Hi there, can anyone recommend a good hotel in either Hong Kong or Kowloon, we are travelling there in early october (school holidays), and we are doing two nights at Disney Hollywood hotel but are looking for 5 nights elsewhere. Anyone been there lately and can recommend something good and cheap…ish of course, preferably with a pool. We are two adults and 2 children aged under 10. The closer to $200.00 a night the better, we were thinking of the Langham, however a bit pricey at close to $300.00 a night!. Last but not least where do i get my bargain fix, should I buy an ipad there, are they cheaper?!
Accomodation in Hong Kong, Kawloon (bargains?)
ozf1 on 13/08/2012 - 20:52
Last edited 13/08/2012 - 21:02
Last edited 13/08/2012 - 21:02
Comments
Chungking mansions, or Mirador Mansions if you want to go upmarket
You mean downmarket. Would not stay in Chungking Mansions or Mirador Mansions with children. From Wikipedia " … cheapest accommodation in Hong Kong….. many independent low-budget hotels, shops, and other services…. large gathering place for some of the ethnic minorities in Hong Kong, particularly South Asians , …"unofficial African quarter of Hong Kong." Only good thing is many money changers who are very competitive. And cheap internet.
Would you think it would be safe for a solo female traveller?
It's safe, just grotty, and you might not like the look of some of the characters hanging around the area.
NO. Not at all.
I recommend you stay away from there for single female.
Mmmmm…..which advice to take?
Perception of safety is a personal thing. While I cannot guarantee that nothing untoward will happen to you, I'm sure that if you are hesitating, you will probably not enjoy the ambience and it will ruin your holiday, so you should choose somewhere else.
There are lots of choices for not that much more, well in my estimation at least. Also consider HK island.
On my most recent stay to Singapore, I stayed in Little India. I went out fairly late, not in little india, but had to return there and also on another night went up to mustafa and back quite late. I was the only white woman and also to only solo woman of any description and the place was mostly filled with dark men who stared at me. It didn't really bother me because it's singapore. No one engaged me on any level except staring.
I don't mind grubbiness. Maybe I will look for a flashpackers because although I prefer to travel solo, I like having the option of friendliness if I want it. Esp with all these strapping young male backpackers all over the world. Staying in a hotel, you really can not trust friendliness, especially in an asian country.
Anyone know a good flashpackers in HK?
HK hotel staff, and workers in general, are too busy to chat up customers. :)
Mmmmmm…… I'm talking about the nice young(er than me!) Strapping backpackers. It always seems that in the cheaper accommodation and on tours, there's some nice young lad who wants to look after me. Much nicer than chatting with someone 'near myyy age who is on business and if the flirtation were to turn into a fling, the young 'ones are more reliable performance wise,do whatever you ask and are up for anything.
Langham is not too bad. But early October is possibly the worst time to be there. As 1/10 is the national day of China, there will be "people mountain people sea" everywhere. As people in mainland China have a week off and travel to HK.
I am not quite sure about the hotels. But if you are looking for pools, they only exist with the 5* hotels, anything below will not have any. Dont expect too cheap for living in HK. You get what you pay for. Property is the most expensive things in HK. You can get cheapish for every other things just not property.
i'd say dont sting on accomadation in HK. I stayed there in november last year, in TST (the hotel name escapes me, but its on middle road:S) it costed around $150 and it was so tiny. There was barely enough space for me to lay my luggage on the floor and have room to walk around it. Space comes at a premium in HK. :(
We have stayed in the Royal Plaza in Mong Kok a few times and found it comfortable and convenient - if you shop around a little (or even book direct with the hotel - advance purchase rates) the prices are quite good - whilst it is a bit of a walk to the main MTR (subway) line the hotel also has a shuttle bus to the waterrfront near the Peninsula Hotel. The hotel is on top of quite a large shopping mall with restaurants and the hotel is not far from the bird, flower and ladies markets. Enjoy
The previous posters are right. HK space is very expensive. For a tiny room, very modern, clean and with all amenities mind you, cost me what would get me a nice hotel room in Australia. Do your swimming in some other country and enjoy what HK is good for.
Not much in the way of electronics bargains since you can get anything over the Internet now. Clothing and food are the cheapies.
Cheers! Thanks for all the comments, sounds like my budget of $200.00 may 'just do', but will probably choose to stay at a better place and pay the price.
"Do your swimming in some other country and enjoy what HK is good for. The pool is a preference, and I guess we'll have one at Hollywood Disney anyway.Which are the best (bargains) shopping mall/centres to go to, Im sure my wife will want to get some shopping therapy.
I've always wanted to go to HK, what would you recommend not to miss whilst there?.
We are thinking of taking the boat trip to Macau, again just for the experience as we've been told the Venetian and other Casinos are a must see. However I am concerned about the boat ride as my little girls had a bad experience on a boat trip from Lindeman Island (whitsundays) to Whitehaven beach (over rated IMO), VERY choppy, made even the adults jump off our seats!
