I have read very good reviews about this hotel- for one thing the price is really good but I am wary about its location (des voeux road west, HK) Never have been to HongKong, how far is it from say Central or the Star Ferry terminal? Thanks.

Here's some information that could help you out

About 30 minutes car ride to the Hong Kong International Airport, the Hong Kong Disneyland theme park and the AsiaWorld-Expo nearby

3 minutes car ride to Macau Ferry Pier, Sheung Wan MTR Station and Western Cross Harbour Tunnel

5 minutes car ride to Airport Express Hong Kong Station (for flight boarding pre-registration ), International Finance Centre (IFC) and Star Ferry Pier at Central

10 minutes car ride to Soho and Lan Kwai Fong - the world's famous entertainment district

10 minutes car ride to the fully developed Cyberport.

I stayed at the Ramada Hotel Kowloon 4 times since 2001 in Tsim Tsha Tsui which is in Kowloon Island and was very pleased with it. I'm sure the Ramada HK will be just as good.

Distance-wise, it is not that far from Central. About 2.5km (2miles) from Star Ferry in Central. However, in terms of Hong Kong location, it's pretty poor. There's no MTR station nearby, so it's either taxi or the slow bus/tram. It is located in an older mixed commercial/residental area with little to offer a first-time visitor.

For about the same money, you should be able to find something in Wanchai, which has much better transportation and it's between Central and Causeway Bay - both with plenty of dining/shopping choices.

Thanks for your insights. I will think about this.

The Ramada is in a great location IF you're using a car service all the time, and is mostly going back towards Kowloon and New Territories, as it's near the entrance of the Western Harbour Tunnel. However, please don't believe the hype from their webpage if you're a regular tourist.

The tramway is fun to ride and to watch the daily lives of regular Hong Kong people, but it's very slow to actually go somewhere, and is not A/C'ed. You don't want to rely on that as your main means of transportation to/from the hotel.

Yeah, I guess I will look elsewhere. We have a limited time in HongKong and I don't want to waste our hours waiting and riding the tramways to and from major sites. Thanks again.

Well rkwan and the others must have forgotten a few things about this area of Western:

1. There are very cheap air-conditioned BUSES that run very often along Des Vouex Road to Central. Fares would be about a dollar (in most cases about 50 cents) to the Central Bus Terminus which is where the Star Ferry pier is located and is in downtown Central, and the trip would take 10-15 minutes or less. From there you can walk to anywhere you want to go, or take the ferry to Kowloon, or hop another bus (to go to Stanley Market for example) or a taxi to other areas. If you have an Octopus card, you can pay for buses, trams and the ferries with the card and don't need to have change (and soon you can pay for taxis with it as well).

2. Taxis are extremely cheap in Hong Kong and the fare to the Star Ferry or the Central areas would be less than US$4, to the Peak Tram would be less than US$5, up to Soho or Lan Kwai Fong would be about the same fare. No tipping is required. Trip would take under 5-10 minutes to most any place in Central.

3. The tram, while slow, is extremely scenic and costs all of 25 cents for a ride of any length. It can be quite hot (in the summer) and crowded at lunch time and evening rush hours but otherwise is not bad. To sit upstairs and take a long ride from Western into Causeway Bay is to enjoy one of the great scenic and people-watching rides in the world, IMO.

4. Most of Western is not at all touristed and you would find some very interesting, more traditional Chinese neighborhoods to walk around. If you head to the Possession Street area which is just a few blocks from the hotel you will see some of the last remaining old type Hong Kong neighborhoods which exist on the island. Jason Wordie, a local Hong Kong historian and writer, has written about several good walks in the neighborhood, you might want to get his book called "Streets, Exploring Hong Kong Island". You can buy it at local bookstores here in Hong Kong, he also has a website (he gives walking tours which are wonderful but pricey), take a look at www.jasonswalks.com. You are also close to the Ladder Street and Lascar Row antique areas of the western end of Hollywood Road and could easily spend a morning doing the reverse walk that most tourist do and walk east down Hollywood to Soho or Central.

Now, Western would probably not be my first choice as you won't have great views and there are not a lot of good restaurants in the neighborhood (at least none that I have heard of yet, alhtough there is the excellent Italian restaurant at Gaia Restaurant which is probably a 15 minute walk from the hotel, go to http://www.gaiaristorante.com), but if the price is really good it is not, IMO, really that inconvenient a location. You aren't that much further west from the Four Seasons, for example.

