Hotel in good location in Hong Kong?
Dec 25th, 2008, 09:45 PM
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Hotel in good location in Hong Kong?
Hello everyone
I am a bit confused as to the best location to stay when visiting Hong Kong. We want to be close to the action, not necessarily on top of it, in a decent hotel. Which area would you recommend?
I am a bit confused as to the best location to stay when visiting Hong Kong. We want to be close to the action, not necessarily on top of it, in a decent hotel. Which area would you recommend?
Dec 26th, 2008, 06:12 AM
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we prefer to be at kowloon as near to the star ferry as possible...
the kowloon hotel is a budget choice as is the salisbury YMCA---like a holiday inn really...
the renaissance in the same area is nice also...
the kowloon hotel is a budget choice as is the salisbury YMCA---like a holiday inn really...
the renaissance in the same area is nice also...
Dec 28th, 2008, 10:57 PM
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Hong Kong is not physically that big (at least the parts that most tourists will go to), and public transportation is very good and cheap, so the question usually comes down to which side of the harbour you want to stay on. Here is my two cents on which side to stay on: when you see a picture of Hong Kong it is invariably taken from the waterfront on the Kowloon side and is that wonderful shot of the harbour, the tall building on Hong Kong Island with the backdrop of the mountains behind the buildings. There is no doubt that that view is spectacular, both day and night. However, very few people actually have that view from their hotel room, and those that do pay a pretty penny for it with about one exception, see below. The thing for me is that <i>unless you have a room with that View of the harbour, I have never understood the attraction of Kowloon.</i> It is very crowded, noisy, full of mediocre restaurants and mostly crap shopping or high-end stuff in either case that you can get at home, many bad tailors (a few good ones), and <i>tons of other tourists</i>. Most importantly, except for a very few things like the flower and bird market, a few museums, and one or two temples, virtually all your sightseeing and time is actually going to be spent on Hong Kong Island or outlying islands and, if you know good food, most of your eating is going to be on the Hong Kong side as well. The Peak and the Peak Tram, Central, Stanley, Aberdeen, Wan Chai (Suzie Wong), Happy Valley Race Course, the Hollywood Road antique area, some great local markets, and the bar and restaurant areas of Lan Kwai Fong, Soho, Hollywood Road, Star Street, etc are all on Hong Kong Island. Hong Kong Island also boasts some spectacular and easily-accessible walks, including several from the Peak and in the Stanley area. The ferries for the outlying islands like Lantau, Lamma, Cheung Chau, etc all go from Hong Kong Island, not Kowloon. While there are some sights in the New Territories (north of Kowloon) that are worth seeing, there is no advantage in staying in Kowloon to travel to those sights, as there is no real appreciable savings in travel time from Kowloon versus Hong Kong Island. (And frankly, so few tourists seem to make the time to get to the New Territories that I don’t consider them a factor in any event.)
The city portions of Hong Kong is really not large, so you won’t spend a huge about of time traveling between places no matter where you stay. However, in terms of the most pleasant side to stay on, and in terms of overall convenience in getting to sights on foot where possible or with least travel time, and having access to good restaurants, I personally would pick the Hong Kong side. You do have to give up the concept of The View however; but if you were not willing to pay for it to begin with, perhaps that won’t be so hard in any event. And if you can pay for the Four Seasons or the Mandarin, IMO you can still get some pretty good views and excellent hotels. The Conrad, Island Shangri-La and the Marriott offer some quite nice views and a very good location. The Marriott Courtyard and the Bishop Lei offer some good views as well at better prices but less luxury. If views don’t matter at all but luxury and a very central location are top of the list, the Landmark Mandarin may be a good choice for you. Or the Hotel LKF if you want to be right in the bar and restaurant scene. Or the Metropark Wan Chai if you want to be close to interesting local market areas and temples and also walkaable to some good restaurants and bars.
If you don’t stay on the Kowloon side, you can easily get there to see the few bits on offer. And you can see The View for free from the Esplanade walkway along the waterfront, riding the Star Ferry (for US 25 cents) or paying for it by having a meal at the half dozen or so restaurants with fabulous views.
