Octopus Hong Kong Tourist Version Octopus Card (with HKD 50 balance) [Hong Kong Airport Collection] Transport Passes

The Tourist Version Octopus Card is Hong Kong's essential contactless stored-value card, offering visitors a hassle-free way to pay for public transport and everyday purchases across the city. Preloaded with HKD 50 balance, the card can be tapped directly on MTR, bus, ferry, tram, and coach fare readers, as well as used for purchases at convenience stores, fast food outlets, supermarkets, bakeries, and vending machines — eliminating the need for cash or exact change.

This product is collected on arrival at Hong Kong International Airport, making it ideal for travelers who want their transport card ready to use the moment they land. The card is reloadable up to HKD 3,000 at thousands of locations across Hong Kong, and any unused balance can generally be refunded (minus a small handling fee) at MTR service counters before departure, excluding Airport Express counters if the traveler wishes to keep the card as a souvenir.

Founded in 1925, the Palace Museum is a large comprehensive museum built on the basis of the Forbidden City and its collections of the Ming and Qing dynasties. It is also the largest and most intact ancient palace complex in the world, with a collection of more than 1.86 million pieces of cultural relics.

Walking into the Forbidden City, you can see exquisite patterns everywhere, whether on the eaves, walls, doors and windows of the palace buildings, or in the furniture, utensils and clothing displayed in the exhibition halls. The Chinese use patterns with various forms and rich meanings to decorate their daily lives, reflecting their love and respect for nature and life, gathering the essence of traditional craftsmanship, and interpreting their persistent pursuit of beautiful things. Patterns carry the aesthetic taste and cultural spirit of the Chinese people, and have been affecting the lives of the public today.

This exhibition is themed "Pattern of the Forbidden City". By extracting patterns from palace architecture, ceramics, and embroidery, combined with innovative digital technology, it presents the cultural connotations behind the patterns. Let us explore the colorful and wonderful patterns of the Forbidden City in the digital world, and feel the endless charm of China's excellent traditional culture.

The exhibition is co-organized by the Hong Kong Palace Museum and the Palace Museum, and sponsored by the Institute of Public Welfare and Charity.

△ Qiu Ying (c. 1494–1552) Lanting (Lanting) Ming Dynasty, mid-16th century Fan with color on gold paper © The Palace Museum

Hall 9: "Arabian Carpets - The Interweaving of Islam and World Civilization" (June 18 - October 6, 2025)

The first exhibition in Hong Kong to focus on the cultural exchange between Islamic and Chinese civilizations, and the artistic achievements of Safavid Iran, Mughal India and Ottoman Turkey. The exhibition displays about 100 precious artifacts, including carpets, porcelain, metal crafts, illuminated manuscripts and jades, reflecting the artistic exchanges between the Safavid, Mughal and Ottoman dynasties, and also showing the interaction between Islamic and Chinese civilizations through trade, migration and diplomacy.



△ Safavid Dynasty Suleiman Shah I "Hunting" Carpet

Tabriz, Safavid Iran

Circa 1610

Wool pile, cotton warp, cotton weft

© Museum of Islamic Art, Doha

Gallery 8: “Treasures of the Mughal Empire – From the Victoria and Albert Museum, London” (6 August 2025 – 23 February 2026)

This exhibition is jointly organized by the Hong Kong Palace Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum. It is the first large-scale comprehensive exhibition in Hong Kong to fully display the art of the Mughal Dynasty (1526-1857). More than 100 pieces of treasures from the collections of the Victoria and Albert Museum and other important institutions in the UK are on display, covering a wide range of categories such as paintings, jewelry, architectural components, weapons and textiles. The exhibits also include the Hong Kong Palace Museum's Ho Keith Collection, as well as treasures from the UK, Kuwait and Hong Kong's Mengdiexuan Collection.

Gallery 2: From Dawn to Dusk: Life and Art in the Forbidden City

Significant events from morning to bedtime and over 300 sumptuous treasures from the Palace Museum represent key moments in their busy and well-regulated lives. These moments bring to life the colour, texture, joy, and sorrow of life inside the Forbidden City.