wardy2

Hope you dont mind me barging in on your forum, but we are on our way to live in Australia in January and are stopping over in HK for a few days so we looking for any hotel recommendations for Hong kong as the title says.

We are a family of 4 so will be looking for a family room .

Also as i dont know HK at all can you confirm for me how far the airport is from the city.

Are there any things that are must do's we have 2 teenage sons

Thanks for any help

kaye

ex reg

I'd say HK is not the easiest place to pass through in 3 days.
Especially if you haven't been to the FE before.
It's a great place if you know it though.

Try Asia Hotels website and look at the hotels available. Then come back and ask about them here. You can then choose location and price before we offer advice.
The airport is a half hour or so train ride away from Central or you can go by taxi or bus.
For us we prefer taxi as the views are great, the cost isn't that high and you'll have to get a taxi from the train station at the other end.
Disneyland wasn't built when we were there.
A visit to the peak both day and night is a must. If there's not too much haze.
Happy Valley night horse racing is something we always do.
Trip on top of a double decker to Stanley.
Dim Sum in one of the large restaurants next to the ferry terminal in Tsim Sha Tsui after crossing the harbour on the Star ferry,
Boat trip to Lamma for lunch at a seafood restaurant. Catch the boat about 11am. Great views.
Don't buy anything in Nathan Rd and if you do window shop there then be careful.

Google for more.
Of course you'll be jet lagged so it won't be easy no matter how keen you are.

spalen

You have to decide if you want to stay on HK or on Kowloon , Kowloon is where the markets are mainland is where the posh bits are (and not posh bits too of course). Trip advisor is your friend - try expedia for cheap hotels. The langham in MongKok is pretty nice (but quite exp) the travelodge in time square is v.small rooms and pretty crap but v.cheap. Anywhere you stay is going to be central because HK is tiny and you'll be near something cool as long as you can see the harbor within about 1-2miles from googlearth map.

Ferry across the harbour is a must and great experience - look on google earth you'll see its a 10 minute ferry ride

The train from the airport - (airport express) is 20 minutes to HK Central and clean, efficient - forget everything you know about UK Trains - this is uber sleek and 100% reliable clean safeand friendly. Walk off plane - through immigration - ticet counter in front ofyou -gettickets - get on train every 6 mintues or so and you're in air-conditioned comfort to Central or Kowloon in 20minutes. From Either of those you get a cab to your hotel.

CAb from airport takes about 30-50 minutes depending on time of day and can be a pain in ass with lots ofluggage I always get the airport express.

On the way back - with airport express you can check in yur luggage and tickets at the Central station terminal Airport Express terminal and get rid of all the heavy bags - check in - and go around town for another few hours for coffee etc befre getting ont eh trainback to the airport again.

HK Is a dream - all signposts in english, cabs are cheap, use the MTR (underground) its in english too and easy to navigate. Chec out te night market or ladies market in kowloon for late night haggling and just watching the people - go up the peak for views of HK and the scary peak tram. Do the ferry across the harbor. ** DO NOT ** Eat on street-side stalls! thatgoes for all of asia. If you get MTR to MongKok which is where the markets are its a hugeshopping district for electronics , clothes - everything and is very very lively until aboutmidnight/1am . Its safe to be on the MTR at midnight. You'll see families with kids around until 10/11pm

Ladie smarket and night market are open until about midnight and get lively about 6pm. Google for them . Ladies market is not what it sounds like ;-) its a shopping market ("Copy watch, Copy rolex" - you'll know what that means when you've been there, converse shoes, adidas, nike etc etc etc ). If you haggle offer 30% to start with and walk away at 50% if they follow you - then you still got a deal - if they dont then you broke the bottom price and you need to go up a bit (or try another stall). Everything is fake - Trainers etc if you are buying them off the market assume they're fake . You can get all the fake junk you want there and local HK stuff too. Lang Kwai Fong is the bar district for ex-pats. Plenty of english food around - fast food/junk food and italian/french etc its all in HK.

Train is about 180HK$ one way I think from memory

Sherro

Hey, both posts above make some good points IMO. I have stayed in HK about 4 times between Aus and Uk.

This site is great to pick hotels as you can read reviews, i stayed at the metropark, its cheap. Hong Kong Hotels are good in you get what you pay for. Be mindful some rooms are small so check with hotel.

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotels-g2...ng-Hotels.html

HK is accessible from any part of it, you would probably stay in Kowloon or on Honk Kong Island, I always stay Island, its prettier, less touristy and great for shopping and eating, and you can always go to kowloon to do your markets. Excelsior is nice on causeway bay, has great fitness first gym, lovely restaurant overlooking harbour and irish pub in basement and 30 seconds walk to shops.

Must do's Vic peak but dont bother unless clear night
Repulse bay on a nice day
markets - night and ladies, full of tat but worth a look
eating out and shopping.

I don't agree with the poster above who said don't eat on any street stalls in Asia, thats not at all true, although in HK they are right, dont do it, but in Thailand, or Singa or Laos or Vietnam its perfectly fine.... And as for 3 days, HK is perfect, 3-4 days. have fun..

Adam Banks

I love living in HK, but I would make a suggestion based upon the following criteria;

*Just passing through with jet lag
*Needing a family room
*Being with the kids (assuming you are talking about under 15's and not 19yr old)
*Don't know the city at all.

If you have not already booked your flights, fly with Thai Air, Singapore, Malaysian or Emirates (very low fuel duty with emirates by the way as you link through Dubai) and have a stopover in one of those places instead. HK can be a waste of time unless you love shopping, and even then you will most likely go to the malls that are not dissimilar to those in the UK.

Hotel prices are up to 1/4 of the price of Hong Kong, and are substantially bigger. In bangkok, me and the wife stay at the Pantip Court - always have a suite, and get upgraded to the 2 bedroom one half the time and it costs the same amount per night as a 3m x 4m box room in Hong Kong.

So, if you can go through somewhere else then do it, and save HK for a time when the kids can be left at home, and you can enjoy it properly.

Don't know if that helps, but having transferred through HK and done the same myself a few years ago from the UK to Oz, I much prefer the other routes I have suggested.

galba

Hi

We have lived in the Far East (Indonesia and Malaysia) for 4 years - now in Australia. We are off to Hong Kong for the 3rd time in October with our 4 kids (all under 8). There are loads of things to do - people who say 'don't do cities with children' are underestimating them in my opinion. They get great pleasure from travelling around the city whether by underground, Star Ferry, bus or tram upto the peak.

We will be visiting Disneyland for a day but the rest of our stay will be for sightseeing and eating! We always eat from stalls and had no problem (touching wood at this point!)

This time we are trying the Intercontinental Grand Stanford - just over from the Peninsula.

As you have older kids - they'll appreciate the different culture, the food and the sights. 3 days is perfect but make sure you have your walking shoes on because you'll never stop!

Galba

briwi

Sorry to hijack original post, but I just want to say that the Intercontinental Grand Stanford is not the one opposite the Peninsula - would hate for you to end up in the wrong hotel - if you want to stay at the Intercontinental opp the Peninsula you want the one with its address in Salisbury Road - it's called just The Intercontinental Hong Kong I think. The Harbour view rooms there are amazing, the Grand Sanford is about 2 miles further left (if you're looking at the harbour)

galba

Cheers - will check it out

wardy2

Thanks for all the info, I had completely forgot I wrote this I have been getting shipping quotes, sorry.

Will have a look at some of the ones you have mentioned and have an explore on google earth and try and narrow a fantastic area down.

thanks again

kaye