Ten hours in Hong Kong, what should I do?
May 8th, 2003, 05:17 PM
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Ten hours in Hong Kong, what should I do?
We will have a lay-over in Hong Kong and would like to see some of the city. Does anyone have a suggestion. Cathy Pacific told me that there are tour kiosks right outside the terminal for short tours. Is this so and is it a good idea? Of course, I'm assuming SARS will be dealt with by then (mid Oct.) Many thanks for suggestions
May 8th, 2003, 05:45 PM
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the airport is a ways from the city so bear that in mind....you are at lantau island....a nice place to visit is the large buddah on that island....take a cab or bus...have the cab wait for you...when i went we had trouble getting a cab back down....
the tours sound like a good idea...try looking at the airport web site...
the tours sound like a good idea...try looking at the airport web site...
May 11th, 2003, 10:55 PM
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The airport is just a 30-minute train ride from the city center. The airport express is very nice, clean and comfortable, and it departs every 10 minutes or so.
Once you're in town, you can take the tram up the peak, have lunch there to see the view.
Then you can either take a bus/taxi to Stanley to the market, or take the cross-harbor ferry (10 minutes) to Tsim Sha Tsui. Have high-tea at Peninsula Hotel or shop around.
Of course short city tours will be an easy alternative. The Lantau tour is a good idea too, but I got quite scared on the buses racing on the narrow roads.
Have fun
Kat
Once you're in town, you can take the tram up the peak, have lunch there to see the view.
Then you can either take a bus/taxi to Stanley to the market, or take the cross-harbor ferry (10 minutes) to Tsim Sha Tsui. Have high-tea at Peninsula Hotel or shop around.
Of course short city tours will be an easy alternative. The Lantau tour is a good idea too, but I got quite scared on the buses racing on the narrow roads.
Have fun
Kat
May 12th, 2003, 09:46 AM
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OOO! My Favorite 10 hours in Hong Kong.... Let me assume you do not want to do any shopping, or that shopping is a minor adjunct to sight seeing. (As it should be in 10 hours, as you can't do both.). Also assuming you are arriving in the morning after an overnight flight. Get a good street map of Hong Kong and then go:
1. Take the Airport Express from the airport to the Hong Kong main station. Exit the station (up a flight or two) and head for the Star Ferry piers. The Star Ferry entrance is about 3 blocks from the Airport Express station, further along the harbor to your right as you exit the station. You are looking for a ferry to Tsim Sha Tsui, NOT Kowloon or other destinations. Go first class on the upper deck for about US$.50 or second class for about .30. Take in the billion dollar view of the harbor and skyscrapers. Once on the other side, you have several breakfast options: McDonalds (incredibly cheap, fast and reliable), the lobby of the Peninsula Hotel a bit further down Salisbury Road on the left (elegant, expensive and no view), or the downstairs lobby café at the Intercontinental a bit further down Salisbury Road on the right (expensive and fantastic view.) After breakfast, stroll a bit along the esplanade on the harbor in front of the pink Arts Centre. Then take the ferry back to Hong Kong. (If you want to save time but spend more money, you could take a taxi from the airport to the Peninsula Hotel or the Intercontinental, would cost about $45-50.)
2. From the Star Ferry pier on Hong Kong island, take the shuttle bus to Peak Tram. (Brown or maroon double deck bus, open on top.) You can also take a taxi or walk, although the walking is a bit confusing. A taxi will cost about $4. Once at the tram station, take the tram to the Peak and spend some time here admiring the view. A good walk that is flat and takes about an hour is the Luggard Road circuit that starts just behind the Peak Tram station and winds around the Peak ending back at the same place. You will get great views from here. If you have not eaten breakfast, or did not take option#1 above, there are two good restaurants, Café Deco (in the Galleria shopping center) and the Peak Café (across the street from the Peak Tram station). There is also a Movenpick restaurant in the Peak Tram station that is OK. I like Café Deco because of its great views, but the Peak Café has a lot of colonial charm. There are also some small coffee shops and ice cream shops.
3. From the Peak, you have some options. In my personal order of preference, they would be:
A. Walk through Hong Kong Park to Queens Road East/Wan Chai areas, especially the street markets between Queens' Road East and Hennessy Road. There is a street tram along much of Hennessy Road that is a great ride. The trams are double deckers and if you go up top, you will get a birds' eye view of Hong Kong street life. The cost is HK$2.20 which is about .50, you need change. The best place to pick up the tram is at the Pacific Place shopping center just at the end of Hong Kong park, or in Central in front of the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank Building. (This is about a block from the Star Ferry pier.) You can also get on at any stop along Hennessy Road. Take the tram in the direction of Happy Valley or Causeway Bay, and when you have gone far enough, get off, cross the street and take it back in the same direction. If you have questions, ask people in the tram or at the stops, as the drivers generally speak little English. If you are in Pacific Place, there is a very good dim sum place called Zen on the ground floor.
