Hong Kong Itinerary help needed

1. On the discoverhongkong.com website you linked, there's just one "Central & Western District Walk" that starts from the Western Market. Despite how it looks on the map, it's not that long - streets are very short in that area. If you don't stop for anything, you can do it in 45 minutes.

2. About the island walks, let me explain the logistics.

Lamma is a trip on its own. With the ferry trips (~45min each way), the walk between Yung Shue Wan and Sok Kwu Wan (1.5hr), it's at least a half day trip. You may plan your trip to have seafood dinner at Sok Kwu Wan. Besides the ferry service from Central, there's also a "kai do" (or small ferry) service from Sok Kwu Wan to Aberdeen on the SW side of HK Island.

Cheung Chau can be a trip on its own, or combined with Lantau if you plan carefully. The walk on discoverhongkong.com only covers the main village area and is very short. However, there is a decent walking path around the southern part of the islands - it's quite popular with Hong Kong hikers. So, you can easily spend half a day or more in Cheung Chau if you expand your walks.

Lantau is a large island, and the walk on discoverhongkong.com is only between Ngong Ping (Po Lin) and Tung Chung. I don't think the walk itself is a must do. Instead, I think the highlights of Lantau are Po Lin monastery and the fishing village of Tai O. If you have a whole day, you can do all by something like this:

- Ferry to Mui Wo. Bus to Tai O. Bus to Ngong Ping. Walk down to Tung Chung. MTR back to city.

[The direct bus #21 between Tai O and Ngong Ping is infrequent. But you can take any bus out of Tai O, and switch to another at the junction to get up to Ngong Ping. Ask the driver and he'll tell you what to do.]

The reverse is okay, but that means a pretty steep hike from Tung Chung up to Ngong Ping. I think the walk will take about an hour downhill, 1.5 hours up. Plus, the part between the fort and the town center is uninteresting.

Now, if you want to combine Lantau and Cheung Chau, there's a ferry between the two. It's run by a single ferry that runs between 4 islands. From Cheung Chau, there's a departure about every 2 hours towards Mui Wo, and vice versa. You need to plan this accordingly to avoid long wait. You can find the schedule at www.nwff.com.hk

Now, it's going to be pretty hectic, but it's indeed possible to do both islands in a day and cover all the major walks and sites. I'd start early and take the MTR to Tung Chung. Hike up to Po Lin Monastery for an early vegetarian lunch. Take the bus down to Tai O for a quick look, then another bus all the way back to Mui Wo. Catch perhaps the 4pm ferry to Cheung Chau (about 30-minute trip), hike around the village and have dinner there. Ferries back to the city run until very late. This will be a long long day. But doable.

3. Macau in a day. I'd take a taxi from the pier to go up to the Ghia Lighthouse. Do the walk from there back to near the Senate Square, and then the other walk up to the St. Paul Ruins, Monte Fortress & the Musuem of Macau. Depending on time, may want to take a taxi to the A Ma Temple and Maritime Museum. Bus or taxi back to Hotel Lisboa for a look at the casino before taking the ferry back. You probably won't have time to go to the Taipa and Coloane islands.

4. I eat alone a lot, in Hong Kong or elsewhere. You shouldn't feel awkward except at very high end restaurants. I probably would avoid the regular, large Chinese restaurants too as it's almost impossible to order food for a single person. You'll still find lots of noodle shops or downscale hole-in-the-wall type eateries that serve totally authentic Cantonese food. Just don't go to a big Chinese restaurants - they type that has a greeter or two at the door. If you want really high-end Chinese food on your own, then you probably have to go to a restaurant at a 5* hotel.

Oh, just want to clarify a little about eating alone at a large Chinese restaurants. When I say it's very hard to order for one, I'm talking about dinner dishes. For breakfast and lunch, these restaurants usually have dim sum. That you can definitely do on your own.

rkkwan - thanks so much - as usual you provided exactly the info I was looking for! Actually the Central & Western walks I was talking about are from Frommers website (http://www.frommers.com/destinations/hongkong/0078010008.html).

Hong Kong is an extremely walkable city compared to Bangkok, so I think you will find it most enjoyable, esp in this great "winter" weather. A wonderful book describing walks in all parts of town is Jason Wordie's book, "Streets, Exploring Hong Kong Island". You can buy it at many book stores in Hong Kong, try Bookazine or Dymocks especially. Jason is an expat who has lived here many years and has written many good books on the city, he sometimes even gives walking tours himself, check with the Hong Kong Tourism Association.

Bookazine has lots of other good books on walking in Hong Kong, their shop in the Prince's Building in Central near the Star Ferry is very good, they have other outlets as well, go to www.bookazine.com.hk for a list. Dymocks is pretty good with Hong Kong books as well, go to http://www.dymocks.com.au/contentstatic/stores/region_Hong+Kong.asp– for info.

