The best things to do in Hong Kong on a rainy day

Cure cabin fever on a rainy day with some intense jumping about. Ryze, Hong Kong Island’s biggest trampoline park, is completely lined with trampolines from wall to wall, with foam pits and rope swings allowing the daring to unleash their inner ninja. All visitors have to sign a liability waiver but once you’re in, you can bounce, flip and jump to great heights to your heart’s content. It’s a surprisingly decent exercise workout, too! Starts at $150 for one hour.

Put your shooting skills to the test and get the heart pumping with a game of laser tag at Lasermads, Hong Kong’s newest lasertag joint in Causeway Bay. Step into a futuristic maze and battle it out with teammates to eliminate your opponents in this high-tech game of tag, which comes with the added bonus of teambuilding and the plain ol’ satisfaction of shooting someone. Walk out feeling like a rebel fighter in Star Wars. $118 per game.

If lasertag isn’t painful or satisfying enough, paintballing is the answer. Pop over to Paintball Headquarters in Kowloon Bay for the best indoor paintballing experience in the city. Equipped with safety gear and specially designed paintball guns, maneuver past obstacles, partitions and oil barrels in the 10,000sq ft arena in a hardcore version of hide-and-seek. There’s light, sound and smoke effects as you unload and seek to splatter frenemies in bright colours. Who needs Halo or Doom when you can experience the thrill for real? $280 per person (includes rental gear and 100 paintballs).

Taking bubble football (or soccer to certain heathens out there) to a whole other level, Crossfire Arena offers competitors glow-in-the-dark bubble suits to bump about in when playing on their indoor pitch. Learn drills and strategies that will immediately go out the window as teams waddle across the pitch trying to score before inevitably getting knocked to the floor. Aside from bubble football, Crossfire has a whole host of other fun neon-themed games including archery tag, dodgeball and neon sabres — lightsabre duels, anyone? $225 per person.

Hoverboards may be so last season, but Azzita Hoverland has ingeniously created an indoor track for people to race around in. Doubling up as a hoverboard retailer and repair center, Azzita’s 5,000 sq ft indoor playground in Kwun Tong allows patrons to zip along the twisty and winding track on electronic balancing boards. It costs $119 per hour on a weekday and 139 on a weekend. Take it step further and hop on a hover mat, a type of go-kart powered by a hoverboard. Though they’re a lot pricier and asks for $99 for a 10 ride.  A smaller venue just opened up in Repulse Bay, perfect for private parties. 

Ever since the rise of powerful gaming consoles, arcade centres have been slowly disappearing from Hong Kong streets. One of the few retro-style arcades that still remains is Game Centre, a short walk away from the IFC on Jubilee Street. You can find a range of classic series like Street Fighter and Gundam, and pretty decent prices for driving games and shooters. Plus, when the weather’s got you down you can’t go wrong with a round of Taiko Drum Master. Most games cost $2-per-credit and you can exchange your notes for coins at the counter. Relive those childhood after-school sessions!

Inspired by the popular Korean variety show Running Man where celebrities guests complete missions at different landmarks, Running Games invites visitors to tackle interactive challenges and hilarious mini-games. Taking place in its three elaborately themed zones – a secret garden, a maze in a European-style house and a life-sized chessboard akin to the one from Harry Potter – take part in silly games like human whack-a-mole, having to role-play as the ingredients necessary to create a hamburger, and ‘spread the virus’ (sure to conjure SARS flashbacks). Still intrigued? This weird and wonderful activity awaits at San Po Kong. $300 per person (minimum six people).

There’s no need to travel all the way to Tung Lung Island for some kick-ass climbing action, especially when it’s wet and slippery and you can easily do it at a breezy air-conditioned venue in Kwun Tong. Go Nature, Hong Kong’s largest indoor climbing gym, offers 6,500sqm of climbing terrain for climbers of all experience levels. Challenge your climbing skills and your noggin’ with its 100 different climbing routes and bouldering problems. First-time climber? There are beginners courses for any newcomers as well as kids-only and parent-child courses. What’s also great is that no membership or reservation fee is required. From $350 upwards.

Why not take the opportunity to develop a new skill on a rainy day if you’re going to be stuck indoors? There’s a massive food culture in our city and home cooking is all the rage. Complete Deelite is the go-to place to learn the art of baking. Discover how to bake dairy-free cupcakes or create mouth-watering drip cakes from scratch. Want to do it in your own time? Book and reserve a private bake jamming party at their DIY studio and host your own bake-off. Mary Berry would approve! Classes from $550-per-person.

Enjoy documentary screenings on reclining chairs beneath Tsim Sha Tsui’s iconic dome. Films get projected onto the curved ceiling of the planetarium as viewers learn about astronomy and the vast universe of outer space. Head over to the main museum and discover plenty of info and gadgetry perfect for space enthusiasts. 

If you're hard up and can't afford Ocean Park... well, here’s the next best option. During rough weather, crashing through the waves offers quite the thrill for those with the stomach to handle it. You’ve been warned.