Dear fellow Ozbargainers,
This October will be my first time travel to Hong Kong with my family on a stop over trip back to Australia.
I would like to ask people for advice regarding where to stay in turns of hotels or any travel tips in Hong Kong would be welcome.
Many thanks
Tripadvisor is a good place to start for Hotel reviews; I usually stay on Kowloon walking distance to the MTR station. Look along Nathan Rd.
maybe try google?
What do you have in mind for when you get to Hong Kong?
As long as you don't act like an ass and think you're king shit or be disrespectful, Hong Kong is a pretty pleasant place and everyone is quite easy going (I guess that applies to everywhere!).
There are two sides to Hong Kong - one is the more "local" side (Kowloon) and the other is side where the expats generally stay and hang out (Hong Kong island). The Hong Kong island side is a little more "westernised" than the Kowloon side so there's more English speakers there. The bulk of the expats in Hong Kong live on that side so the drinking and partying style will probably be more familiar to you..
It's actually easy to travel between the two sides during the day. The locals that live there tend to stay on their own sides, but as a tourist, you can easily jump on the MTR (and probably wouldn't even notice you're crossing to the other side).
I'm not sure how old you are but if you intend to go out and party or drink heavily every night, I'd suggest you stay on the side you're more likely to party on. The difficulty is the travel between the two sides late at night when you're trying to get home after a big night by taxi.
When you try to take a taxi, you'll notice that they have that sign with the red circle on their dashboard that says "For Hire" (or something like that). Some taxis will have another sign placed over that. Say, you're on Hong Kong island and you see a taxi with nothing other than the "For Hire" circle up, they will only take you somewhere within that side of Hong Kong. If you want to cross to the "other side", you'll need to find a taxi that has a cardboard sign over that "For Hire" sign. That cardboard sign over the For Hire sign means that they're willing to "cross the ocean". It sounds simple, but sometimes it becomes a pain late at night when you're trying to get home.
how many in your family. what ages?
when I was there 2 years ago myself, Mrs Altomic and 3 kids we stayed at the Panda hotel and got a family suite. it was 2 bedrooms and a lounge. it was really good. it was 13 MTR stops from the "centre" of town. but with the MTR -because it is fast and punctual, whether you're 2 stops or 20 stops it's only a little further. Panda Hotel is quite a tall building with a 3 or 4 story shopping centre beneath (Aeon department store, several restaurants, supermarket, 100yen shop, etc etc. very very handy. there is a public bus that leaves for the airport about 200 metres from the hotel. it is about 6 stations from HK disney land (one line change). we got a taxi from the airport to there ( it was about 9pm) and it was about $50.
getting a family suite (for 5) wasn't that easy. link to Panda Hotel on TripAdvisor
Was here last October, it will be hot and humid. Stayed at the main tourist area - Tsim Sha Tsui. Use Octupus card for everything, you can get a refund at the airport when you don't use up all the credit. Airport Express train to and from Airport. If you got time, do a day trip to Macau via Ferry.
Thanks everyone for your replies. It will be three of us with youngest be a 5 years old boy
We stay at Novotel citigate.
Free airport shuttle, easy access to big budda and disney.
It is out of town though but on the train line into town.
https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/308352