If you haven't seen my other recent posts on walking in Hong Kong, two good websites for suggestions on walks on http://www.hkcrystal.com/hiking/index.asp and http://parks.afcd.gov.hk/newparks/eng/hiking/index. The latter site also has links to other activities in parks, like biking out along the canal in the New Territories. If you really like more serious walking (I have seem some of your other posts) you might enjoy spending a few hours WALKING to Repulse Bay or Stanley rather than taking the bus, the above website can give you info on doing this via the Dragons Back or other trails. Fantastic views, lots of greenery, you won't believe you are in Hong Kong. Parts are fairly strenuous, but you can also do easy parts and then take buses or taxis to avoid harder parts if you want.

There is a new commercial tour group which does sponsored walks, take a look at http://www.walkhongkong.com/pages/940968/index.htm. I don't know anything about them or their walks, but I applaud their effort to bring this type of activity to Hong Kong.

As for eating alone, I agree with rkkwan that local noodle shops are probably a good choice. I have a favorite in Wan Chai near my office which has menus in English. It is called Charlie's Place, and is at No 8. This is between Queens Road East and Johnston Road in Wan Chai, about 3 blocks east of Pacific Place Mall. A tiny street, but an easy 5-10 minute walk from the MTR stop at Admiralty/Pacific Place Mall. A street map will help. There are several other noodle shops along this street and on parallel streets running between Queen's Road East and Johnston Road that you could try as well. Very inexpensive.

There is also a good casual Italian place on Queens Road East in the same area, about a block after Landale, more of a take out gourmet Italian grocery but does have seating upstairs that you could try. They have pastas, salads, sandwiches, etc:

Il Bel Paese
25 Queen's Road East
Wan Chai

What I love about this neighborhood is the street markets, esp in the evenings between 5 and 7 pm. Esp go to go to Stone Nullah Lane between (the MTR stop at Wan Chai is just across the street) to see live fish, meat, fruit, flowers, vegetables, incense, paper money, and all and sundry shopping – makes great people watching as people shop for dinner on their way home. So much more interesting than the Ladies Market in Kowloon where all you see are copy watches and other tourists. Garden Lane, Cross Street or Tai Wong Street also are good streets.

Another good place to go is Stanley Street in the Lan Kwai Fong nightclub area in Central. There are a number of larger inexpensive casual noodle shops along this road, together with the famous Lok Yu Teahouse (worth a trip in itself, great greasy duck). Also Tokyo Joe sushi restaurant on D'Aguilar in Lan Kwai Fong has a sushi bar where you can sit up at the bar by yourself.

There is a food hall in the basement of Sogo Department store in Pacific Place Mall called GrEAT, but a lot of it is under renovation so I would not suggest you go there right now.

For casual dining, I don't know the Tsim Sha Tsui area that well.

For an interactive map of Hong Kong, go to http://www.hot-maps.de/asia/china/hongkong/homeen.html, not sure you can print it out.

Sorry, Charlie's Place is

No 8 Landale Street, Wanchai.

Yes, there are many good eateries on Stanley Street in Central. [That's one block south of Queen's Road Central, slightly up the hill.] One of the noodle place is called "Mak Un Kee" - super small portions, quite expensive, but great for an afternoon snack. There are others nearby.

Another really famous place is Kau Kee beef brisket noodles. It's at the corner of Kau U Fong and Gough St. It's a super short detour on the discoverhongkong.com Central/Western walk, between stop #8 and #9. During lunch time, there's a line to get in, but it moves fast. But you'll be sharing a table with others, for sure.

BTW, I look at the Frommer's Western District walk, and it covers the same area as the walk on discoverhongkong.com. 4-5 hours include going into every place and spend time looking around at a leisure pace. The walking distance is quite short. Same with the Central walk.

Cicerone, thanks for the book recommendations - I will definitly take a look at those. And yes, I already have some of your other posts printed out

You guys have really been helpful.

I haven't been considering some of the more remote places for this trip since it is my first time and I want to get an overview of Hong Kong. I don't think I want to devote a full day to a really long serious hike somewhere far away, which is why going to the three islands seeems like it would be really fun, not too difficult, and a little off the regular tourist track (all good things).

Thanks for all the restaurant tips too - probably there are lots of places like this, but it's way better to have a customized list in my pocket!

JohnH - Let me elaborate further on your itinerary. With 4 days in Hong Kong (not including the full day in Macau), I believe you should only spend one day on the islands, and I think Po Lin Monastery should not be missed. Therefore, that day should be Lantau only or Lantau/Cheung Chau.

You should have some time to spare, and I suggest you visit the New Territories. There are walled villages that precede the British Colonial era, and it's a side of Hong Kong that many visitors have missed.

