of Peroni, Bordeaux or Drambuie, it’s easy to fool yourself you could be in any city, anywhere. But pitch yourself on a Hong Kong rooftop and you’ll know exactly where you are. A rooftop drink, even if charged at the higher end of the spectrum in what is already a very expensive city, can turn an ordinary night into an occasion. What in the day can appear tawdry, sullen and commercial is at night transformed into a sea of razor-sharp lights.
New bars may open and everyone has their reliable favourites, but in my few months of being in Hong Kong, the following have stood out. In some you feel closer to the sky than the ground below. At others, the joy is simply the feeling that on a rooftop, you’re existing right in the heart of the city. Two things to bear in mind: the risk of bad weather, and it is always worth checking if the place has been booked out for a private event.