Travelling to Hong Kong

Kanpai

Kanpai

Kanpai

Soldato
Joined
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London
Looking to go to visit Hong Kong this September with a mate but a bit overwhelmed at the expenses to be honest. I was wondering if anyone here has travelled to Hong Kong and if they could recommend some good hotels and places to visit there? Also how long is needed to make your trips worth; would 9 days be enough?

I've come across CityView Hotel and they seem to be offering the best rates I can find at the moment with good reviews, about £88 per night which is not too bad in my opinion.

As for flight, the cheapest I can find is £420 or thereabouts, going from Gatwick to HK with a stopover at Vietnam for a few hours.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!
 
I've stayed in these 2...

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g294217-d309407-Reviews-The_Garden_View_YWCA-Hong_Kong.html

It was nothing special and it was a long walk uphill from the main shops. Right next to a nice supermarket though.

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g294217-d299526-Reviews-Rosedale_On_The_Park-Hong_Kong.html

This one was really nice, although the rooms were tiny - even for HK! Much closer to everything though.

We got a good price on both of them at the time. It's kinda like flights - you just have to watch for good deals.

Not sure about flights for you - we flew direct from Chicago.

9 days would be a good amount of time, IMO. Absolutely loved HK....maybe even my favorite city in the world - and I've been to a few! :)
 
Cheers mate, Rosedale looks like a nice option to be honest. Won't be spending too much time in the Hotel so I dont think it will be too much of a problem (the size of the rooms).

Would you say 9 days is too much as we were thinking of 7 days at first but think it might be too little? Also a friend suggested we go to Macau for one day, there are boats going very often from HK to Macau and recommended we go there for one day. Have you done anything similar?

As for getting around and finding places to visit, how did you go about shortlisting where to visit and such?

Sorry for the 101 questions I hope you don't mind!
 
Yeah, the Rosedale is very nice and a great location.

I think 7-9 days would be more than enough.

HK is a brilliant city to explore. We got a guide book for the main "must see" stuff, but the rest of the time we just set off with no particular plan in mind :) You really can't go too far wrong. Of course, a lot of it depends on what your interests are what you enjoy doing.

Now I want to go to HK :(
 
We stayed in the Sheraton (next to the Peninsula) , hotel was very nice but HK in general is not that great, many more interesting places in Far East
 
needforspeed said:
Hong Kong Gold Coast Hotel.
Room type: Superior Seaview Room.
?
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Sounds quite the view! :D

alex20000 said:
I love Hong Kong!

Can't really contribute to the thread though :/ I normally stay with family.
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Haha, no worries, more reason for me to want to go, consider that your contribution!

Curio said:
Yeah, the Rosedale is very nice and a great location.

I think 7-9 days would be more than enough.

HK is a brilliant city to explore. We got a guide book for the main "must see" stuff, but the rest of the time we just set off with no particular plan in mind :) You really can't go too far wrong. Of course, a lot of it depends on what your interests are what you enjoy doing.

Now I want to go to HK :(
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That's great to hear, so 7-9 days will be fine! One of my mates went last year so he was going to give me his itinerary as a guide, though I guess I can check some of those books too. To be honest though, I think I'm most excited about going to see Victoria Bay, especially at night. Just open to any suggestions really, I like seeing fascinating architecture and shopping around, bit of everything you'd want to see on a holiday really!

Get your ticket booked mate! :D
 
Rotty said:
We stayed in the Sheraton (next to the Peninsula) , hotel was very nice but HK in general is not that great, many more interesting places in Far East
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There's always somewhere more interesting. Depends what you want from a trip. Sure, if you're looking for a genuine taste of eastern culture then HK wouldn't be a good choice. But as an "East meets West" metropolis with tons of stuff to do (and amazing views) it's hard to beat.
 
I stay here every year for the past 5 years.

http://www.royalpark.com.hk/

They have special deals for stay longer than 7 days. The rooms are nice, just like the pictures. All rooms have wifi access (or cat 5 should you choose).

If you want to spend more, I want to stay in this place. It is attached to Monkok shopping centre which is one of my favourite.

http://hongkong.langhamplacehotels.com/

It has good access to the train station/MTR. There is a massive shopping mall attached to it so you are never more than 10 seconds away from the shops from the hotel.

The MTR is so cheap that if you get a Octopus card (just like an Oyster card but more), top it up with about £30 and it should last you the entire trip. You can even use it in 7-Eleven to buy food or magazines.

Places to see.

