Layover in Hong Kong...should we go ahead and stay 2-3 nights?
Jul 6th, 2010, 09:47 AM
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Layover in Hong Kong...should we go ahead and stay 2-3 nights?
In May 2011~
We'll travel from Texas to Phukett, Thailand with a 3 night layover in Bangkok. (Thanks to suggestions from Fodorites.)
Two weeks in Phukett.
I don't know when we'll be in this part of the world again, so when starting our journey back home, should we layover 2-3 nights in Hong Kong? Or, maybe Chiang Mai or Koh Phi Phi? Any Starwood properties there?
Any suggestions? Having Starwood points, I understand the Sheraton Towers in Hong Kong have a great view of the city, I just don't know if that's where we want to go for the last leg of our journey.
Thanks for all your advice. You guys are always so helpful.
We'll travel from Texas to Phukett, Thailand with a 3 night layover in Bangkok. (Thanks to suggestions from Fodorites.)
Two weeks in Phukett.
I don't know when we'll be in this part of the world again, so when starting our journey back home, should we layover 2-3 nights in Hong Kong? Or, maybe Chiang Mai or Koh Phi Phi? Any Starwood properties there?
Any suggestions? Having Starwood points, I understand the Sheraton Towers in Hong Kong have a great view of the city, I just don't know if that's where we want to go for the last leg of our journey.
Thanks for all your advice. You guys are always so helpful.
Jul 6th, 2010, 09:57 AM
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No Starwood properties on Koh PhiPhi. And after spending two weeks on Phuket do you really want more beach time?
Chiang Mai does have a couple of Starwood properties. Some people love Chiang Mai, some don't. I'm in the don't camp. If it were me (and it isn't), I'd opt for a layover in Hong Kong. Hong Kong is a wonderful city with lots to see and do. And if you can get a Sheraton Towers room with a harbor view, you'll be wowed.
Chiang Mai does have a couple of Starwood properties. Some people love Chiang Mai, some don't. I'm in the don't camp. If it were me (and it isn't), I'd opt for a layover in Hong Kong. Hong Kong is a wonderful city with lots to see and do. And if you can get a Sheraton Towers room with a harbor view, you'll be wowed.
Jul 6th, 2010, 06:40 PM
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A 2-3 day layover in Hong Kong would be a great idea, IMO. From some ideas on what to do, click on "Destinations" above, and then scroll down to Hong Kong. A helpful description and basic itinerary suggestions will come up. The Fodors guide book to Hong Kong is excellent. Frommers.com also has a website with similar info and their guidebook is pretty good. You can get the 6-page fold-out paper Luxe Guide, see http://www.luxecityguides.com/; however there is very little sightseeing advice in it, it is mostly shopping and restaurants. Also check the Hong Kong Tourism Board website at http://www.discoverhongkong.com/eng/ for other ideas, as well as the Leisure and Cultural Services Department website at http://www.lcsd.gov.hk/en/home.php to see all events and museums offered by the government. Finally, please search this board for my list of personal reccos called “Cicerone’s Reccos for What the Locals Do for Fun in Hong Kong (Hint: We DON’T Go to those Awful Night Markets....)” this should give you some ideas for what to do, including a list of walks and some sources for more walks. For a quick photo of one walk, click on my name above and see my profile. For a description of some of other favourite walks on Hong Kong Island, see my posts called “Cicerone’s Favourite Hong Kong Walks II: Paradise Found! From Happy Valley to Stanley in High Heels! (Almost) The Tsz Lo Lan Shan Path” and “Cicerone's Favourite Hong Kong Walks III: The Dragon's Back” and “Cicerone's Favourite Hong Kong Walks: Severn Road, The Peak “. You can find all of these posts by clicking on these links:
http://www.fodors.com/community/asia...l-night-ma.cfm http://www.fodors.com/community/asia...eels-alm-1.cfm
http://www.fodors.com/community/asia...agons-back.cfm and at http://www.fodors.com/community/asia...d-the-peak.cfm.
May 1 is a holiday here (Labour Day), but I assume you will miss that. May 10 2011 is the Buddha’s birthday and the Cheung Chau bun festival, which is a public holiday and if you can brave some crowds, is an interesting day to go out to Cheung Chau island to observe festivities. (Hiring your own boat for transport avoids the crowd issue as far as waits for ferries, which really is the only issue. Joining a group tour which provides its own boat transport may be a good option as well, check the Hong Kong Tourism board website.). Tin Hau, the goddess of the sea and fishermen, has celebration days at various temples around May and June, you can check local calendars to see if any coincide with your visit. These are also worth making an effort to see.
