Paulo59

We are planning our first trip to HK and thinking of going for a week either April 20-28 or Ap 27-May 5. Is it very humid that time of year? Will it rain a lot? Is it foggy or smoggy then? My research shows average temps between 75-80. Does that sound right?
Any info about the weather would be helpful.
Thanks.

rkkwan

Temperature is about right. Hard to say about weather - may rain a little, though usually not too heavy. May be foggy, maybe clear.

Smog shouldn't be as bad as winter.

rkkwan

BTW, you don't need to post 3 threads about the same thing. All your posts are still near the top of the forum.

It's Chinese New Year today, so the locals may not be logging on. And long weekend here in the US, so not too many checking the forums either.

Cicerone

It does tend to be getting toward the humid side in April and definitely May, but if that is the only time you can come, as long as you are prepared for it, then it is fine IMO. Everything indoors is air conditioned (bring a sweater, its freezing) as are buses and the subway so you won’t be hot indoors, its just walking around as a tourist that can get hot; and if you want to do some of the really excellent walks or more challenging hikes here, you have to start out early in the morning and bring lots of water. Bring a small umbrella for the possible showers. You aren’t going to be sitting on a beach, so other than obscuring views from the Peak, the rain does not interfere too much with sightseeing.

Fog won't be an issue in those months. Air pollution is definitely an issue; hard to say what it will be in April. It was quite bad this winter and last summer, but has improved dramatically in the last few weeks, prevailing winds and the end of the El Nino period may be bringing less pollution in from the PRC border (although Hong Kong certainly produces enough of its own home grown air pollution).

All things being equal, I would go for April 20-28 rather than the week which includes May 1. That is a major holiday week in the PRC and Japan, most people have the entire week off (not those in Hong Kong, but the PRC proper) and you may find it a bit more crowded here, and hotels and airfare more expense and more booked up. Weather will be perhaps a tad cooler and less humid in April, it’s not really that much different however.

Paulo59

rkkwan and cicerone thanks for the feedback. Any way you could compare the humidity in April to Bangkok in Dec/Jan? Just trying to get a better sense of relative humidity. We love traveling to these countries but try to avoid the high humidity periods if we can.

Also is the Intercontinental hands-down the place to stay? How does it compare to the Four Seasons or redone Lanmdark Mandarin? Our priorities for hotels in HK include larger size rooms, good views, and not too far from transport. A decent pool area would be nice as we want to lounge a bit on this vacation too.

What is the difference between staying in Kowloon versus HK besides the view?

Sorry about the repeat posting, it did not seem to show up when I posted it and then searched under hong kong so I posted it again and again. Thanks again!

rkkwan

I can't comment on the rooms or facilities. Cicerone have much better knowledge of those than I have.

As far as transportation, all three are extremely convenient. All close to MTR (the subway train), and ferries. The Four Seasons is closest to the Airport Express train and ferries to the outlying islands. Mandarin Oriental is right in the heart of Central, and closest to the MTR trains for other parts of Hong Kong and Kowloon.

Now, Central is the central business district of Hong Kong. It is quiet at night, and on Sundays it's taken over by domestic workers from the Philippines, Indonesia and Thailand on their day off. You'll see thousands of them "relaxing" right in front of the MO.

Central is also where you find the really luxury stores, in both the Landmark/Charter House/Prince Building complex adjacent to the MO, and the ifc mall underneath the Four Seasons.

Walkable from both the MO and FS are the Lan Kwai Fong and SOHO (South of Hollywood Road) areas with lots of bars and restaurants. Popular with expatriates and local yuppies (if yuppie is still the term).

On the other side of the harbor is Tsimshatsui. The IC has one of the most amazing views in the world, seriously. Around Tsimshatsui are lots of restaurants and shops. Very lively at night. And you can easily take a bus up Nathan Road to Mong Kok, the busy shopping, dining and entertainment district for middle and lower class locals. Cicerone doesn't like the night markets there; I don't buy things there, but it's worth a look, IMHO.

Paulo59

ttt

Cicerone

There is quite a significant difference in humidity between April/May and Dec/Jan. It is much lower in the winter months, a bit lower in December than Jan, esp late Jan as things start to get a bit more humid then. Dec is probably the very best month here, although November and late October are good too. Humidity is below 70% or so from mid-October through about mid to late Jan; in April/May you will be looking at humidity above 80%.

But temps are also much cooler, it’s “winter” here and when we get sunny days, which is often, it is very pleasant, but it may not be what you consider pool weather. Take a look at average temps. If you sit out by the pool, you will probably be the only ones, along with maybe some other tourists, and you may be sitting out in shorts and t-shirts and possibly a jacket, as you may not actually want to have a swim suit on. The Four Seasons does heat their pools, I can’t say for sure that the others do. (Some hotels actually do maintenance on their pools during these months.) That is no reason not to come, as IMO the winter months are the very best, but not if you imagine sitting by the pool in your trunks ordering up the mai tais....

Any of the hotels you mention would be fine. All are relatively close to pubic transport, you will hopefully walk as much as possible, take the tram, star ferry, and taxis are very cheap; but all have decent subway access. In terms of room size, I think the Four Seasons has the largest rooms, but you should actually ask each hotel about room size for the type of rooms you are considering. Four Seasons has 42 square meter rooms as their smallest rooms, which are very large. You should check with the Intercon as to how large their rooms are. They do have a very nice pool deck. They also do have the killer view, although the views from a high floor from the Four Season are quite good (but of the “wrong” side of the harbour), and the mountain view rooms of the Peak and city are actually quite nice too. The other very good thing about the Four Seasons is that you can walk to the great restaurants and interesting boutique shops of Soho and Hollywood Road via the pedestrian escalator which starts a few hundred feet from the hotel. The Intercon is on the Kowloon side which other than having the view, has very little of interest for tourists, and has LOTs of touts and other tourists. Most all of your sightseeing and eating will be done on the Hong Kong side. But the view is hard to give up, I know. I stayed at the Intercon on my very first visit to Hong Kong in 1986 and certainly never forgot it. You should also consider the Peninsula which has great views (esp from the high floors) and is closer to the Star Ferry so more convenient IMO.

It is NOT the Landmark Mandarin which has been redone, it is the Mandarin Oriental. The Landmark Mandarin is their other hotel located a bit further inland. I would not stay there as it has no views, and the rooms are quite small. The redone Mandarin Oriental is very nice indeed, the rooms are somewhat on the small size, IMO, and they have put a lot into them. They also have no outdoor pool. Both of these would seem to put it outside your criteria. The service, however would be very good (I am writing this from the Bangkok Oriental, and the service really is second to none.)

With regard to the night markets on the Kowloon side, anything you see there can also be purchased in Stanley on the Hong Kong side, and usually also found in any shop in Wanchai or Causeway Bay, or the various Chinese emporium shops. That’s why I don’t see the point of going to that grotty place when you could have the fun and very scenic bus ride over to Stanley and a nice meal into the bargain....there are too many good restaurants in Hong Kong to waste an evening at the night market IMO, and too many other evening cultural events as well. The really fund markets in are the Jade Market, Flower Market and Bird Market and those are closed at night.