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 Traveller's Tales: Getting around in Hong Kong
Know the most popular landmarks in Hong Kong. You may read about best transportation, recommended travel itinerary, suggested routes and directions. Also, you might want to read our
Hong Kong city guide.
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| L Hendriks |
21 February 2004 |
Stayed at BP International House - Hong Kong, Hong Kong.
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My favourite restaurant was Peking House above Admiralty MTR. Very elegant with Peking Duck the specialty of the house. The public transport is very efficient and cheap. From Kowloon it is good to take the Star Ferry across to Hong Kong. Bus 15C takes you to the tram and the tram to the Peak. Magnificent views of the city and harbour and great restaurants. If taking a cab take a piece of paper with the destination in chinese on it as many cab drivers don't speak English.
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| J Ky |
17 February 2004 |
Stayed at Anne Black Guest House (YWCA) - Hong Kong, Hong Kong.
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Was able to book the hotel room on the same day that I flew to HK, well done asia-hotels.com. HK is a great place to shop for clothing, electronics and souvenirs. Food is cheap and plentiful. Good clothing stores - Bossini, U2, Giordano, Baleno (you can find them everywhere). Electronics - Golden computer city in Sham Shui Po, three floors of computer/electronic gear, just make sure to compare prices. Travel by MTR subway is dead easy and cheap. Please note that baggage limit for check in may only be 20kg depending on where you live. Posting items back home may be the way to go.
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| D Whelton |
14 February 2004 |
Stayed at Holiday Inn Golden Mile Hong Kong - Hong Kong, Hong Kong.
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If you intend to stay in Hong Kong for more than a few days buy an "Octopus" card for getting around on the MTR subway system. They can be purchased at all MTR stations and are very convenient as they can also be used on most buses and even for purchases at many convenience stores, McDonald's restaurants, etc.
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| W Pan |
10 February 2004 |
Stayed at Wesley, The - Hong Kong, Hong Kong.
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The No 6, 6A, 6X buses to Stanley market runs past the rear of the hotel (bus stop is at the nearby corner near coffee shop) and costs only HK$6 - HK$7.90.
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| M Meacham |
09 February 2004 |
Stayed at Harbour Plaza Hotel Hong Kong - Hong Kong, Hong Kong.
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My trip to Hong Kong was a spur of the moment thing, but the nice thing about visiting Hong Kong is I could do things without much planning. The concierge desk had brochures describing 4-hr and 8-hr tours that cost between $280 HKD and $450HKD per person (the more expensive tour includes a meal). Being that this was the first time I had spent any time in Hong Kong, I tried the Hong Kong Island tour for $280 HKD. This provided a good way for me to see where things were and ask the tour guide about getting around in the city.
The next day, I decided to familiarize myself with the MTR (Hong Kong's subway) and the very busy Nathan Road area, and I was pleasantly surprised by what I found. Their subway looks more like an underground shopping mall than a train stop. It is well lighted at all times and lined with shops. Littering carries a steep fine, so you won't find a speck of trash or a discarded cigarette butt anywhere.
The MTR system itself is pretty easy to figure out with map in-hand. Ideally, your map of Hong Kong would be small but detailed enough to show you where the MTR stops fall throughout the city. Your hotel concierge can probably provide you with just such a map.
Just walk up to a vending machine, touch your destination stop, and the computer screen will tell you how much money you need to deposit to get to where you're going (yes, it's that easy). The machine will spit out a credit card size piece of paper that grant access to the train area. And from there you will wait about 3 minutes before a train arrives.
At some point, you must use a taxi, and my first experience with this wasn't so good. The driver didn't speak English and this is not uncommon. As a consequence of this, we ended up travelling everywhere in Hong Kong except my intended destination which was the Harbour Plaza Hotel. I ended up in several conversations with his dispatcher before I finally got deposited at the right spot (to be fair, I wasn't charged for the "tour").
To avoid running into this little nightmare I would again suggest you acquire a map of the Island that clearly shows the city on both sides of Victoria Harbour, popular destinations in both English and Chinese, and the location of most of the major hotels. This will make life simple for both you and your driver.
Another caveat about using the taxis: Don't use them to get across Victoria Bay. I say this for two reasons: (1) you can get stuck in the cross-harbour tunnel traffic and incur a charge for just sitting in a parked taxi; and (2) there's a $20 HKD toll that will be added to your fair. For about half the cost of the toll, you can take the MTR to either side in about half the time. The Star Ferry service will also get you from one side to the other for even less money, but it will take about 15 or 20 minutes depending on your final destination. The additional time spent on the ferry, however, is more than balanced out by the fact that you get to stretch your legs and walk around the deck while viewing Victoria Harbour. Once you get to either side of the harbour, then take a taxi if you still need one.
