Kai Tak was located on the east side of Kowloon Bay in Kowloon, Hong Kong. The area is surrounded by rugged mountains. Less than to the north and northeast of the former runway 13 threshold is a range of hills reaching an elevation of . To the east of the former 31 threshold, the hills are less than away. Immediately to the south of the airport is Victoria Harbour, and farther south is Hong Kong Island with hills up to .