Lan Kwai Fong

If there's one spot in Hong Kong that has earned the title 'night-time hotspot', it has to be Lan Kwai Fong. Once nothing more than a cobbled-lane in Hong Kong Island's Central District, today this tiny L-shaped street, tucked beneath towering skyscrapers, is the epicentre of Hong Kong's club scene. Famous venues like California and 1997 are now so packed and popular that the street itself often becomes the party.

It all started with just one club in 1977 – Disco Disco, owned by famous scene-setter, Gordon Huthart – which was such an instant hit among hip Hong Kongers that many more clubs soon moved in. By the 1990s the scene was thriving, and the crowds had attracted restaurants, shops, bars and even art galleries. Now Friday and Saturday nights here never seem to end, as the clubs pack out, the crowds swell and the DJs move out into the street. If you're in Hong Kong to party, once you hit Lan Kwai Fong, you won't want to leave.

But this street, and the lanes surrounding it, also provide an excellent selection of venues for fine dining, not just endless dancing. The list of cuisines on offer is truly globe-trotting – Australian, Thai, Italian, Vietnamese, Spanish and Japanese – they are all on the menu. Not forgetting Hong Kong's take on Cantonese cooking, with its tasty dim sum selections. If Hong Kong is known as the 'World's Fair of Food', then Lan Kwai Fong can take a fair share of the credit.

The best time to come here is at one of the city's big celebrations, as long as you don't mind the crowds. There's the Lan Kwai Fong Festival, held in November, when the streets fill with stalls, acrobats and dancers. The Chinese New Year Festival in January or February is always a fiery orange spectacle of dragons and lanterns. And Lan Kwai Fong even tries to get into the spirit of Halloween. You could say that's because of Hong Kong's openness towards new cultures. Most likely it's because it offers up yet another chance for Lan Kwai Fong to party.