underpants11

Hi - looking for tips on where to stay and what to do on first weeked in April 2012 in HK, family with 3 kids 11, 9, 7. From Melbourne and in transit to UK, looking to get out and about and experience the place. Not on a shoestring but prefer to spend money on doing stuff rather than staying in luxury although ideally self-catering and definitely not communal living - hoping for around $150-200 USD per night. Happy to jump on a train rather than stay centrally if that makes a difference.

Thanks!

rhkkmk

in HK one stays centrally....

you might look at the salisbury YMCA... like a holiday inn.

you might find a family room from one of the international chain hotels...

get yourself a HK guidebook

underpants11

Thanks - I've tried contacting the Salisbnury directly but from their website they have no ability to accommodate a family of 5 without booking 2 rooms at a price that would then be well over my planned budget. Most of the reservation engines don't even allow you to choose 3 children (and sometimes even 2) as a search option. Just looking for other options/ recommendations... cheers.

Cicerone

Some thoughts and suggestions:

1. Self-catering in Hong Kong is not really that available. There are sometimes a few flats available via vrbo.com, but generally renting a flat short term is not possible. The best you can do is a serviced apartment, which has a kitchen and may offer more space. (Note that some kitchens are barely fitted out, may have a microwave, stove top and small refrig, others are full kitchens, so check around.) For some serviced apartment ideas, see the end of this message.

2. It may be possible to do a holiday flat rent on Lamma Island, which would be quite a different experience. I have to say that for only 2-3 days this is not a great idea. Getting there and back (estp with 3 kids and luggage), shopping for groceries and also trying to sight-see in the main tourist island would be quite tiring, IMO. If you had 5-7 days, then Lamma would be a fun choice (beaches, very quiet and laid-back), but for the short time you have for the visit, I would not recommend it. Take a look at
http://www.lammabali.com/index_en.html, http://www.lamma.com.hk/ and http://www.lammaresort.com/ for rentals.

3. If by “first weekend in April” you mean April 6-8 2012, that is Easter and both Good Friday and Easter Monday are public holidays. This is good in terms of buses and ferries running on a more frequent schedule (esp to outlying parts of the New Territories). You should find all tourist sights open, and generally you won’t notice any difference (schools, banks and most offices are closed, but you probably won’t notice that). The downside could be that places like Ocean Park and the Big Buddha will be very crowded as schools are closed. You may just have to work around this. (For example, if you want to go to the Big Buddha on Lantau, then absolutely make a booking for the cable car, you can reserve the time you want, see http://www.np360.com.hk/html/eng/front/index.asp. I would recommend the “crystal cabin” as this will allow you to jump most of the line for the cable car. A reservation allows you to skip the line for tickets, but there is then a line for the cars themselves, which can be just as long as the line for tickets. You can also take a bus either way, far cheaper and just as scenic, but lines for the buses could be quite long, go very early or very late in the day.)

<u>Serviced Apartments</u>

For serviced apartments in Hong Kong, sort of in descending order of price, on Hong Kong Island, try the Four Seasons Place at http://www.fsphk.com/, the Pacific Place Apartments at Parkside, go to http://www.pacificplace.com.hk/living/live_index.html. I am not sure either will rent for such a short period. I believe that the Parkview apartments, which is a very nice luxury flat complex up on top of the hill above Happy Valley has some serviced apartments which they let on a short-term basis, go to http://www.hongkongparkview.com/. Some of the best walking and hiking in Hong Kong would literally be out the front door, there is a pool, kids play area and grocery store in the complex, and a free shuttle bus to Central. There is also the Convention Plaza in the Grand Hyatt Hotel complex, (go to http://www.conventionplazaapartments.com, again I am not sure they would rent for very short term like a few days or a week).

I would certainly recommend the serviced apartments at Two MacDonnell Road (at http://www.twomr.com.hk). They have a nice location near to Bowen Road, quiet, green (for Hong Kong) and close to a good walking flat walking path, and a grocery store across the street. These would not be at quite the same luxury level as the ones above, but not as pricey either.

Try Oakwood, which is a US operator of serviced apartments which has several serviced facilities in Hong Kong, see http://www.oakwood.com.

There is a chain of serviced apartments with various location on Hong Kong Island, take a look at http://www.thev.hk/. I don't know anything about this group or the quality of the apartments. Most of these are in the Causeway Bay area or Happy Valley, two areas on Hong Kong Island, both convenient for seeing sights and more in the mainstream for tourists. The area of Causeway Bay in which they are located is quite congested (not really more so than Kowloon, however), but very close to Victoria Park and there is some great shopping in the area. The one in Happy Valley is in a bit quieter location, yet pretty convenient to transport. The area has some good restaurants and is a mix of European expats and locals (the French international school is nearby). Although the map does not show it, the street is on a somewhat steep hill.

On the Kowloon side, the only service apartment I know of in the main tourist area is The Gateway, which is at the Star Ferry Pier and would be a nice location, I have never seen the rooms so don't know anything about them. See http://www.gatewayapartments.com.hk/. Again, I don’t know if they would let for only a week. The Langham Place Hotel has serviced apartments, see http://hongkong.langhamplacehotels.com/en/index.html, not sure of your price range, it’s a very densely populated busy area, but overall might be OK. Close to a subway.

There are some serviced apartments in Tolo Harbour area called the Horizon Suite Hotel, go to http://www.horizonsuitehotel.com/eng/index.html. I don't know these apartments at all, but you might take a look. It is not close to the city parts of Hong Kong, probably 30 minutes by subway. This is not a tourist area, I don’t know what you are looking for; it would certainly be a very local experience. Hong Kong is very safe, so I would not have any concerns with this area with regard to that, but as I don’t know if you want to be close to main tourist sights or not, it is hard to advise. However, I know the area fairly well, and the countryside there is probably the most beautiful in all of Hong Kong (or in a tie with the Sai Kung area certainly), and there is some great walking nearby (including the easy and scenic Bride's Pool walk), and there is a bike path all around Tolo Harbour and across Plover Cove dam that is a lot of fun. The town area is quite built-up, but you can get to green areas quickly, and there are lovely water and mountain views.

There are new serviced apartments opening here all the time it seems, so you might run a search.

qwovadis

travelforkids.com/Funtodo/HongKong/hongkong.htm

Central always best Ramada and Panda good pricepoints in past

Deals www.otel.com(my fav) asiarooms.com agoda.com

betterbidding.com for priceline.com hotwire.com deals...

Happy Hunting!