Boarding the Star Ferry is basically stepping onto one of the most iconic ferry rides in the world. Those small green-and-white boats move millions of people across Victoria Harbour every year and are just as tied to Hong Kong’s identity as cable cars are to San Francisco or the red double-deckers are to London.
Quick history moment (but make it interesting): back in the 1880s, Dorabjee Naorojee Mithaiwala — a Parsee cook who was low-key into steam tech — started ferrying goods and workers between Kowloon and Hong Kong Island on his boat, Morning Star. He later founded the Kowloon Ferry Company in 1888, and the trip used to take anywhere from 40 minutes to an hour. After he retired, the company was sold and rebranded as the Star Ferry Company. Fun detail: the ferry names like Morning Star, Evening Star, Rising Star, and Guiding Star were inspired by Tennyson’s poem “Crossing the Bar.”
At first, the ferries were pretty small — single-deck, carrying about 100 passengers. But by the 1920s, upgraded double-deckers could take up to 550 people. In 1933, they introduced their first diesel-electric ferry. During World War II, under Japanese occupation, two ferries were taken to transport prisoners of war and were later sunk in battles, but both were recovered and restored after the war.
Before the Cross-Harbour Tunnel opened in 1972, the Star Ferry was the main way to get between Hong Kong Island and Kowloon. It even played a role in history — in 1966, a tiny fare increase of just five cents sparked a hunger strike and riots, which became a major turning point in Hong Kong’s political story.
Today, boarding the Star Ferry and crossing the harbour takes less than 10 minutes, thanks to decades of land reclamation shrinking the harbour. It’s been named one of the “50 places of a lifetime” by National Geographic, and honestly, it still feels like one of the best-value experiences out there — costing less than 35p per ride. For visitors, it’s a must-do. For tens of thousands of locals, it’s just part of the daily commute — which kind of makes it even cooler.