Rainy Weather Protection for people on the the Peak Tram
Peak Tram Terminus needs this at Victoria Peak, Hong Kong
Me Jamie, your host, I am English and I have lived in Hong Kong since January 2nd 1972 - I know the place.
A blog post with a difference
Please do visit Hong Kong | Travel, Tourism, Tours, Tips, Daily Life and my personal thoughts on Hong Kong.
Hong Kong | Pearl of the Orient
Customised Private Tours & Experiences in Amazing Hong Kong
Pearl of the Orient
Private Tours Cultural Tours Walking Tours Sightseeing Tours City Tours Night Tours Transit Tours Shore Excursions
Carefully Crafted Personalised and Customised Itineraries by Jamie | Hong Kong’s Most Experienced Private Tour Guide For :
Solo Travellers Friends Families Seniors Couples Business People
J3 Group Hong Kong | J3 Consultants Hong Kong | J3 Private Tours Hong Kong
Creating Memories That Will Last A Lifetime
Book Now
Rainy Weather Protection for people riding the the Peak Tram
Peak Tram Terminus needs this at Victoria Peak, Hong Kong
A typical rainy weather day at Victoria Peak Hong Kong and basically the green canopy is the only protection, if there are 500 people in the line for the Tram, people get very wet
click on the image to enlarge
An all too common sight at Victoria Peak in Hong Kong, many of these people are waiting to get onto the Peak Tram at Victoria Peak - the terminus has room for about 100 people inside, everyone else is outside no matter the weather
click on the image to enlarge
I have been meaning to write a blog post on this subject for a long time, it is one of those subjects that has irked me for a very long time.
In 2022 the Peak Tram Company proudly unveiled their new Terminus at Garden Road (where you catch the Peak Tram going up) with a capacity of 1,300 people, indoors with air conditioning (but no seating) and outside people can shelter under a road system
The situation at the Peak Tower is far from perfect, in fact I am incredulous that in the upgrade to the Peak Tram system did not include any changes to allow more people to wait inside the terminus in the Peak Tower.
They did made nice the waiting area of the Terminus, installed new doors, lengthened the waiting area platform by perhaos 30 feet (the new Tram is longer) installed new payment machines but it still only holds around 100 people
In previous years they allowed people to wait in the Peak Tower (not ideal as it is a busy shopping mall) I noticed recently that the area next to the Peak Tram inside the Peak Tower is being renovated, I doubt very much it will be used for line overflows for Peak Tram patrons, the space is simply too valuable and is used for retail outlets and coffee shops.
So the crux of the issue is that depending on the time of day or night you ride the Peak Tram you are faced with long lines at the Peak Tower at Victoria Peak and bear in mind the majority of people purchase return tickets and what goes up must come down.
The problem is simple, you have 100 people waiting indoors and then everyone else is outside, no matter the weather
There is ONE weather canopy (see image above) which is good for maybe 50 - 60 people and yet many times (including in rainy weather) I have seen hundreds more waiting near the Peak Tower and they simply have no protection from the rain or the blazing sun
Clearly the Peak Tram company is aware of the problem as they have one canopy but why the heck do they not provide more and larger canopies as and when needed (there is plenty of storage area at the side of the Peak Tower Building when they are not used)
This issue is now decades old and given the profits that the Peak Tram makes along with the Peak Tower (same company) surely a study is in order, we are not talking a lot of money for the canopies which would be very much appreciated by visitors
So we are clear, the 2022 renovation project cost US$100 Million and it beggars belief that they could not recognise the importance of weather projection which has a minimal cost.
.... and yes, I have wrote to them a few years ago about this and never had a reply, it does not surprise me, big companies are not receptive to advice and suggestions from a nobody (me!)
At the end of the day it is a simple problem with a simple solution
Below is the text from another post I did about the weather cams at Victoria Peak, well worth a read
A typical variable weather day at Victoria Peak Hong Kong, cloudy and rainy in the morning, sunny by the afternoon
click on the image to enlarge
4 types of weather typically occurring at Victoria Peak in Hong Kong, from left to right | Sunny, Cloudy, Foggy and Stormy
click on the image to enlarge
Victoria Peak is Hong Kong’s most popular place to visit getting anywhere from 7 - 10 million + visitors every year but Hong Kong is not sunny 365 days a year, we have 4 quite distinct seasons and variable weather. (see above) and there are days when it is just a waste of time to visit the Peak because it is fogged in or it just rains non stop.
On foggy and stormy days you might think it is a waste of time to go to the Peak, that is an incorrect assumption as the weather can change rapidly within the space of a couple of hours (see images and time stamps below) and it would be a shame if you missed it out on seeing the greatest panoramic city view in the world.
Having been up there over 6,000+ times since 1972 I know a little bit about the Peak and weather patterns.
The vast majority of people who visit Victoria Peak spend a lot of money on the Peak Tram and then the Peak Tower Sky Terrace 428 for the view and have no information really to determine if they will actually see the world famous view.
The Peak Tram Company who owns and operates the Peak Tower as well would prefer you not to know that you are wasting time and money going there in foggy or stormy weather, they actually have links to these cams on the FAQ page on their website, tucked away at the very bottom of the page and trust me, the links are very hard to find.
The absolutely best place to see the panoramic view at the Lugard Road Lookout, it is quite interesting and not commonly known that the location of the Peak Tower, the Lions Pavilion and the Peak Galleria (the 3 most popular places to see the view) which are all a minutes walk from each other sit in what I can best describe as a hollow, so when it is foggy and stormy the clouds seem to stick there and dissipate very slowly whereas the Lugard Road Lookout is NOT in this hollow and the cloud cover can disappear quite quickly.
Hong Kong Observatory Victoria Peak Cams
Observatory Weather Cam | Victoria Peak Views looking towards the east:
https://www.hko.gov.hk/en/wxinfo/ts/webcam/VPA_photo.htm
Observatory Weather Cam | Victoria Peak Views looking towards the north-northeast:
https://www.hko.gov.hk/en/wxinfo/ts/webcam/VPB_photo.htm
They have 2 cams taken from different locations, links stated above or click on the yellow buttons below
I recorded the 4 images below on 21st February just a couple of hours apart and you can clearly see a visible difference and a few hours later they had gotten better again, if it is so foggy like the images on the left then you might want to delay going up there but at least now you have a reliable way of checking the weather at Victoria Peak
click on the image to enlarge | click on the links above for the weather cams
Let us hope that on your visit to Victoria Peak in Hong Kong you get the sort of weather as seen in the image below but if you are in Hong Kong for a day or two it is like spinning a roulette wheel when it comes to the weather and I must stress that it can go from stormy to blue skies in a matter of hours.
The Hong Kong Observatory weather cams that cover Victoria Peak can be accessed on your phone at any time and new images are uploaded every 5 minutes, so use the information to plan and potentially save a lot of time and money on a wasted journey!
© Jamie Lloyd | J3 Consultants Hong Kong | J3 Private Tours Hong Kong |
| 2010 - 2025 All rights reserved. |
Click on any image to enlarge to full screen
Current images from my Instagram feed
