Central-Mid-Levels Escalator and Walkway

The escalator! So cool.
It’s a touristy spot but so cool. It stretches half a mile long and gets you up an epic hill (you know a city has epic hills when it needs an escalator like this). It won’t get you everywhere but it will get you some places and it is fun to ride.
It only runs until midnight so ride it all day every day. Yay escalator!

Hong Kong review #4
There is a very different, very convenient form of public transportation in Hong Kong. This one surprisingly, is a system of escalators (and stairs) that stretch nearly HALF A MILE (800 m) up a hillside! Elevation change from bottom to the top? 443 feet (135 m)!
Pretty unique, right? Definitely! AND… it turns out this is THE longest outdoor covered escalator system in the world! It’s a very interesting layout consisting of 20 escalators and 3 inclined moving walkways.
Yes you could take a taxi to go from the same «point A» to the same «point B», but due to the steep, hilly terrain and zigzagging road layout, the same distance by car is several miles (km). Travel time from one end to the other is just 20 minutes if you stand there and «ride along», faster of course of you walk too.
Now just imagine you are riding along minding your own business, when the escalator suddenly ends because a street crosses its path. What to do, what to do?!? Simply walk across the road and step on the next escalator to continue your journey, it’s that easy!
As you are riding (or walking) you’ll see numerous restaurants, coffee shops, plus other stores and businesses along each side of this escalator system. Hungry, thirsty or need to do some shopping? Just take the next exit.
Important directional info: these escalators run downhill from 6 to 10 am, then uphill 10:30 am to midnight.
OVERALL: A very unique, free, public transportation system that is extremely convenient and I’ve used a number of times!

WOW! This was the coolest thing ever!!! I have never seen such a thing!
I was very impressed to say the least. I went up the escalator both during the night and day. I enjoyed the night scene a lot better.
Along the way, you will see a lot of restaurants and bars that remind you of England/​America – it appears lots of foreigners and EX Pat hang out here! Hahahah For a second, you think you’re back in America, and not even Hong Kong!

This a must if you are visiting Hong Kong, especially for the first time. You walk a series of walkways and escalators through neighborhoods, including the very fun SoHo. It’s primarily used by residents to get up and down the steep hill from the residences to and from Central Hong Kong. You’ll pass bars and restaurants that resemble a chic New York Chinatown feel with lots of westerners. It’s just a fun and neat way to explore Hong Kong.

The best. I commute to & from work on it. If you’re going down, get there before 10am or you’re walking. Not available coming up on New Year’s eve either… With no cabs, I walked all the way up last year. Not good with beers in the belly

Ah the Mid-​Levels escalator.
I like it a lot because it’s very useful going up or down from Conduit/​Mosque St. right down to the bottom at Queens Rd quickly which gives you access to the tram /​MTR /​or IFC. I also like the MTR fare saver at the half way mark (as long as I’m not stuck behind someone with half a dozen Octopus cards!) to save a bit of money on the MTR.
The escalator is also an engineering marvel. Apparently the longest escalator in the world with a total length of 800m. It’s worth riding it all the way to the top if you’re visiting Hong Kong for the first time.
And you can also walk up to the peak from the top of the escalator from Conduit Rd /​Old Peak Rd if you wanted to, thats why the name for Mid-​Levels in Chinese 半山 literally means «Half Mountain»

Oh the escalator. Who doesn’t love it? It maybe a tourist spot. It maybe the longest outdoor escalator system in the world. It maybe your daily route but you never think about its importance. But my nonwithholding love to the escalator is much more than that.
It spoils me to the max. From 6am till 10am each morning, the escalator goes down, which means a trip from Robinson Road/​Caine Road to IFC (my office) is merely 10mins. I have a lot of sympathy to those who need to take a long ride to work by MTR or bus, but my life is never the same after I save an hour a day commuting. After 10am the escalator reverses and starts going up, so when I go off work, I’ll have another free ride home.
It directly breeds the Soho area. Imagine a Soho without escalator… yeah, you got it. It may have turned a bit touristy (but not as cheesily touristy as LKF), but it always has some good crowd and good vibe around. It is funny to walk up the escalator from work, ’cause I almost ALWAYS run into some friends, colleagues, or clients drinking at the bars next to the escalator. Well, what can you do? «Yeah, I’ll have just ONE drink…» the next thing you know it’s 2am in the morning! Story of my life. =|
It was also featured heavily in the local movie classic, and also one of my all time favourites, Chungking Express (重慶森林). Wong Kar Wai definitely did take the most advantage of this unique facility in Hong Kong, by showing a couple of times how close Tony Leung’s flat was to the escalator. Little did I know that, until really recently, the escalator system was built in Oct 1993, and the film was released in 1994. So Wong must have seen the scenes in his mind right after the escalator was built, and making Chungking Express the first movie featuring the escalator.
My only complaint? Oh why are you stopping at midnight???

I once heard the Central escalator described as one of the modern wonders of the world; I didn’t understand it at the time but when you sit down and think about it– this thing really is a marvel.
Not comparing this with the pyramids but think about this: the escalator moves not only in one direction but actually changes with the flow of people going to work and coming back at the end of the day. The escalators not only takes you between different streets but actually lifts you from ground level to Conduit Road which is halfway up the hill as it is.
This escalator is also a relaxed way for people to sample the town by what they get to see from both sides of the escalator– old buildings in Central with bars and hip shops, colonial buildings on Hollywood Road, fine dining in Soho and of course the residential areas right at the end of the staircase.
This is a must if you are a tourist in Hong Kong– you won’t see anything like it elsewhere.

Hong Kong is known to be having limited space and it is not surprising to see buildings constructed on steep terrains. Take Hong Kong island as an example, it is rather hilly and extremely excruciating to walk uphill without the help of technology. Therefore, in 1993 the escalator was finally opened for public which connects the Central and Western District ever since. One fun fact is that It is said to be the longest outdoor escalator around the world.
Except the fact that it makes people commuting easier, it also has countless restaurants, bars and stores along this route. You may ascent conveniently from IFC nowadays and then walk past Hang Seng Bank. Then you may see an outdoor covered gallery where it hosts some exhibitions from time to time; and up you walk to the Hollywood Road, SOHO area and to the Mid-​levels district.
As a matter of that, I wrote this review because the escalators seem to be invisible on most maps here but the area around it is definitely worth a visit. My suggestion would be to go on it and decide where to go when you are on it because there simply are too many things going on in that area.
What my friends and I love to do on the evenings is that we would do bar-​hopping there, with quite a lot of bars and even gay bars there, you may have some free drinks on certain days (yup, finally not just a ladies night), after a drink or two we will take the escalator down and go in for a few more and arrive in LKF for more partying
Currently there are still construction undergoing but it does not really affect much. Also if you are using Octopus Card, there is a discount stand on a certain spot along the escalator (you won’t miss this), and you will have a HKD$ 2 dollar discount if you take the MTR from Central station later that day.