- Sky 100, it is the tallest building in HK on the Kowloon side.
- Victoria peak, take the tram if you want for the ride but the best way to get to the top is by taxi. It'll cost you about £5 and takes 10 minutes. The tram costs almost as much.
- Lady street and Nathan street, all that around there. It's where you get proper fake brand goods. It does not hide the fact it is fake at all, I guess that's why the police never do anything, ever. It's funny actually to see some of the brands, if you ever want to see PRADO instead of PRADA...this is the place :D
- the outer islands, they are fun but I am not sure it is worthwhile. The first thing I saw when getting off the boat was Maccy D!
- Happy valley races, horse races, I think it is only Wednesday night, 8 or 10 races and it seems the entire ex-pat community gathers there. Actually a nice place to have a couple of beers, some BBQ and perhaps put £1 on a race here and there.
- Harbour City, a GIANT shopping mall, it will take you the best part of a day if you want to see all the levels.
- Actually there are loads of shopping malls, they are all like the Westfields, you'll wonder how do these people afford all these!

Things to eat

- go to any place and have some dim sum, the menu will be all Chinese most likely ! But this place is really good, value is decent, nice location and is in English! http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Restaurant_Review-g294217-d1077089-Reviews-Din_Tai_Fung-Hong_Kong.html
- try bubble tea, personally I prefer the fruit base stuff. Happy Lemon sells them http://www.happy-lemon.com/en/
- get egg waffles
- go into a supermarket and just look at all the weird and wonderful food ! Spam flavoured nuts, Curry cheese pot noodle
- Aqua Toyko http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Restau...ua_Roma_Aqua_Tokyo_Aqua_Spirit-Hong_Kong.html Amazing view of the harbour but prices are not cheap if you are on a budget.

Here are some photos for you.

2013

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18499661&highlight=hong+kong

2011

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18263263&highlight=hong+kong

2010

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18136346&highlight=hong+kong
 
I was in HK last month as part of my traveling round Asia. Good place, I was there for 8 days. Felt like being in London but by the sea with better weather.

There are plenty of beaches to go to which are easily accessible through their Metro system. Also if you are into nights out, go on the Hong Kong pub crawl. Happens every Thursday.
 
Cosmopolitan or Cosmo hotels are great and usually come in at a good price.

Big rooms for HK, 10 minute walk to time square metro but hotel also runs a shuttle.
 
Thank you all for the replies and information, it's been so helpful! Royal Park and Cosmopolitan hotels look like good value for money and in ideal places so far.

Raymond: How much do you charge as a tour guide? :D

Edit: Lovely photos from your trip by the way
 
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El1te said:
Thank you all for the replies and information, it's been so helpful! Royal Park and Cosmopolitan hotels look like good value for money and in ideal places so far.

Raymond: How much do you charge as a tour guide? :D

Edit: Lovely photos from your trip by the way
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Lol, you'll be fine, almost everyone speaks English, certainly everyone in retail I've encountered speaks English, at least enough to haggle.

Yes, if you buy anything, don't be afraid to haggle, they expect it.

I say 9 days is plenty, enough to go to all the places on a tour guide, not too short to feel rushed. Personally I have been to everywhere I wanted to go and everywhere the tour guide says it is worth while to go (top 10 places, done, that includes Macau, which technically not in Hong Kong). This year has turned into how many top 10 restaurants from Trip Advisor can we visit. We went to Aqua Tokyo for the Wagu beef and the view, to the world's cheapest Michelin star restaurant - http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowUserReviews-g294217-d1745792-r114931525-Tim_Ho_Wan-Hong_Kong.html

Tripadvisor's review is right that you have to wait in line with your number, we waited for 45 mins for lunch, on a misty Tuesday afternoon. during the wait I got chatting to an Aussie who lives in HK who said "this place has the best hang over cure food!"

Any questions just ask :)
 
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Oh, this site http://www.openrice.com/english/restaurant/ is great for restaurant reviews as well for Hong Kong. Get the app and it'll be handy when you are there.

Go to a phone shop and get a sim card for $98 (about 8), it will come with $98 of credit...why it isn't an even $100 i don't know. Anyway, for $68 you can buy 7 days data about 1G which is plenty. You can then use the remaining $30 to get single day credit to cover you for the other 2 days. The MTR (underground) has signal even so you can use your phone there. Get the MTR app on your phone so you know how to get round using it. The app is call Explore Metro.
 
Perfect, didn't realize so many of them speak English there, it's a bonus then!

How are prices in general compared to UK? I'm guessing similarly priced? I guess what I'm asking is how much spending money for travelling around and food/shopping would you say is needed for 9 days?

We were contemplating 2 weeks but I think it'll be too much, 9 seems to be enough to ensure we get to see most of the popular attractions at ease in no rush like you said.

Thanks for the link mate, I haven't really thought much about the food to be honest but will note those places down in my planner for sure! At the moment I've just been in the mindset of "as long as there's a McDonalds or KFC somewhere we're set" lol.

As for Macau, I heard you can get there within 2 hours on a boat from HK? So ideally catching an early boat and one of the last back on the day to make the most of the day there?

Don't PLAN to do much shopping in terms of clothing etc or electricals but having said that will probably end up buying a few things just for the sake of it if you know what I mean?

Edit: Thanks for the information about the SIM card too, very useful! You've been a great help already and having checked your photographs I wish September would come sooner!
 
Check it out!

rqvy9FHl.jpg
 
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