B. Take the tram back down to the city and head west towards "Central", the Nathan Road/Queen's Road business district. Fight your way through the throngs of people, great people-watching as well. Stop in at Shanghai Tang (Pedder Street) for some interesting fashion-forward clothes and gifts (think hot pink silk Mao jackets), then keep going down Queen's Road to the escalator; take the escalator to Hollywood Road and wander west towards the temple and the Cat Street/Ladder Street areas. You can turn around and go back to the escalator, getting off at Staunton Street to see some more interesting neighborhoods and a ton of restaurants and small shops. You can also take the escalator further up to the Peel Street area which has small markets and interesting neighborhoods.
C. Go to Stanley Bay and market. The most picturesque way to get there is to take a bus from the main bus station in Central, as they go up over the mountain, the best value in the world for about US$1.) However, getting back down to Central may add more time than you want from the Peak, so you could take a taxi from the Peak to Stanley, this would cost about $30. (There should be a bus from the Peak to Stanley, others on this site may have advice.) A taxi ride would take about 20 minutes. The taxi ride would still be scenic, make sure to tell the driver to take the mountain road NOT the tunnel. Along the way, you can stop at Repulse Bay and walk the wide curving beach to the temple at the end. (Dump the taxi, and continue by bus to Stanley, fare is about HK$4.) Once at Stanley you can do a little shopping for souvenirs (not much else to do in Stanley but shop and eat, the ride is really the experience.) My favorite restaurant is the Boathouse right on the water, but there are about half a dozen restaurants along the quay and any of them would be good. Take the bus back to the lasts stop at the main bus station Central (should be #6 or #6a, but check the bus signs, as again you don't want the Aberdeen Tunnel route as you miss the whole point of the trip, IMO. The bus ride takes about an hour. The main bus station is in front of the Airport Express station, so you can walk about 300 yards to get the train back to the airport.
D. Take a taxi to Aberdeen and hire a small boat to take you by all the junks and the floating restaurants. (You could have lunch at Jumbo, but I don't think it is actually worth it.) You could go on to Stanley from here time permitting.
1. Take the Airport Express from the airport to the Hong Kong main station. Exit the station (up a flight or two) and head for the Star Ferry piers. The Star Ferry entrance is about 3 blocks from the Airport Express station, further along the harbor to your right as you exit the station. You are looking for a ferry to Tsim Sha Tsui, NOT Kowloon or other destinations. Go first class on the upper deck for about US$.50 or second class for about .30. Take in the billion dollar view of the harbor and skyscrapers. Once on the other side, you have several breakfast options: McDonalds (incredibly cheap, fast and reliable), the lobby of the Peninsula Hotel a bit further down Salisbury Road on the left (elegant, expensive and no view), or the downstairs lobby café at the Intercontinental a bit further down Salisbury Road on the right (expensive and fantastic view.) After breakfast, stroll a bit along the esplanade on the harbor in front of the pink Arts Centre. Then take the ferry back to Hong Kong. (If you want to save time but spend more money, you could take a taxi from the airport to the Peninsula Hotel or the Intercontinental, would cost about $45-50.)
2. From the Star Ferry pier on Hong Kong island, take the shuttle bus to Peak Tram. (Brown or maroon double deck bus, open on top.) You can also take a taxi or walk, although the walking is a bit confusing. A taxi will cost about $4. Once at the tram station, take the tram to the Peak and spend some time here admiring the view. A good walk that is flat and takes about an hour is the Luggard Road circuit that starts just behind the Peak Tram station and winds around the Peak ending back at the same place. You will get great views from here. If you have not eaten breakfast, or did not take option#1 above, there are two good restaurants, Café Deco (in the Galleria shopping center) and the Peak Café (across the street from the Peak Tram station). There is also a Movenpick restaurant in the Peak Tram station that is OK. I like Café Deco because of its great views, but the Peak Café has a lot of colonial charm. There are also some small coffee shops and ice cream shops.
3. From the Peak, you have some options. In my personal order of preference, they would be:
A. Walk through Hong Kong Park to Queens Road East/Wan Chai areas, especially the street markets between Queens' Road East and Hennessy Road. There is a street tram along much of Hennessy Road that is a great ride. The trams are double deckers and if you go up top, you will get a birds' eye view of Hong Kong street life. The cost is HK$2.20 which is about .50, you need change. The best place to pick up the tram is at the Pacific Place shopping center just at the end of Hong Kong park, or in Central in front of the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank Building. (This is about a block from the Star Ferry pier.) You can also get on at any stop along Hennessy Road. Take the tram in the direction of Happy Valley or Causeway Bay, and when you have gone far enough, get off, cross the street and take it back in the same direction. If you have questions, ask people in the tram or at the stops, as the drivers generally speak little English. If you are in Pacific Place, there is a very good dim sum place called Zen on the ground floor.