The hotels on the Kowloon side with The View include the Peninsula, the Intercontinental and the Sheraton. There is the Kowloon Shangri-La with pretty nice views but I am not crazy about the locations as it is just outside the walkable range IMO. The above are all pretty pricey. the Marco Polo hotel and the other hotels in the Ocean Terminal complex (all run by the same group see http://www.marcopolohotels.com/index.htm) and the W would offer some interesting western harbour views and good sunsets. (However, the location of the W is quite undesirable IMO.) For less money and the same views you can try The Salisbury, which is a really is a nice 4* hotel disguised as a YMCA. They are very popular and often fully booked, so if you are interested, make a reservation soon. Website for YMCA hotels in Asia is /www.ymca-hotels.com/. There is the Langham Palace hotel in Mongkok which for habour view rooms on a very high floor and on a clear day, would offer some good long-distance views (but the hotel is 2 miles from the harbour, so I cannot guarantee that these would always be good, and clear days are not that common; the other Langham Hotel in Kowloon would offer less in terms of views.)
Otherwise, if you can forego the idea of The View, you have a pretty wide range of choices on Hong Kong Island, some of which also offer interesting views and many of which offer excellent locations and amenities. Other than the ones which have been mentioned above, if you would give a price range, that would be easier to make reccos. You can see some reccos on this board, or above on the Fodors hotel list or see tripadvisor.com where you can search by price and read reviews.
The city portions of Hong Kong is really not large, so you won’t spend a huge about of time traveling between places no matter where you stay. However, in terms of the most pleasant side to stay on, and in terms of overall convenience in getting to sights on foot where possible or with least travel time, and having access to good restaurants, I personally would pick the Hong Kong side. You do have to give up the concept of The View however; but if you were not willing to pay for it to begin with, perhaps that won’t be so hard in any event. And if you can pay for the Four Seasons or the Mandarin, IMO you can still get some pretty good views and excellent hotels. The Conrad, Island Shangri-La and the Marriott offer some quite nice views and a very good location. The Marriott Courtyard and the Bishop Lei offer some good views as well at better prices but less luxury. If views don’t matter at all but luxury and a very central location are top of the list, the Landmark Mandarin may be a good choice for you. Or the Hotel LKF if you want to be right in the bar and restaurant scene. Or the Metropark Wan Chai if you want to be close to interesting local market areas and temples and also walkaable to some good restaurants and bars.
If you don’t stay on the Kowloon side, you can easily get there to see the few bits on offer. And you can see The View for free from the Esplanade walkway along the waterfront, riding the Star Ferry (for US 25 cents) or paying for it by having a meal at the half dozen or so restaurants with fabulous views.
The hotels on the Kowloon side with The View include the Peninsula, the Intercontinental and the Sheraton. There is the Kowloon Shangri-La with pretty nice views but I am not crazy about the locations as it is just outside the walkable range IMO. The above are all pretty pricey. the Marco Polo hotel and the other hotels in the Ocean Terminal complex (all run by the same group see http://www.marcopolohotels.com/index.htm) and the W would offer some interesting western harbour views and good sunsets. (However, the location of the W is quite undesirable IMO.) For less money and the same views you can try The Salisbury, which is a really is a nice 4* hotel disguised as a YMCA. They are very popular and often fully booked, so if you are interested, make a reservation soon. Website for YMCA hotels in Asia is /www.ymca-hotels.com/. There is the Langham Palace hotel in Mongkok which for habour view rooms on a very high floor and on a clear day, would offer some good long-distance views (but the hotel is 2 miles from the harbour, so I cannot guarantee that these would always be good, and clear days are not that common; the other Langham Hotel in Kowloon would offer less in terms of views.)
Otherwise, if you can forego the idea of The View, you have a pretty wide range of choices on Hong Kong Island, some of which also offer interesting views and many of which offer excellent locations and amenities. Other than the ones which have been mentioned above, if you would give a price range, that would be easier to make reccos. You can see some reccos on this board, or above on the Fodors hotel list or see tripadvisor.com where you can search by price and read reviews.
