Harbor view room in Hong Kong
 

I've been planning a long trip in Oct/Nov for a couple of months now (VN,BKK and Malaysia), and I think I am pretty close to the final itinerary. Two days ago, we decided to extend the trip for a few days at the beginning and add HongKong to the beginning of the trip (probably 3 or 4 full days) b/c DH has always wanted to go there - - so this is my 65th BD present to him. I've never done any research on HongKong and from what I can tell by browsing the posts over the last couple of days, I know we can easily fill the time. But I really need help on the hotel decision. I have no sense of the difference btw staying on Kowloon or HK Island. And we definitely want a room with a harbor view. We have AMEX platinum and they have the Intercontinental, MOs, Pen on their list. Are they worth the $ or are there other hotels with habor views that are wonderful and which side is best to stay?? Thanks again for everyone's help. I just printed out Cicerone's recco post (but it will take a while to absorb it).

The famous harbor view is from the Kowloon side. The Pen and the Intercontinential both have great harbor views. I believe Ray (rkkwan) has done a good review of the harbor view rooms options. See if you can find his post - if you do a search on harbor view, you may be able to find it. Or he'll likely answer you if he sees your question.

we had a harbour view room at the Pen and it really was spectacular. My oher half loved it, i prefere the location of central. However that aside the pen is a wonderful room, amd if you want an iconic view of HK then i would certainly spring for a harbour view room

The Sheraton on the Kowloon side has wonderful views of the HK skyline and harbor. There's a walkway along the waterfront right near the hotel as well as a nice museum. The rooms are really nice, too.

The best harbor view is from the IC which is right on the harbor. The view windows are from floor to ceiling in the rooms......gorgeous! My DW's aunt had a room there and we visited for drinks.

We also had a Sheraton harbor view which I thought was really nice but after seeing the IC harbor view....well you'll know what I mean if you go.....take the Intercontinental hands down.

Aloha!

One other option is the Kowloon Shangri La. The rooms are really lovely, and are fairly large for Hong Kong. It's farther away from the Star ferry, so not as convenient.

We stayed at the Salisbury YMCA (Kowloon side)and booked through Asiatravel.com. Our travel agent highly recommended this hotel and we plan to stay there again in November. It is very clean, affordable and close to ferry.

I second that - its well worth looking at Salisbury YMCA - great views from Harbour rooms at good prices.

The view of Hong Kong Island from Kowloon is the most breathtaking cityscape that I know. I've sat up nights from my hotel room, mouth agape, enjoying the view. A summary:

- Both the IC and Shangri-La are actually on the harbor (no buildings between them and the harbor), so they offer the closest and fullest harbor view. They are both fine hotels, and the IC is about 5-8 minutes closer to the subway and Star Ferry.

- The Peninsula is a Hong Kong tradition and a fine hotel. There is a low building between the Peninsula and the harbor, so you need to be on a high floor (that is, in the new section of the hotel) to have a good view of the harbor.

- The Sheraton is a good business hotel. The 13-story IC sits between the Sheraton and the harbor. If you are on the 15th or 16th floors of the Sheraton, you have a good view of the harbor.

I've stayed in h-v rooms at all the above, but not the YMCA, so can't comment on the latter.

Thanks everyone for the replies. I'll price out a couple of the options and make a decision. Hope to get a good price from AMEX on the IC.