Summer in Hong Kong is hard going with children, all sticky heat and afternoons spent in shopping malls. November is the month to bring them. The humidity has lifted, and with highs around 24°C a morning on a hillside no longer ends with someone being carried down it. Typhoons can still turn up this late, though rarely, so check the Hong Kong Observatory's warnings before a day out of town.
Save the Peak for a clear day and skip the tram queue, which can exhaust a small child before the ride begins. Citybus 15 from Exchange Square is slower, but the front seats upstairs give a driver's-eye view of every hairpin. At the top, the Peak Circle Walk along Lugard and Harlech Roads is flat and paved, easy with a pushchair or a scooter, and its lookout has much the same harbour view as the paid Sky Terrace.
Older children who like a proper walk can tackle the Dragon's Back, a ridge above Shek O, reached on bus 9 from Shau Kei Wan MTR station. The rough, steep climbing comes first; the second half is paved down to Big Wave Bay. There is little shade, so carry sun cream and more water and snacks than seems sensible. The beach at the end makes a good bribe.
A Symphony of Lights, the free nightly light show on the harbour's skyscrapers, is brief and has no fireworks, so pitch it as a bonus. The Star Ferry is the better treat, a short crossing that feels like an adventure at child height. On the upper deck the wooden bench backs swing over so that everyone faces the way the boat is going, and flipping them is a job most children will happily take on.