Besides educating myself on how to get around, I had some clothes custom made. This was fun, but if you're even toying with the idea of doing this I would recommend doing it on your first day. They can finish your stuff in 1 or 2 days. If you can wear it a few days before you leave, then you'll get to see how it really fits and have any additional alterations made for no charge. Also negotiate shipping costs into the final sale if you can. Its much easier for them to ship it to you than it will be to carry an extra suitcase back through customs.
On a different note, I learned something about gratuities that usually goes unsaid. There is this 10% service charge attached to many purchases that seems to negate the need for it. Well, think again. My server at the Lux Cafe informed me that the "service" charge didn't go to him. That money was just an additional cost of the meal that would never work its way into his pocket (surprise!). Some places do pass it along, but its a good idea to ask the person serving you exactly how it works. Otherwise, they'll never get a tip for their great efforts.
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| J Turner |
01 February 2004 |
Stayed at Bishop Lei International - Hong Kong, Hong Kong.
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We bought food at both the Park N Shop and the Wellcome supermarkets by the escalators. Each was well stocked. The hotel is easy to get to - taxi or bus advised - or a short walk from the escalator. We found a great Egyptian restaurant called "Koshary" along the escalator and there are numerous bars and other restaurants along the way. The Indian "Tandoor" restaurant was also very tasty. Small Chinese places offer inexpensive standard rice, noodle or soup dishes and dim sum (yum cha) restaurants are excellent - ask where to find one).
The zoo and Hong Kong Park were very nice, though the aviaries are closed due to bird flu. The area around the escalator at many levels has lots of shopping, antiques and carpets (Hollywood Rd), and restaurants and bars. Times Square near Happy Valley (easy metro access) has lots of shopping and a large Fortress electronics store. We walked a lot, took a few taxis - mostly uphill or to the train station, got the bus to Stanley market from the Central bus station, and enjoyed rides on the tramline. The tram is narrow and crowded but worth the ride for the view from the top (as long as you don't have a lot of bags). The Victoria Peak tram is a nice ride and you can walk on many trails at the top.
Hong Kong has great ambience, good shopping (especially for namebrand goods if coming from China) and despite lacking real budget hotels, is a worthwhile destination. The Kowloon-Canton Railway (KCR) is convenient and reasonably priced (located on the Kowloonside) and the ferry from Guangzhou is also pretty easy (cheaper but you land a bit further away from the downtowns of both cities). Hong Kong taxis are pretty reasonable, but you should have the hotel name written in Chinese characters if possible. Taxis charge a surcharge of five HK dollars for each bag.
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| J O' grady |
27 January 2004 |
Stayed at Bishop Lei International - Hong Kong, Hong Kong.
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We visited many restaurants including Jade Gardens, Spring Deer, Felix, Woodlands, Peking Gardens. All were good and the Sunday Dim Sum at Lin Heung Teahouse was wonderful. We used the MTR, buses and many Ferry boats for our self guided tours which included Kowloon New Years Parade, Po Lin Monastery, Cheung Chau, Kowloon, Sha Tin racing, Tai Wei, Mongkok, Hong Kong Museum of History(outstanding).
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| S Codrington |
26 January 2004 |
Stayed at Holiday Inn Golden Mile Hong Kong - Hong Kong, Hong Kong.
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The best way to get to the hotel is to use the Airport Express Train to Kowloon Station, and then take the free shuttle bus to the hotel. This hotel is the first set down stop, so the trip from the station is very quick. Retuning to the station is much slower, as there are about 8 or 10 other stops on the way back. If travelling as a family, it is worth asking about the group tickets on the Airport Express trains, which represent very significant savings over the normal single cost.
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| F Wu |
25 January 2004 |
Stayed at Eaton Hotel - Hong Kong, Hong Kong.
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There is a shuttle from the Airport Express. Eaton is near the end of the line from the Express, so it takes about 15 minutes to get to the hotel. But from the hotel to the Express it only took about 5 minutes. By the way if you are in a hurry taxi can bring you to the airport for about HK$260. It took less than 25 minutes from Eaton to the airport.
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| M Rahman |
24 January 2004 |
Stayed at Imperial Hotel Hong Kong - Hong Kong, Hong Kong.
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Hong Kong has excellent Airport. Transfer by bus was excellent, good value and reliable. We had difficulties getting to the hotel due to under ground construction in front of the hotel. We used train and taxi for local transport. Under ground system is efficient and excellent.
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