With regard to Starwood hotels, while the Sheraton Towers currently has a good view from its Tower rooms, the hotel/mall across the street is being torn down and will be replaced by a 70-storey building which will affect views. It is unlikely that significant progress will have been made on construction in the next year, but I would say to check back in the next 6 months to see. (Once the foundation is in, the buildings go up at the rate of a floor a week. As the Sheraton is only about 20 storeys itself, even moderate progress could pose an issue.) There may be some noise issues and lower level views may not be as great as they could be as there will be cranes. (So go for as high a floor as possible in the Towers.) But otherwise the hotel is quite nice and is a good location for Kowloon (which I would otherwise avoid).
There is a W also in Kowloon, which tries very hard, but unfortunately is handicapped by a rather remote location and the fact that there are no views from the rooms to speak of (the building is blocked by the massive ICC tower in front of it; it has some nice western harbour views and some interesting eastern views, but neither are the classic Hong Kong harbour view which you could get from the Sheraton, for example). I would really think twice before choosing this hotel because you will spend a lot of time in transit in a taxi or on the subway; you literally cannot walk anywhere from this hotel as it is surrounded on three sides by highways and on the fourth by a huge piece of vacant land.
The Meridien Cyberport is the third Starwood option, and probably is not a great choice for just 2-3 days, although it could be quite interesting. It has lovely water and mountain views, and is quite off the tourist path; however it is not in any main downtown area so I am not sure if this would interest you. It is close to Aberdeen and some good walking trails (mostly uphill, or you can go downhill from the Peak back to your hotel); you can also get small ferries from Aberdeen to places like Lamma.
http://www.fodors.com/community/asia...l-night-ma.cfm http://www.fodors.com/community/asia...eels-alm-1.cfm
http://www.fodors.com/community/asia...agons-back.cfm and at http://www.fodors.com/community/asia...d-the-peak.cfm.
May 1 is a holiday here (Labour Day), but I assume you will miss that. May 10 2011 is the Buddha’s birthday and the Cheung Chau bun festival, which is a public holiday and if you can brave some crowds, is an interesting day to go out to Cheung Chau island to observe festivities. (Hiring your own boat for transport avoids the crowd issue as far as waits for ferries, which really is the only issue. Joining a group tour which provides its own boat transport may be a good option as well, check the Hong Kong Tourism board website.). Tin Hau, the goddess of the sea and fishermen, has celebration days at various temples around May and June, you can check local calendars to see if any coincide with your visit. These are also worth making an effort to see.
With regard to Starwood hotels, while the Sheraton Towers currently has a good view from its Tower rooms, the hotel/mall across the street is being torn down and will be replaced by a 70-storey building which will affect views. It is unlikely that significant progress will have been made on construction in the next year, but I would say to check back in the next 6 months to see. (Once the foundation is in, the buildings go up at the rate of a floor a week. As the Sheraton is only about 20 storeys itself, even moderate progress could pose an issue.) There may be some noise issues and lower level views may not be as great as they could be as there will be cranes. (So go for as high a floor as possible in the Towers.) But otherwise the hotel is quite nice and is a good location for Kowloon (which I would otherwise avoid).
There is a W also in Kowloon, which tries very hard, but unfortunately is handicapped by a rather remote location and the fact that there are no views from the rooms to speak of (the building is blocked by the massive ICC tower in front of it; it has some nice western harbour views and some interesting eastern views, but neither are the classic Hong Kong harbour view which you could get from the Sheraton, for example). I would really think twice before choosing this hotel because you will spend a lot of time in transit in a taxi or on the subway; you literally cannot walk anywhere from this hotel as it is surrounded on three sides by highways and on the fourth by a huge piece of vacant land.
The Meridien Cyberport is the third Starwood option, and probably is not a great choice for just 2-3 days, although it could be quite interesting. It has lovely water and mountain views, and is quite off the tourist path; however it is not in any main downtown area so I am not sure if this would interest you. It is close to Aberdeen and some good walking trails (mostly uphill, or you can go downhill from the Peak back to your hotel); you can also get small ferries from Aberdeen to places like Lamma.