I don't know the Ramada at all and can't comment on the rooms or service. If you can gives us a budget, we can probably recco other hotels in areas that might be a bit closer to restaurants or sights.

I know the area well and I have not forgotten about air-conditioned buses. It's still a poor area for a 1st time tourist, compared to other areas like Wan Chai that also has hotels of similar price range.

As a frequent tourist (but never a resident), I'm with both rkkwan and Cicerone on this.

Western is an interesting and slightly off-the-tourist-track location to stay in HK, and transportation to other places isn't that difficult if you have a bit of experience with the city.

But for a 1st-timer to Hong Kong, I would very strongly recommend a location that is both in the midst of everything and that has immediate access to the MTR. Next trip, stay on the other side of the harbour. By the 3rd trip, you'll be able to decide for yourself if Western is a place that's appealing to you.

To Cicerone:
I can get a rate of about $100 for a harborview room in December at hotels.com or expedia.com. Do you have any other suggestions? As I've said, the reviews I have read so far gave it a very good rating. Thanks.

What exact dates?

You may be able to get a harborview or partial harborview room for not much more at the YMCA Salisbury in Tsimshatsui, which is a much better area for tourists.

Problem is that they may not have rates for December yet, or the rate may be high.

www.ymcahk.org.hk/sales/html/hst001e.htm

Hi rkkwan!
My dates are December 21-23. I have a back-up at the Novotel, Jaffe Road if I don't get anything else. The only reason why I am looking at something else is the review I read about the Novotel having narrow corridors with miniscule rooms and facing the street with constant traffic.

I did a quick search on Expedia for those dates. They have your Ramada HK for average of $75 standard room, $89 deluxe.

If you can spend a little more, here the ones I'll pick over the Ramada: [Remember, unless you're staying at a really nice 4-5* hotel, you won't be staying in your room for too long in Hong Kong; or at least you shouldn't be. The harborview from the Ramada isn't really the same as those postcard pictures from the InterContinental, Peninsula or the YMCA.]

Rosedale on the Park $118
Metropark $102
Eaton $93

All three are decent hotels that are much more convenient than the Ramada.

BTW, Travelocity has the Ramada for only $64.

From Asiahotels.com, they have the YMCA Salisbury for $131 and the Renaissance New World for $140. These can be confirmed instantly and prices include taxes.

Anyways, these are decent hotels in decent locations for reasonable amount of money. Not the best deal, but acceptable in HK standard.

thanks again rkkwan. I did consider the Metropark hotel but I was getting $136 average at expedia. I wonder what I was doing wrong?? The Eaton has also been one of my choices. I'll think it over in the next couple of days and book. Thanks again for taking time to look at those rates for me.

$102 is standard room, $137 is harbour view. I wouldn't pay that much more for a view from where the Metropark is.

Joy C, I went to Ramada's own website and see a rate of US$64 for a "generic" room for your dates, you might want to contact the hotel directly and ask about this rate. If a view is not vital to you, that is certainly a very good rate. They also are showing about US$108 for the "superior" rooms, which the hotel says are the rooms on the upper floors. I believe that these are the harbour view rooms, my assumption is that generic rooms on lower floors do not have views or the views are not as good. While the view is of the "wrong" side of the harbour so to speak, it is still not a bad view from the western end as you get expansive water views and a lot of ship movement, and some views of the mountains in Kowloon, and it is the same view that people at the Four Seasons are paying a lot more for! The hotel certainly gets good reviews on trip advisor, which is always a good sign to me. I called the hotel, and all their rooms are 220 square feet, both generic and superior. IMO these are on the small side, especially for two people, but are consistent with the other hotels you are looking at so far. I think rooms size is important, others don't seem to think it matters, maybe you are one of them; but as noted above in the 3 star market you are going to find small rooms and in Hong Kong, and even in the 4-5 star market you can get small rooms. (If you have two people you need at least 280 square feet/ 25 square meters IMO).

When looking at hotels for comparison, you want to make sure you are comparing apples to apples in terms of (i) room size and (ii) view. Location is then another consideration. Many hotel websites give room size details, otherwise you can send an e-mail or call, most front desk people can give you this info right over the phone.

