How safe is Hong Kong for travelers?

Ordinary crime

• Violent crime is low and Hong Kong is a city you can walk at night. Pickpocketing in crowds - Temple Street, the markets, packed MTR carriages - is the realistic risk.
• Drink spiking happens in the Lan Kwai Fong and Wan Chai bar districts. Do not leave a glass unattended.
• Hiking is the underrated danger. The trails are beautiful and start at an MTR station, which makes people casual about heat, water and daylight. People need rescuing off them every year.

The law is the thing to read carefully

• The National Security Law of 2020 and the 2024 Safeguarding National Security Ordinance are drawn very broadly and carry penalties up to life imprisonment. They are asserted to apply worldwide.
• People have been prosecuted over published statements critical of the Hong Kong or Chinese authorities, including things posted before arriving. This is not theoretical.
• Drugs carry a zero-tolerance policy and severe sentences. CBD is classed as a dangerous drug here - the oil or gummies that are legal at home are not legal at the airport.
• Do not photograph military installations.
• On-the-spot fines apply for littering, spitting and jaywalking, and are actually issued.

Typhoons and rainstorms

• Typhoon season is May to November, worst in September. A warning goes up whenever a cyclone within 800 km threatens.
• The signals run 1, 3, 8, 9, 10. Signal 1 is standby, 3 means strong winds. At Signal 8 the city stops: schools shut, offices close, buses and ferries stop, and most flights go. Shops empty of food beforehand.
• A Signal 8 is not an emergency, it is a day indoors. Hotels stay open and staffed. What it wrecks is a flight, so leave slack in September plans.
• Rainstorm warnings run amber, red and black: amber for more than 30 mm of rain in an hour, red for more than 50 mm, black above that. Black means serious flooding and landslides, and it means stay where you are.
• Both are announced everywhere - on every phone, screen and radio - and the Hong Kong Observatory app is the source.