I am looking into a family trip this summer. I have two school age kids, so am restricted to travelling from mid-June to end of August for vacations.

I have a hotel in Hong Kong on hold from Aug 4-11. I have looked at weatherbase.com and read the comments on this board, so I know that Hong Kong will be VERY hot and humid. It may also be rainy. However, the info on weather is more or less the same for June, July and August.

Is it much less rainy and hot in late June as opposed to early August?

Is August high tourist season for Hong Kong?

Will it be SO hot and rainy that I should just find another destination? We like cities, but have never been to an Asian city in high summer. Even when it is very hot in Europe, it doesn't pour rain....

Is there a noticeable difference between end of June and early August.

Thanks for your opinions.

I live in Hong Kong. On a GENERAL basis, I find June to be better than August, as we tend to get more typhoons and heavier rain in August versus June. That has been my experience living here for about 8 years. Statistically, August and September are the two months when we get the most typhoons. Also we tend to get rain lasting for longer periods in August (i.e. days) versus shorter but perhaps more frequent showers in June. (Last summer, which was very unusual I will admit, we had virtually no rain between June 3 and September 3, but generally August and September are the worst. )

I agree that both months are very hot and very humid (like over 90 and close to 100%). It can indeed be brutal, but if taken slowly, and drinking fluids and with proper clothing it is fine. (Good news is that there is no dress code here for temples or anything). Also, public transport and all restaurants, hotels, museums, shops etc are air conditioned, so there are plenty of opportunities to get into cool air. Also, on ferries, many are air conditioned and those that are not have great breezes. I am coming to love summer best versus winter because the air is much, much clearer and views are spectacular. (There is a wind shift in late May early June and the wind comes in from the sea which keeps the mainland pollution on the mainland, a huge difference from winter when it sits over us all day. Can barely see across the harbour today. Last summer we had totally clear skies for 3 months, and there were days when you could see to Macau from higher elevations on the Peak.)

Also note that the equestrian events for the Beijing Olympics are being held in Hong Kong and they are August 8-22. While they could be a great thing to attend, that might be another reason to avoid Hong Kong in August due to more crowds, more expensive hotels, etc. (Yes, its the worst month weather-wise, and the only reason the Olympics are in August is because its 8/8/88 and that is very lucky in Chinese numerology, I kid you not. They have built special drainage systems for the fields, and have all kinds of contingency plans including postponing events for up to about a week for rain.)

Two festival events for June are the Dragon Boat races which are held in 2008 on June 9 and can be fun to attend either the amateurs in Stanley or the professionals in Sha Tin. Also July 1 is national day (reunification ay) and there will be fireworks in the harbour which are generally quite beautiful. there are no holidays in August, but if you are here for the Olympics I imagine things may be going on and there may even be fireworks in the harbour in association with that.

I agree with Cicerone. August feels hotter than June, even if the numbers suggest they're similar.

Cicerone,
I have always enjoyed your detailed descriptions and precise instructions.
I cant remember the weather from a month ago - let alone a year ago on exact dates. You keep track of the rainfall and fog density - simply amazing! How do you do it? Also, there are so many questions out there for each forum - do you use a search to select questions to address? Or do you really browse through every question. That must be a part time job... I am curious -other fodorites please comment as well.
sophia

I remember the clear summer days in Hong Kong because they are SO UNUSUAL. To be able to see for miles for days on end was amazing, let me tell you. To have no rain in the summer was even more amazing. At some point in about July, I realized that we had not had any rain or even clouds, as far as I could recall, since early June, and from then on I just kept track of the days until we had our first cloudy day, which was Sept 3. The June 3 was a bit of a guess on my part, but pretty accurate I think.

Rainfall is on weather sites, including weatherbase.com. I learned the stats a long time ago because we get 90 inches of rain a year, and I like to remind Englishmen of this when they complain about "rainy" London (which gets 25). When it pours rain for 3 days without stopping (August 2006), you remember that. My first summer here in 1997 it rained every single weekend the entire summer. (You may recall the Handover to China with Prince Charles in the pouring rain.) You remember things like that. Fog is a huge thing with me now because I live on the Peak and in late Jan, Feb and March you have to start turning on the dehumidifiers when you get the foggy days or your shoes will mold over in about 8 hours (and your leather car seats too, as I learned to my chagrin after going away for two weeks in March 2006).

I do browse every new question on the Asia board, when you do it every day, there are not many new ones. For Europe, I only search for Zurich and Switzerland, where I used to live and where I think I can still provide good advice. When bored, I sometimes browse the US site. I do sometime gives advice on Italy where I traveled a lot. At a certain point however, restaurant advice for Rome becomes dated if you haven't been there in 3-4 years so I don't try to do that too much. I will be in Zurich the weekend of March 7-9 and hope to get some updates restaurants while I am there.

It's not a full time job to respond, but I do have a secret: my boss insists on a conference call every morning which lasts 1.5-2 hours as all departments in Asia Pacific have to participate. My part usually last 10-15 minutes and some days is nothing, but everyone has to stay on for the whole call. I generally have no interest in what Sydney is up to, so the mute button is a wonder and I can wander the Fodors board freely and do other work too. I also travel a lot and spend a good bit of time in airport lounges and there are usually PCs there with internet access which is a great way to spend 30 minutes or so before a flight. I don't post on weekends or even read the board, so I manage to only make Fodors interfere with my working life, not my social one.....

I am also completely anal-retentive which helps a lot, as I have kept copies of responses and often repeat them, the same questions do get asked a lot ("Hong Kong side versus Kowloon side" "Which is the best river hotel in Bangkok" and "Hotels in Lucerne" are three big ones. By the way, I think Lucerne is vastly overrated and wouldn't bother.). I answered another poster's question on my personal life a month or so ago, you might be able to hunt that up.

Cicerone, Thanks for sharing.What superb organization skills you have, and probably visual memory too. I will respond to your other post next week.

we chinese say that you should keep winter clothing at hand until dragon boat festival, which is usually in early june. that means weather will still be unstable until then. august is definitely much hotter and more rain. typhoon season starts around that time too till october or so.