In Hong Kong, best walking shoes and where to buy them

I would get them before I left, so I didn’t waste time shoe shopping on my trip, could break them in before the trip and avoid any blisters, didn’t have to either add to my luggage or throw away the shoes I wore to travel to Hong Kong, and because shoe sizes there are different and shoes that big are larger than typical sized Chinese feet so they might not be so easy to find. And any price saving on walking shoes compared to your home city (or online order) is likely to be small at best.

I would never wait until after arrival to buy shoes that I needed to wear while travelling. New shoes need to be worn BEFORE departure, both to ensure they remain comfortable after walking for an extended period, and to break them in. By all means buy the same pair after arrival, if you find them substantially cheaper, for use after your current pair wears out.

Since everyone has different foot needs, my preferred shoe may not work for you. Its best to go to a local shoe store to be properly fitted and where you can try a variety of brands.

I agree with previous posters and have first hand experience with not breaking new shoes in enough to avoid blisters while traveling. Not a pleasant experience. I’m also curious why you think they would be cheaper in Hong Kong. I just googled, out of curiosity, and came up with name brand shoes being more expensive there and the larger sizes in shoes not being readily available.

Hong Kong is an expensive enclave - in the tourist areas, which is most of Tsim Sha Tsui and the northern parts of HK Island, the shops cater to high-end customers with designer products. Plus as others have said, Western sizes are hard to find. I would not bet on finding appropriate shoes easily, at least not in TST or in the tourist areas. I would encourage you to look for your shoes at home first and buy them there, because you could miss out altogether if you really wanted to wait for HK/China. Then if you can find a shoe shop in Hong Kong and do find some shoes you want to buy, you can celebrate. I will give you a few tips though: if you want to stay in an area that is less touristy and more an authentic old neighbourhood, we stayed in Sai Ying Pun some years ago, specifically at the Citadines. There is a water view and ferries, tram and MTR close by, as well as a wet market and a shopping street (forget your shoes here, not that kind of neighbourhood). And if you want to shop where the locals do, be prepared to go out into the backblocks. They have theme streets (toy street, pet street, etc). Once we went on the metro to the end of the line on HK Island out to Chai Wan, where there is a shopping centre. No tourists, also no haggling, as it's just a place for locals, so maybe you could look for your shoes there (no promises, though, so don't depend on it). Once on a metro we went north and came across an ice carving festival. Another time we caught a bus to the end of the line and found a suburb with a department store (again, all locals). I also recommend Lantau Island, where there is a Disneyland (spend less time there) and a cable car ride to a big Buddha statue, and then a bus ride out to the fishing village of Tai O, where you should have a seafood lunch and a ride on a boat around the village. There are wild cows there and if you are lucky they will come up to you. We have been to HK quite a few times but not for some years now, but I think my advice still stands. Get out, don't spend much time in TST, the MTR is easy to use and can take you to some fantastic areas which have no tourists (and no English, but that is part of the fun).

Lavandula