The Murray

The Murray is Foster and Partners' conversion of a 1969 Hong Kong government landmark into a 336 room hotel on the edge of Hong Kong Park, with the largest average rooms in the city. It holds no Michelin stars, has no harbour view, and its temperature-controlled pool is indoor, on the ground floor.

"A Foster and Partners conversion of a 1969 government landmark with the largest average rooms in Hong Kong, but an indoor pool and no harbour view."

Aggregate 9.2/10 on our editorial scale (Room & Design, Service, Location). Independently scored; see our methodology. This is our opinion, not an aggregate of user reviews.

Affiliate disclosure: we may earn a commission from bookings at no cost to you. We never accept payment for placement. Hotel status, room product and Michelin ratings were verified against official sources and the 2026 Michelin Guide in July 2026.

What makes The Murray special?

The building is the reason to book. The Murray occupies the former Murray Building, a 1969 government office block that won awards for its ground-breaking energy-efficient design, converted into a hotel by London architects Foster and Partners under the Hong Kong government's Conserving Central heritage programme. The conversion kept the deep-set, angled window recesses that shade the interior, so the exterior still reads as mid-century civic architecture rather than a hotel tower. Very few genuine mid-century modern conversions exist in Asian luxury hospitality, and this is the flagship of Wharf Hotels' Niccolo brand, opened on 15 January 2018. The second half of the proposition is space. The hotel states its rooms are on average the largest in Hong Kong, across 336 rooms and suites over 26 floors, in a city where floor area is the scarcest commodity in the luxury market. What The Murray does not offer is equally clear. No restaurant here holds a Michelin star in the 2026 guide, there is no harbour view from any room, and the pool is indoor and on the ground floor. This is the design-and-space play rather than the view play, and it should be chosen on those terms.

Which room should you book?

336 rooms and suites sit across 26 floors, and the hotel states they are on average the largest in Hong Kong. That single fact carries the accommodation case, because floor area is the scarcest commodity in this market and most Central rivals cannot match it. The inherited architecture shapes the rooms directly: the deep-set, angled window recesses that Foster and Partners retained from the 1969 Murray Building shade each window, cutting glare and giving interiors a sheltered, evenly lit quality that is unusual in a glass-tower city. Outlooks are over Hong Kong Park, Cotton Tree Drive, St John's Cathedral and the Central skyline. None of them include Victoria Harbour, and prospective guests should take that as settled rather than something a higher category fixes. The greenery is the compensation, and rooms facing the park are quieter than anything on the harbourfront. Book here for square metres and calm rather than for a view of the water.

Where should you eat and drink?

Six dining destinations operate here, and none holds a Michelin star in the 2026 guide, which is worth stating plainly because several Central neighbours do. MIÁN serves Chinese cuisine in a purpose-built two-storey pavilion beside the hotel entrance, drawing on the eight great regional cuisines of China, and the standalone pavilion format gives it a presence most hotel restaurants lack. Popinjays is the rooftop Italian restaurant on the 26th floor, set on one of the largest rooftop terraces in Hong Kong with panoramic skyline and mountain views, and it is the hotel's most photographed room. The Garden Lounge handles all-day dining with modern Cantonese flavours and a heritage-inspired afternoon tea, looking out over St John's Cathedral and the gardens. Murray Lane is the bar off the lobby, and Tai Pan completes the line-up. The range is genuine and the rooftop terrace is a real asset, but guests who plan a stay around destination fine dining will be eating elsewhere in Central most evenings.

What is the spa and pool like?

Wellness at The Murray is the in-house spa, offering massages and facial treatments, with a detail worth knowing: every treatment suite has its own private steam or sauna facility, so the thermal element is part of the treatment room rather than a shared circuit. The fitness centre sits on the third floor, is open 24 hours, and runs Technogym equipment, with a class programme covering tai chi, yoga and aerobics. The pool is where expectations most often go wrong. It is indoor and temperature-controlled, on the ground floor, open daily from 7:00am to 10:00pm according to the hotel's own FAQ. It is not a rooftop pool and it is not an infinity pool, despite several third-party listings claiming otherwise, and the 25th floor houses the Niccolo Room event space rather than any pool. Guests expecting a sun deck should plan accordingly.

Where is The Murray, and how do you get there?

The Murray stands at 22 Cotton Tree Drive on the edge of Hong Kong Park, in Central but on its quiet uphill margin rather than in the middle of the business district. That position is the trade at the heart of the hotel: green, calm and low-traffic on one side, and no sight of Victoria Harbour on the other. Admiralty MTR station and Central MTR station are both roughly 5 to 10 minutes on foot, with the Central to Mid-Levels escalator and the Hong Kong Park footbridges close by, so the bars and restaurants of Central, Soho and Wan Chai are all reachable without a taxi. Central Star Ferry Pier is roughly 12 to 15 minutes on foot for the crossing to Kowloon. Hong Kong Station, the Airport Express terminus, is roughly 10 to 15 minutes on foot, and Hong Kong International Airport is roughly 40 minutes by car. Hong Kong Park, the Peak Tram lower terminus area and St John's Cathedral are all immediate neighbours.

What do guests consistently say?

Guest sentiment here is unusually consistent, because the hotel delivers exactly one thing and does not pretend otherwise. Space and architecture drive the positive reaction: the largest average rooms in Hong Kong, a Foster and Partners conversion of a listed-era government landmark, and a park-side setting that is quieter than any harbourfront address. Guests who have stayed on the harbour and grown tired of the crowds tend to convert here. The criticisms are equally predictable. Guests regularly report frustration that no room sees Victoria Harbour, which reads as a real deficit in a city sold on its water. A recurring complaint is that the pool is indoor and modest by Hong Kong standards, so anyone arriving with a sun deck in mind is let down. The third recurring theme is dining, where the absence of a starred restaurant is felt against Central neighbours that have several.

Honest cons: who should skip it?

Three honest drawbacks. First, there is no harbour view from anywhere in the hotel; rooms look over Hong Kong Park, Cotton Tree Drive and the Central skyline, and in a city whose luxury market runs on the water that is a genuine deficit rather than a quirk. Second, there is no destination fine dining at the level of the Central neighbours and no Michelin star at any of the six venues, so guests planning a food-led trip will be booking tables elsewhere most nights. Third, the pool is indoor, temperature-controlled and on the ground floor, modest by Hong Kong standards, and guests expecting a rooftop deck or an infinity edge, which several third-party listings wrongly promise, are consistently disappointed. A fourth practical note: the uphill Cotton Tree Drive position is calm, but the walk back from Central and Soho is a climb.