Shatin Hong Kong Profile

Shatin Hong Kong, also known as Sha Tin, is basically a large scale sleeper suburb around thirty minutes north of Central Hong Kong. Set in the New Territories, Shatin Hong Kong is the biggest of Hong Kong’s 1970’s New Town projects. The town is home to, amongst other things, the Sha Tin racecourse and Hong Kong heritage museum.

If you’re only in Hong Kong for a couple of days, it’s hard to recommend Shatin, it is, by its very nature as a suburb, somewhat devoid of sights or attractions. The best of everything (museums, shopping, sights, hotels) are all to be found in Hong Kong proper. That said, if you have a few more days in town, and/or you’re interested in seeing how everyday Hong Kongers live, Sha Tin makes for an interesting half day excursion.

Until the 1970’s, Shatin was originally a small rural community, when the Hong Kong government decided to found one of the city’s new towns on the site. It is now home to roughly 650,000 people. The area is in many ways a large scale bedroom, with identical rows of public housing units. Most people travel into Hong Kong city to work.

The town is split into a number of separate districts, with the centre of town based on the New Town Plaza shopping centre and attached MTR metro station.The best way to get to Shatin, that is also the name of the main station, is via the MTR subways East Rail Line (blue) from Tsim Sha Tsui East. The journey takes 19 minutes and costs HK$8 for a single ticket. Trains run from just after 6.a.m. until just before midnight. If you’re travelling to the racecourse, you’ll need to travel on to Fo Tan, or the dedicated Sha Tin Racecourse stop, which operates on racedays.

The area’s best bonafida tourist attraction is the excellent Hong Kong Heritage Museum. Arguably one of the best museums in Hong Kong, the museum documents the city’ rise and rise from rampaging Dinosaurs to rampaging British red coats. The interactive exhibitions make for a far more engaging experience that the standard show if dusty bones and pottery.

While not quite as spectacular as the main Happy Valley racecourse in the city, Sha Tin racecourse is still an amazing piece of construction and well worth a visit when the horses are in town (most weekends). Boasting a capacity of 85,000 people and the biggest outdoor TV screen in the world, the noise and excitement on racedays is truly exhilarating.

If you’re in town to see what life is like for the average Hong Konger, take a stroll around the New Town Plaza shopping centre above the MTR station. The plaza bustles with shoppers after office hours and at weekends, as locals indulge in their favourite pastime. Unlike the upmarket malls of Central and Causeway Bay, the Plaza is full of good value shops and restaurants aimed at the average man.