B. Take the tram back down to the city and head west towards "Central", the Nathan Road/Queen's Road business district. Fight your way through the throngs of people, great people-watching as well. Stop in at Shanghai Tang (Pedder Street) for some interesting fashion-forward clothes and gifts (think hot pink silk Mao jackets), then keep going down Queen's Road to the escalator; take the escalator to Hollywood Road and wander west towards the temple and the Cat Street/Ladder Street areas. You can turn around and go back to the escalator, getting off at Staunton Street to see some more interesting neighborhoods and a ton of restaurants and small shops. You can also take the escalator further up to the Peel Street area which has small markets and interesting neighborhoods.
C. Go to Stanley Bay and market. The most picturesque way to get there is to take a bus from the main bus station in Central, as they go up over the mountain, the best value in the world for about US$1.) However, getting back down to Central may add more time than you want from the Peak, so you could take a taxi from the Peak to Stanley, this would cost about $30. (There should be a bus from the Peak to Stanley, others on this site may have advice.) A taxi ride would take about 20 minutes. The taxi ride would still be scenic, make sure to tell the driver to take the mountain road NOT the tunnel. Along the way, you can stop at Repulse Bay and walk the wide curving beach to the temple at the end. (Dump the taxi, and continue by bus to Stanley, fare is about HK$4.) Once at Stanley you can do a little shopping for souvenirs (not much else to do in Stanley but shop and eat, the ride is really the experience.) My favorite restaurant is the Boathouse right on the water, but there are about half a dozen restaurants along the quay and any of them would be good. Take the bus back to the lasts stop at the main bus station Central (should be #6 or #6a, but check the bus signs, as again you don't want the Aberdeen Tunnel route as you miss the whole point of the trip, IMO. The bus ride takes about an hour. The main bus station is in front of the Airport Express station, so you can walk about 300 yards to get the train back to the airport.
D. Take a taxi to Aberdeen and hire a small boat to take you by all the junks and the floating restaurants. (You could have lunch at Jumbo, but I don't think it is actually worth it.) You could go on to Stanley from here time permitting.
May 15th, 2003, 11:35 AM
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Sorry for writing so much, I lived in HK for five years until last year and still miss it a lot.
FYI, the Star Ferry only takes about 7 minutes to cross the harbour, so its not much of a harbour tour. If you really want more boat time,after you take the ferry from Hong Kong Island to Kowloon, you could take another ferry from Kowloon over to Causeway Bay, about 20 minutes that would give you good views as well. You can either then take the ferry right back to Kowloon and walk the esplanade in front of the cultural center, or walk around Causeway Bay and take the street tram to Central. The famous view of Hong Kong that you see on all the postcards is taken from the esplanade, so my vote would be to stick to this side of the harbour unless you want more time on boats.
There are also junk tours of the harbour that would be a good way to se the city from the water, do a web search or look in a guidebook.
Also, if you will still be in town at any time in the evening, you might do the Peak last around dusk and into the evening. Watching the lights come up as the sun sets is fantastic. Dusk generally lasts from about 6:15 pm to 6:45 or so, so if you are up at the Peak by 5:30 you could take the Luggard Road walk mostly in the light and then have a drink at Cafe Deco as the lights of the city come up.
FYI, the Star Ferry only takes about 7 minutes to cross the harbour, so its not much of a harbour tour. If you really want more boat time,after you take the ferry from Hong Kong Island to Kowloon, you could take another ferry from Kowloon over to Causeway Bay, about 20 minutes that would give you good views as well. You can either then take the ferry right back to Kowloon and walk the esplanade in front of the cultural center, or walk around Causeway Bay and take the street tram to Central. The famous view of Hong Kong that you see on all the postcards is taken from the esplanade, so my vote would be to stick to this side of the harbour unless you want more time on boats.
There are also junk tours of the harbour that would be a good way to se the city from the water, do a web search or look in a guidebook.
Also, if you will still be in town at any time in the evening, you might do the Peak last around dusk and into the evening. Watching the lights come up as the sun sets is fantastic. Dusk generally lasts from about 6:15 pm to 6:45 or so, so if you are up at the Peak by 5:30 you could take the Luggard Road walk mostly in the light and then have a drink at Cafe Deco as the lights of the city come up.
Jul 14th, 2003, 05:54 AM
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To Cicerone--thank you for the great info on 10 hours in HK. I am hoping that you kept a copy of that text and could e-mail me directly. I am going October 6th and will have a whole day free to explore and your suggestions were terrific. My e-mail address is:
[email protected]. I wasn't able to print the info off the net. Thank you.
[email protected]. I wasn't able to print the info off the net. Thank you.