Jul 29th, 2010, 04:17 AM
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Cicerone!!! Wow...I just read your reply and you are a wealth of information! Everytime I checked to see if I had new replies, it looked like I'd read them all...but you responded late in the day. So, today I decided to read all my replies again and saw yours for the first time. Thank you so much! I will spend the entire weekend clicking on all your links. Thanks again!
Jul 29th, 2010, 08:44 AM
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jewel, did you see Cicerone's last post on the "16-hour layover in Hong Kong" thread - amazing post. I, too, will be spending the weekend reading all of Cicerone's posts (we'll be very prepared for our 3 days in HKK in March 2011 
)
)
Aug 16th, 2010, 09:49 AM
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I agree that it is likely worthwhile to stay over in Hong Kong for a few days. In fact, my husband and I did the same thing on our way home from Thailand in April 2010. We had 2 nights/3 days, which we found to be enough time to do everything we wanted to do. We even had enough time to travel to Stanley market and enjoy the morning walking around near the water, which we enjoyed. We are not big shoppers, though, so if you want to spend time shopping in the enormous malls, you might want another 1/2 day.
We stayed at the Sheraton (on the Kowloon side) and thought the location could not have been better. It is short walk to the ferry terminal with a subway stop right outside the hotel. We walked most places on the Kowloon side and took the ferry across to the other side when we wanted to go. Getting around could not have been easier! To be honest, we weren't in the room long enough to notice or care about the view.
With respect to the rest of your time in Thailand, we travelled around a lot, visiting Bangkok, Chiang Mai and two beach locations (koh phi phi and Krabi) and even went to Angkor Wat (which we thought was amazing and totally worth it!). We LOVED Chiang Mai and would recommend it, but it's a very personal thing. We went hiking, rode elephants (twice!), did a cooking class and we just thought that the contrast with the beach locations and bustling Bangkok was amazing.
Good luck with your planning!
We stayed at the Sheraton (on the Kowloon side) and thought the location could not have been better. It is short walk to the ferry terminal with a subway stop right outside the hotel. We walked most places on the Kowloon side and took the ferry across to the other side when we wanted to go. Getting around could not have been easier! To be honest, we weren't in the room long enough to notice or care about the view.
With respect to the rest of your time in Thailand, we travelled around a lot, visiting Bangkok, Chiang Mai and two beach locations (koh phi phi and Krabi) and even went to Angkor Wat (which we thought was amazing and totally worth it!). We LOVED Chiang Mai and would recommend it, but it's a very personal thing. We went hiking, rode elephants (twice!), did a cooking class and we just thought that the contrast with the beach locations and bustling Bangkok was amazing.
Good luck with your planning!
Jan 20th, 2011, 06:03 AM
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Can I hop on this thread a half year later please? Jewelhawg, did you do the Hong Kong layover? And all others...I want to do a three night, two full day layover in Hong Kong on my way back from Bali in early December 2011. I think that the opportunity to see another place, for no extra ticket charge on Cathay Pacific is exciting.
However, I think that out of the four people that are traveling, I am the only one. I understand. We will be coming from this amazing and relaxing environment, into the hussle and bussle of a big city. I figure that on the way back, there won't be a real jet lag issue, because it's only a 1 hour time change. I wanted to stay at the Novotel Nathan Rd, which has a great deal with Cathay Pacific. I want to see the famous Museum of History and Victoria Park and do maybe a little shopping and check out the night market, which is across the street from the hotel.
I don't want to 'talk them into it' and have them feel like they missed their last couple days on Bali. Should I just let it go, or should I continue to encourage this layover? Thanks!
However, I think that out of the four people that are traveling, I am the only one. I understand. We will be coming from this amazing and relaxing environment, into the hussle and bussle of a big city. I figure that on the way back, there won't be a real jet lag issue, because it's only a 1 hour time change. I wanted to stay at the Novotel Nathan Rd, which has a great deal with Cathay Pacific. I want to see the famous Museum of History and Victoria Park and do maybe a little shopping and check out the night market, which is across the street from the hotel.
I don't want to 'talk them into it' and have them feel like they missed their last couple days on Bali. Should I just let it go, or should I continue to encourage this layover? Thanks!