I'll recommend two different short tours. I did both last time I was in HK and think they should be quite interesting for visitors.

- The first part of the Sha Tin walk, as described on discoverhongkong.com. Che Kung Temple, Tsang Tai Uk and Heritage Museum. There's a tea house in the musuem that also serves lunch. I highly recommend it!

- The Ping Shan Heritage Walk in Yuen Long, described in a different section of discoverhongkong.com. www.discoverhongkong.com/eng/touring/hkiidistricts/ta_dist_yuen1.jhtml

You can now take the KCR West Rail to get to Yuen Long and then connect to the Light Rail. No need to take the bus to get there.

You can also do both on the same day. From Sha Tin, take the KCR further north to Sheung Shui (one stop from the Chinese border). There's also an old market there you may want to wander. Then bus 276 can take you from the Sheung Shui bus terminus to Ping Shan. You can see the highrises in Shenzhen, China enroute.

I was just reading about New Territories hiking on the GORP site (http://gorp.away.com/gorp/location/asia/china/hik_hongkong.htm).

So you would recommend this over Lamma Island, right? For some reason I sort of ignored the New Territories in all my reading and research, I'm going to have to go back and re-read more.

Are the KCR West Rail and Light Rail covered by the octopus card?

So I think my itinerary will be something like this (not necessarily in this order):

Dec. 26 eve - arrive, explore Tsim Sha Tsui area, Star Ferry, Peak Tram at night

Dec. 27 - Central/Western/Peak - maybe Stanley & Repulse Bay also - is that too much for one day?

Dec. 28 - Lantau/Cheung Chau

Dec. 29 - Macau

Dec 30 - New Territories / TBD

Dec 31 - AM - TBD

Yeah, that sounds good. There's really not that much on Lamma. A lot of expats live there, and there's good seafood, but that's about it.

The Octopus is a stored value cash card that you can use on all transportation except taxis or the "kai dos" between Lamma and Aberdeen. Buses, light rail, KCR East/West, everything.

[On the light rail in NW New Territories, you need to "beep" your card at the "entry" machine on the platform before boarding the train, and you need to "beep" yourself out after you get off. Unlike the KCR/MTR trains, there are no turnstiles. You must remember to "beep" your card.]

I'll be in HK from the 11th to 15th with my wife and kids. Was told there's some attractions in Ocean Park closed for renovation. Is it still worth the while to visit?

Ocean Park will be under quite extensive renovations and expansions in the next few years, to remain competitive to Disney. It's a decent place to go, though I never recommend it to tourists from the US. I mean why waste a day in Asia to visit a park that you can find similar near home?

Not wishing to throw a spanner in the works, but I think I'd pick Lamma over Macau.

You could get an early morning ferry from Central, do the walk which rkkwan describes from Yung Shue Wan to Sok Kwu Wan and then get a kai do to Aberdeen. From there you could take the coast road past Repulse Bay to Stanley (about 10km) and get a bus back to Central.

By the way, if you're planning any long hikes don't forget that at the end of December sunset in Hong Kong is around 5.45pm.

Just re-read your original message and realised that you only have 4 full days to work with, in which case I'd definitely reconsider spending one of them in Macau - you can always save that for next time!

Hi Xenos, I appreciate the feedback. I'd rather have several options and make a choice when I'm there instead of planing every minute in advance. Just wondering what your reason is for not going to Macau? The travel time involved or...?

It's not cheap to do a Macau daytrip. Ferry costs alone is over HK$300 or US$40. And the ferry and immigration takes time. Therefore, I usually recommend Macau as an overnight trip, and hotel in Macau is cheaper than in Hong Kong.

Having said that, it's an interesting place to visit. I've been there over a hundred times (or so it seems), and I still go there whenever possible. It's has history, it has old churches, light houses - a feel of Southern Europe which you don't see in Hong Kong.

Lamma is a cheap and fine trip for half a day, and the hike is good. But it doesn't offer 1/10 of what Macau offers.

John, partially the travel time, which is over an hour each way, but also the fact that I personally wasn't all that impressed with Macau. To be fair, we were only there for an hour or two on our way over to the mainland and so didn't have time to see very much of the island, but that first impression hasn't particularly made me want to return there on any of my subsequent 3 visits to Hong Kong.

Lamma, otoh, I thought was a wonderful day out in contrast to the hustle and bustle of the city, with a couple of hours' leisurely walk over almost deserted hillsides and along clifftops, with two really lovely picturesque villages at either end.

Just my personal opinion!

LOL - just read rkkwan's post. It could also be something to do with the fact that I live in Europe, where history, old churches and lighthouses are ten a penny, so don't impress me that much. Whereas beautiful natural scenery, wherever it is, is something I enjoy a great deal