My mate stayed at a place called caritas lodge or something… it was relatively cheap and good location… in yau ma tei next to nathan rd and just down the road either end from mongkok and TST.
yeah dont bother with the pool.. thats a luxury in hk
Im not sure if there are bargain shopping malls/ centres for women but if you are into cameras/computer/tech stuff.. I can name a few places you could go to
if you are in hk, go up the peak (pray for good weather and no smog), see the big buddha on lantau and maybe go to the outer islands/macau if u have time. Disneyland was a big disappointment for me but you have kids, maybe they would like it.
the boats from hk to macau takes about 1 hr in a large jet ferry boat… it can get a little chopy but it depends on the weather as well so its too hard to say if your daughters can handle it or not…
alternatively, you can get a bus around the pearl delta (through china) to macau and that likes a 3 hr ride one way or if you are feeling rich, you can get a helicopter to macau but not cheap. Go to macau to eat.. eating is good there and macau is so small so you can easily see everything in a day or two + casinos.
What kind of shopping? I'm not au fait with women's shopping, but I believe Causeway Bay is where you'll find fashion. But for bargain clothes, try Ladies Street.
For experiences, the Sound and Light show on the harbour is great and the price is right (zero). Go up to The Peak for sunset. If you want a taste of the old ferries, you can still ride one.
IMO there isn't much worth seeing in Macau except perhaps the tower with great views and a glimpse of China. The boat is a hydrofoil, so if the weather is good, it will be stable. You won't be allowed out on deck anyway. It's a trip outside HK so time will be wasted in passport formalities both ends.
Well, to my personal opinion, it is not really worth to go to macau since you stated you have only 5 days in HK. Unless you are planning to stay there a day or 2. As the ferry tickets will cost you A$150+ for 4 ppls returned.
There will be pacakges, hotel and ferry tickets, available if you insist to go to Macau. Try the China travel services, http://www.ctshk.com/. They have offices in Wanchai, Hong Kong Island or Mongkok in Kowloon. But will probably costs like A$250+ for 2 ppls. They also have perfomance tickets included package, such as "water dance show" (not really the right name but I dont know the exact name.) That is the only performance I see worth to watch but it is expensive.
If you are a bit tight on budget, I would suggest to stay in HK. And just by walking around Mongkok (youngster fashions and accessories), Shumshuipo (computer, video games), Causeway bay and Admirty (Department stores and Uptown fashions), night market at temple streets, plus some sight seeing tours, e.g. peak, big buddha, ocean park…etc, you can possibly spend all 5 days already.
And the other good thing in HK is you can enjoy all kind of foods/crusines and relatively cheaper than here. The hotel staffs are usually quite helpful to tell you the interesting places around.
Remember shops in HK open until at least 9:00 pm and some open up to 11:00 pm if you have enough energy. Food stalls and restaurants open past midnight. You will enjoy your stay in HK.
There will be fireworks in Disneyland every night at 8:00 pm. If you are in HK on 1/10 (the national day), I believe there will also be fireworks on the harbour.
dont forget there are also the night markets in temple street (off memory) that run till 1am
As already pointed out several times above, your best bet accommodation wise would be lower Kowloon side (TST and surrounds), with lots of hotels along the Nathan Road "golden mile" and its off streets. I remember on one of my stays I checked out wotif, worked out the 4* mystery hotel, and scored the very nice Park Hotel at a significant bargain over the listed price, so check that out too though note the mystery hotel might be different now so research first. The place is nice and new (was being renovated at the time so should be complete now) but you'll need to see what their policy is with regards to 2 adults + 2 kids in the same room - most places are flexi when the kids are under 10 or take a small extra payment for additional bedding etc.
i usually stay at the cosmopolitan in wan chai, opposite the hockey club - sensational location only 5 min walk to times square, all rooms have wifi and free brekky… book 30 days in advance and you get like 30% off…
HI all thanks so much for all your responses, ended up booking at the Harbour Grand Kowloon, very good overall reviews on trip advisor, and it has a pool!. I looked at the Cosmopolitan, not sure about being in the middle of 'everything'. I rather like the Harbour Grand's location and can't wait to go to the rooftop pool at night time.
Hi again, does anyone know if I need a power adapter, I want to take my macbook pro and I may buy an iPad before leaving also, so I'll need to charge and I guess recharge camera batteries also.
You can pick up a cheapo adapter from electronics markets there, e.g. Sham Shui Po, that will plug into the British style wall socket and accept any kind of plug, including Australian, for about 5HKD.
and if you bring an Australian splitter or power board (splitter is probably easier and lighter) so you can charge a couple of things at once without buying multiples of these adapters.
One thing though, the power pack for your iPad will probably come with HK pins, i.e. British style. So you might also want to get the anything-to-Aussie socket adaptor as well for using the loot back home.
Cheers green possum, and thanks for all the comments you've provided.
Thanks again green possum and YadaYadaYada, I meant I 'may' buy an ipad 'before' meaning before leaving Australia. And yes I did think of taking a four point power board for charging.
iPad pricing is similar to what you get here - Apple standardises prices based on exchange rates. It is slightly cheaper to get it there full priced compared to here.
http://store.apple.com/hk/browse/home/shop_ipad/family/ipad
The cheapest one there is 3888HKD which is ~476AUD. But I have seen recent deals on ozbargain where you can get it for similar or cheaper(?). You could get the GST back if you buy it here as well….which might work out cheaper overall.