Jan 20th, 2011, 06:30 AM
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I think a layover in Hong Kong after the trip to Bali would be great. It will be a real copntrast. I love Hong Kong, I've been there several times and am always ready to go back. Cicerone is a wealth of information about Hong Kong. Read a number of her informative posts and offer them to your traveling companions.
If your fellow travelers really don't want to go, why not go by yourself? I've spent time in Hing Kong on my own and loved it.
If your fellow travelers really don't want to go, why not go by yourself? I've spent time in Hing Kong on my own and loved it.
Jan 20th, 2011, 06:38 AM
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It sounds like <b>seeksocean</b> might be asking if s/he should reduce time in Bali by 3 days and spend that time in Hong Kong.
If so, then I'd say it's entirely an individual preference choice: the laid back, tropical experience of Bali, or the energizing urban throb of Hong Kong. Personally, I'd go for Hong Kong, but I love being in the midst of great cities.
I'd also say that early December is the absolute best time to be visiting Hong Kong. First, the weather is fantastic: dry, daytime temps in the high 60s/low 70s (19-23C). Next, the Christmas lights will be up, and places like the Promenade and harbour skyline will be even more amazing than usual.
If so, then I'd say it's entirely an individual preference choice: the laid back, tropical experience of Bali, or the energizing urban throb of Hong Kong. Personally, I'd go for Hong Kong, but I love being in the midst of great cities.
I'd also say that early December is the absolute best time to be visiting Hong Kong. First, the weather is fantastic: dry, daytime temps in the high 60s/low 70s (19-23C). Next, the Christmas lights will be up, and places like the Promenade and harbour skyline will be even more amazing than usual.
Jan 20th, 2011, 06:44 AM
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Hong Kong is great for a stopover, but hotels are not cheap there. Also, the Museum of History is fine, but I'll never call it "famous". Victoria Park has basically nothing to offer, except a little open space in the middle of the city.
If you need to take time out of Bali to do Hong Kong, then don't.
If you need to take time out of Bali to do Hong Kong, then don't.
Jan 20th, 2011, 06:54 AM
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Thanks all! Yes, it would reduce our stay in Bali by 3 nights. I guess, I used the term 'famous' for the museum, because it's TA's #1 attraction and got so many great reviews. Probably a poor choice of words.
Through Cathay Pacific Holiday, you can get a really nice higher floor room at the Novotel Nathan Rd, with breakfast, airport transfers (that alone is worth it's weight in gold), and taxes for under $200 USD a night. That seems like a pretty good deal to me. More expensive than Bali though.
The other traveling companions are my husband and another couple that are very close friends. They would all do it if I pressed the issue...but that's not what I want to do.
We haven't bought the tickets yet. And also, if we do buy them and change our minds and want to make the layover, it's $130 a ticket to make the change. Thanks...keep the ideas coming!
Through Cathay Pacific Holiday, you can get a really nice higher floor room at the Novotel Nathan Rd, with breakfast, airport transfers (that alone is worth it's weight in gold), and taxes for under $200 USD a night. That seems like a pretty good deal to me. More expensive than Bali though.
The other traveling companions are my husband and another couple that are very close friends. They would all do it if I pressed the issue...but that's not what I want to do.
We haven't bought the tickets yet. And also, if we do buy them and change our minds and want to make the layover, it's $130 a ticket to make the change. Thanks...keep the ideas coming!
Jan 20th, 2011, 07:32 AM
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Lordy, lordy, lordy. To anyone who wants certified proof that TripAdvisor's rankings are 100% useless (and assuming that seeksocean isn't making this up), I offer to you TA's ranking the MoH's the #1 attraction in Hong Kong. That's like saying that the Frick is the #1 attraction in NYC, or that the Galleries Lafayette department store is #1 in Paris. Yeah, they're nice enough place, but someone is missing the point.
[Oops. seeksocean was lying. The MoH is #2, and Victoria Harbour is, rightfully, #1. But still.]
[Oops. seeksocean was lying. The MoH is #2, and Victoria Harbour is, rightfully, #1. But still.]
Jan 20th, 2011, 11:17 AM
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The Novotel is a fine hotel; but $200/night is just okay, not great. Airport transfer is worth little because all they use is a contract shuttle that drops off at many hotels. You're better off just taking a taxi (HK$250 or US$35) each way; or taking the Airport Express train (HK$140 for two persons each way) and then transfer to free shuttle or taxi).
