Hong Kong has to be the best city in the world. It has it all: great restaurants, futuristic technology and gadgets, designer shopping, beaches and national parks. There’s also the Hong Kong Rugby Sevens in March and, increasingly, Bledisloe Cup rugby in November between Australia and New Zealand. Better yet, cheap flights to Hong Kong make it affordable for a weekend city break, a short stopover or a longer holiday.

That’s why I try to get over there at least a few times a year to get fully involved with the Hong Kong scene. March and September are the best times of year – warm and often sunny, the sweaty summer months are worth avoiding. I’ve just come back from a super-quick weekend there – last minute but brilliant.

For cheap flights, I use search-engine aggregators Kayak and Skyscanner or Hong Kong airline Cathay Pacific. The Hong Kong Tourist Board is good for info too.

I landed midday on a Saturday, zipped into town on the Airport Express and checked into my hotel. Not my usual, the Mandarin Oriental Landmark but new boutique hotel The Upper House -- it was last-minute, after all, but a great change. It’s in a good spot between Central and Wan Chai and is more intimate and design-led than many others.

Here’s what I did (and what you should too):

1. Star Ferry – take in the harbour view between Central and Kowloon. It’s best going the other way though. Go first class (i.e. upper deck) – it’s still dirt cheap but doesn’t smell of engine grease.
2. Sam’s Tailor – get a suit made and some shirts too. They’re made in mere days and everyone from Bill Clinton to Sylvester Stallone goes there.
3. Eat dim sum – have a Chinese lunch at Tim Ho Wan. It’s probably the World’s cheapest Michelin-starred restaurant. No reservations so get there early and expect to queue.
4. Designer shopping at The Landmark in Central – shops in Hong Kong stay open late, often 10pm. Pick up everything from Louis Vuitton to Giorgio Armani. I needed some Italian leather shoes and a new watch for dinner. I was meeting a woman I’d met in Sydney earlier in the year who set the bar pretty high.
5. Dinner and drinks in Wan Chai -- we had a few Asian-inspired cocktails at OVOlogue in an old pawn shop in Wan Chai. One of the few genuinely old buildings left in Hong Kong and there’s lots of neon buzz in this district.
6. Dance in NoHo – dinner went well so we moved to NoHo (‘north of Hollywood Road’ in Central) and Lan Kwai Fong for a few drinks. A few glasses of wine at Boca Tapas and Wine Bar (expensive) then live music at Gecko Lounge and Wine Bar on Ezra Lane, Lower Hollywood Road. Bars open and close all the time here so we just went with the flow. It was nearly 3am when the taxi dropped us off at my hotel.
7. Go to the beach – the next day, after a reviving Virgin Mary over breakfast, I wanted to counteract last night’s yang with beachside yin. I took the 6X bus to Deep Water Bay for a round of golf and some time on the beach. The south side of Hong Kong island is a different planet – pricey homes, beaches at Deep Water Bay and Repulse Bay, not to mention plenty of greenery and sea views.

Hong Kong in a weekend – utterly brilliant. Restaurants, dancing, shopping, golf and the beach. Oh, and I’ve got a second date so have every excuse to go back and do it all again.