Hello,
I have been assiduously reading all the things to do and not to do on this post and have printed out all sorts of useful information. Thanks to Cicerone and others.
We will be flying to Hong Kong arriving 16th April. Initially we were going to stay with a friend for 5 days and then heading off to Boracay in the Philippines for 4 days of beach and sea. However there has been a change in our friend's plans and we will now have to go to Boracay first and then back to Hong Kong.
My question is how long and complicated is the transfer from the airport to HK? I am not sure if it is worth checking in somewhere for one night to recover from the 12 hour flight - (a nice hotel with harbour view and pool in Kowloon for example?) and leave the next day or would it be less complicated to just fly to the island on the same day? We get in at 7am so would have plenty of time for both options.
The other possibility would be to spend a night in Manila. Any thoughts on that? Is it an interesting/feasible city to visit for one day?
My main concern is not to spend too much time in the traffic getting to and from airports.
Thanks for any suggestions. Also for any useful tips on any of these places.

Manila is interesting- seach this forum for my trip reports to Manila to get ideas. A lot of people on this forum overlook the Philippines- they are missing a lot!

I will connect directly to the Philippines rather than going to a hotel in HK or Manilla for just one night.

Sorry, I mean directly to Boracay.

Thanks, but don't you think 4 nights (out of a total of 9) might be a bit too long to spend in Boracay?

depends whether or not you are a beach person. not a lot to do there.

Bill, I read your trip report. It sounds like Manila isn't a one night sort of place. Without friends or relatives I'm not sure how much we could get out of it. It doesn't sound as if it has a downtown where you can just stroll out of your hotel,walk around see a historic building and go to a nice restaurant without a local. Am I wrong?

For one day I would agree- not much can be accomplished.

It is <i>extremely</i> easy to get from Hong Kong airport to a hotel in Hong Kong. Depending on how much you what to spend, you can take a limo, taxi, the airport express train or a bus, but generally you looking at about 30-45 minutes tops for the journey. Level of English is good, signage is in English, there are ATMs at the airport, you can use a credit card for the airport train. You could leave your larger bags AT the airport so you don’t have to schlep them in and out for one night, etc.

All that being said, and having just traveled 29 hours door to door yesterday getting from Florida back here to Hong Kong, I would really, really strongly recommend that you just keep going on to Borocay if you can work out the flights. Breaking up the journey with an overnight in Hong Kong or even Manila, will not, IMO, make it any easier. It will just make you more tired and make the journey seem even longer. Just slug it out and then lay out on the beach to recover. (By the way, 4 days in Borocay is my idea of heaven.)

If you can’t work out the flights and have to choose a place to overnight, I personally would choose Hong Kong, and maybe even consider staying at the Regal Airport Hotel (located <b>in</b> the terminal) or the Novotel (located about a 5 minute drive away) and then going into Hong Kong for the day/dinner if you wanted. You can take the airport express train in like 19 minutes to downtown Hong Kong. To lug your jet-lagged self into a town hotel for less than 24 hours may be more hassle than it is worth. Get a room, a shower, a meal, maybe a brief rest and then go spend a little time in Hong Kong.

Manila has some things of interest, but for only one night not sure it is worth it, and the journey from the airport can be a pain and can really be long with bad traffic (and you will have to do it both ways, or if stay out at the airport there is nothing going on). Manila, and especially its airport, does not have the public transport system which Hong Kong does, which makes a quick stop into Hong Kong more attractive.

I stay in Boracay for 5 nights and 6 days and I always am still sorry to leave. 4 nights is ok in Boracay.

Thanks again all. You've definitely helped to make up our minds. We can get a good connection straight to Manila and spend the 4 nights in Boracay. We'll have 6 nights to enjoy Hong Kong on the way back anyway.
I may post again later about Hong Kong to know from the locals if anything exciting is going on 20th-25th April. I hear Santana is playing tonight!

For Hong Kong during that time, I hope you look at hotels first. Rates are very high, or other hotels are fully booked. Basically most expensive time of the year, along with late October.

We will be staying with a friend who has recently moved to Hong Kong. I believe he lives in the Sheung Wan district. We will mainly be looking for restaurants and things to do.