Central Mid-Levels Escalator

The Central to Mid-Levels escalator opened in 1993 to move commuters up and down the steep hillside between the business district and the residential Mid-Levels, and it is a chain of twenty escalators and three moving walkways running about eight hundred metres and climbing over a hundred and thirty vertical, generally cited as the longest outdoor covered escalator system in the world. It runs downhill in the morning rush and uphill for the rest of the day, reversing around ten. Riding it is the standard way to see this part of the city, since it passes above and beside the bars and restaurants of Soho, the antique shops of Hollywood Road, temples, markets and old stepped lanes.

What you actually see

• Eight hundred metres of escalator - the longest covered outdoor system.
• The direction reversal - downhill in the morning, uphill after ten.
• Soho and Hollywood Road - the streets it passes through.
• Stepped lanes crossing beneath - the old hillside street pattern.

When to go

Year round. One to two hours riding and stopping off. Remember the direction: before about ten in the morning it only goes down. Evenings are busiest around Soho.

Honest expectations

It only runs one way at a time and catching it wrong means walking up a very steep hill. It is a commuter machine, not an attraction, and crowded at peak times. The area it serves is expensive.

Nearby

Tai Kwun and PMQ are beside it; Central is at the bottom.