Best things to do in Hong Kong on a rainy day

18 Challenge Karting is Hong Kong's biggest indoor go-karting venue spanning across a 50,000sq ft space. This place will bring out anyone's competitive side. Speed junkies can whiz around the racing track, which features 18 twists and turns, while the little ones can get on mini electric ride-on cars (two to four years old) or drift karts (five to 12 years old) to experience the thrill too! There's also a themed restaurant, a party room for larger groups, arcade racing games, and much more. Surely, this beats playing Mario Kart at home. 

Richard Simmons sure knows how to make a workout fun, but he has nothing compared to this place. The AME E-Sports Stadium has numerous main e-sports facilities, including skiing, where you can experience being part of the US national skiing team; boxing with smart punching bags loaded with sensors; rowing across Victoria Harbour; horse racing; and cycling that mimics the famous Lung Wo Road cycling competition route. During each session, you can analyse and generate a report that illustrates your fitness level in power, balance, coordination, agility, speed, reaction with the help of a smart bracelet connected to your avatar. 

Bay 247 is Hong Kong's first fully automated indoor golfing facility. Located in the heart of Causeway Bay, Bay 247 is – like its name suggests – open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. There are four air-conditioned rooms in total (for up to three to six persons), each one equipped with state-of-the-art gold simulators by Foresight GCQuad. It's ideal for golfers of all skill levels and ages as there are private and group lessons (in Cantonese or English) with professional coaches available for booking. Click here to check out the rates.

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 the 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 — lightsaber duels, anyone? 

Japanese ramen brand Nissin's famous Cup Noodles Museum opened in Hong Kong in March 2021, setting up shop at China Hong Kong City in Tsim Sha Tsui. The museum spans across a 10,000sq ft space and features Insta-worthy spots, the debut of a global-exclusive workshop, and two popular workshops – My Cupnoodles Factory and Demae Iccho Factory – from the original museum in Osaka, Japan. Aside from workshops, visitors can also drop by the gift shop and browse through a variety of exclusive souvenirs, gift sets, and more. Rare Nissin-themed toys and collections are also on display at the shop. 

Why travel all the way to Tung Lung Chau island for some kick-ass climbing action when you can easily do it at a breezy air-conditioned venue in Kwun Tong instead? Go Nature, Hong Kong’s largest indoor climbing gym, offers 6,500sq m 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 newcomers as well as family-friendly courses. What’s also great is that no membership or reservation fee is required. 

While the extreme hype for escape rooms has simmered down over the last few years, LOST Hong Kong strives to update and add regular new challenges to keep things fresh for patrons. There are currently six different rooms, each with varying difficulties and compelling storylines that lead you into a spooky department on Nathan Road or a creepy Egyptian tomb, or even into the Amazon rainforest. If that isn't enough, these guys can even provide tailor-made escape games for special occasions.

The mac daddy of DIY workshops in Hong Kong, Make Centre offers an extensive selection of creative classes and workshops that varies from woodcrafts to floral decor. You can make moon lamps, laser-cut wooden watches, flower jelly lipsticks, and more under these categories. Participate in a class on a rainy day for something therapeutic and take home a beautiful creation.

Located next door to Namco, where you'll find various arcade games, crane machines, and digital amusements, the Namco Sportainment Arena is where the real fun begins.

Take your pick from an assortment of games that will challenge you in speed, reaction, balance, and skill. Head over to Jumbo Bowling and pump up those muscles to knock over giant bowling pins; get aiming with a game of handball, basketball, and archery; or put your balancing skills to the test with Shockball and knock your opponent into the foam pit with a giant swinging ball! It's the perfect place for those in need of some stress relief – or, you know, if you have anger issues and stuff.

Spanning over 5,000sq ft, PowerPlay Arena is the ultimate fun house for every kid and adult. Apart from games such as go-karting and bubble soccer, there are also various arcade games available, from air hockey and basketball machines to coin pushers and claw cranes. Small bites like hot dogs and fries as well as drinks are also available. You can easily kill a few hours hiding out at this place.

Inspired by the popular Korean variety show Running Man, where celebrity hosts and guests must complete missions in order to win the 'race', Running Games invites visitors to tackle interactive challenges and hilarious mini-games. In three elaborately themed zones, you can take part in various silly games such as human whack-a-mole, pretend to be ingredients trying to build a hamburger, and much more. Let the games begin!

Cure cabin fever on a rainy day with some intense jumping action. Ryze, Hong Kong’s biggest trampoline park, is lined with trampolines from wall to wall, plus there are foam pits and rope swings where you can unleash your inner ninja. All visitors have to sign a liability waiver (gulp), but once you’re in, you can bounce, flip, and jump to tremendous heights, all to your heart’s content. It’s a surprisingly decent exercise workout too. 

Having closed down all of its branches in Hong Kong 20 years ago, The Wonderful World of Whimsy reopened in 2019 with its flagship location in E-Max, Kowloon Bay. This 30,000sq ft fun zone has brought back all of the classic games, including classic gems like skee ball, basketball hoops, whack-a-mole, air hockey, and more. Game tokens are $2 each but you can get a discount by buying them in bulk. Happy gaming!

Even if the weather’s gloomy, you can still easily experience summer vibes in Sai Kung. Tikitiki Bowling Bar boasts some serious tropical decor – we’re talking palm trees, wooden furniture, Polynesian decorations, the whole works. Tikitiki also features 10 bowling lanes that are as much a disco as a bowling alley. There’s also an indoor and outdoor bar and a live music lounge. Sip on delicious exotic cocktails served in coconut shells and adorable tiki mugs while you hit the lanes with your mates.

VR Arena is the place to go in Hong Kong if you're keen to try the Virtuix Omni, an omni-directional gaming treadmill where gamers can literally walk in any direction they want. Players will get to fully immerse themselves in a huge selection of virtual reality games, from zombie-infested ones to thrilling shootouts, transporting them to a whole new world without any spatial hindrance.