I would always contact the hotel directly and ask them to match or better any internet rate you are getting. Most hotels will match any bona fide internet rate these days.

If you can get that size room at the Salisbury YMCA for about the same price or maybe a bit more than the Ramada, than I would say you should consider taking that, as the location of the YMCA is better in terms of access to the Star Ferry and the bits of Kowloon you will want to see, and the hotel gets very good reviews as well. But do make sure you are getting the same room type and size, as the rooms can tend to be quite small at the YMCA. I am not sure I would pay more for a smaller room at the YMCA, it would be a toss up to me whether the better location is worth it; a room of less than 21 square meters would certainly not be worth it to me, that is a tiny room, and claustrophobic for two people, IMO. Website for YMCA hotels in Asia is www.ymca-hotels.com.

I don't know the Novotel at all, but I would agree that you would find that part of Jaffe Road noisy especially if you were on a low floor.

My thoughts on some of the other hotels mentioned are:

Rosedale and Metropark- these are in Causeway Bay on Hong Kong Island, at the other end of town from Western. The Rosedale used to be a Best Western and has some just OK reviews on tripadvisor. The Metropark seems to get good reviews; I called the hotel and their room size is the same as the Ramada, 220 square feet. Views would be nice of the large Victoria Park and a slice of the harbour, which is narrower here and not as busy, you may see part of the typhoon shelter and yacht club. There are some good restaurants in the area and some shopping; however overall I don't see any advantage here for a "first time visitor" over Western in any event other than it has better MTR access. If the cost of the hotel is exactly the same, then it is up to you which area you want to be in, but I would not pay MORE to stay in Causeway Bay for the same size room and a similar view. It is much further from Central by taxi or bus, and is not walkable to Central, whereas you could walk to Soho and the Hollywood Road area from the Ramada. A cab from these hotels to the Central area will cost about US$10 and up depending upon traffic which can be bad esp at evening rush hours and Saturdays. Yes, you can take the MTR to Central from Causeway Bay which is nice, but if you want to go to Kowloon you have to switch lines, and this can involve a good walk underground at the stations, IMO. Finally, the MTR does not go to places like Repulse Bay, Stanley Market, or the Hollywood Road or Soho restaurant and boutique area, and it is a longish walk to the Peak Tram station, so IMO there are many occasions when you won't find it that useful.

New World Renaissance – rooms also tend to be quite small and very few, if any, have a harbour view, so again, make sure you are comparing similar type rooms before you spend extra money. IMO the only good thing about the New World is its location.

Eaton - in Nathan Road in the Tsim Sha Tsui area of Kowloon, a better location than the Novotel on Jaffe; however you would have to get a Deluxe Room to have a larger room than the Ramada rooms, as their Regular rooms are smaller than the Ramada, and their Superior rooms are about the same size as the Ramada.

The transfer of the Tuen Wan Line and Island Line MTR at Admiralty is about 100 feet, and is just cross platform with no stairs or escalators; both direction.

Anyways, many good points by Cicerone. Except, personally, I will pay more to stay at Causeway Bay.

Cicerone: Thanks so much for your insights and explanations. I really appreciate you pointing out the pros and cons of staying in a particular hotel. I will go back to my map and figure out what will work best for us. Thanks again.

Let me comment a little more on locations, as Cicerone and I have quite different takes on this.

First, you won't be walking from the Ramada to Soho or the antique stores on Hollywood Rd. Just too far along an uninteresting area unless you have a lot of time. You'll be taking buses or taxis to do that.

Second, the Peak Tram station is quite accessible from the Admiralty MTR. Follow the signs to Pacific Place (a high-end mall) and walk through the Hong Kong Park and you're there. Anyways, I just don't understand the argument that just because the MTR doesn't go to everywhere, then it's not important. Maybe if you prefer taxi travels everywhere, then that could be true...

Third, you're going at a time when the city is very festive, with major malls and shopping areas all decorated for Christmas. Well, you'll see lots of it in Causeway Bay or Tsimshatsui, but really little of it in the area where the Ramada is.

Anyways, I know I will get criticized for saying this, but I'll do it anyways. If the Ramada is so great, wonder why they're selling their rooms for ~$70 while similar hotels in other districts are going for at least $100? I will tell you that it's all because of location.

Well, I think you've gotten enough information about this. I'll let you decide.