Hong Kong Space Museum

The Hong Kong Space Museum is hard to miss: a white, egg-shaped dome on the Tsim Sha Tsui waterfront, next to the Museum of Art. It opened in 1980 and houses the only planetarium in Hong Kong, which makes it one of the more unusual ways to sit out a storm. It shares its Salisbury Road address with the Museum of Art, and the Star Ferry pier at Tsim Sha Tsui is close by for anyone crossing from Hong Kong Island. There are two permanent exhibition halls. The Hall of the Cosmos covers astronomy, from the solar system to the origins of the Universe. The Hall of Space Exploration follows human spaceflight and the technology behind it. Together they hold more than 100 exhibits, over half of them interactive, along with models of planets and replicas of spacecraft. It is compact, so you can see both halls properly in about an hour and a half. The real draw is the Space Theatre under the dome. Its seamless dome screen wraps around the audience, and the programme rotates between sky shows, science documentaries and 3D dome shows through the year. Theatre tickets are sold separately from the halls and are for timed shows, so pick a show before you plan the rest of your visit. Children under three are not admitted to the theatre. The halls cost just HK$10, and they are free on Wednesdays. A theatre seat costs HK$30 or HK$40. Note the opening times: on weekdays the museum does not open until 1pm, and it closes on Tuesdays. That makes it a natural afternoon stop after the Museum of Art, which sits a few steps away.