Hong Kong Travel Guide

One cloudy Sunday afternoon in early October, we were looking for a Thanksgiving getaway to maximize our limited holiday / vacation time.  Diving in the Caribbean came to mind as a good option. Unfortunately flights were $700+ and with poor connections on the east coast.  So instead of opting for staying at home or travelling with the masses, we looked at other destinations and it turned out that East Asian cities were available for around $400 (or slightly more for non-stop flights) from LA!  Yep, that’s less than a trans-con to New York, or even a flight to see the family in poorly-connected Boise.  KAYAK Explore is a great feature to find affordable destinations given travel dates.

We had always wanted to check out Hong Kong so we grabbed a convenient non-stop departing LA the Wednesday night before Thanksgiving and returning Monday evening.  It turns out that November is the start of dryer and cooler (read: 70’s) weather, so a great time to visit.

Below, we share our tips for getting the most out of a quick, intercontinental, long weekend trip based on our recent 4-day Hong Kong itinerary.

Visit Lantau Island on your way from/to the airport

Our red-eye got us into Hong Kong at 7:30am – nowhere near the normal check-in time for any hotel.  Luckily, we got plenty of sleep on the 14 hour flight and were ready to start exploring.  Thanks to some advance research, we stored our luggage at the airport and took a 5 minute taxi to Tung Chung on Lantau Island.  The island is closer to the airport than the city, so it made more sense to visit on our first day and save an unnecessary back and forth trip.  Prior to leaving, we used Klook.com to book discounted tickets on Lantau’s gondola which also saved us from waiting in a long line. Lantau is the more rural part of Hong Kong, home to mountains with lots of vegetation, fishing villages, and the Ngong Ping plateau with a monastery and the Tian Tan Buddha. Check out the massive bronze Buddha statue, eat a vegetarian lunch at the monastery, and enjoy a number of the walking / hiking trails.

Stay on Hong Kong Island

Use Agoda (great booking site for Asian destinations) to find good hotel deals.  We stayed in the hip Wan Chai neighborhood which is well-connected, lively and has plenty of local dining options.

Plan a food tour early on in your trip

We like to start our adventures in a new city with a food tour. This provides a great intro to the local cuisine and history, and points us to vegetarian / pescatarian options for the rest of our stay. We went with Context’s Hungry for Hong Kong tour which took us to the historic Lin Heung Tea House, a street-side stand for congee, fried noodle and dumplings, and amazing won ton soup with shrimp dumplings and minced fish. We also tried HK-style egg tarts and milk tea.

Take advantage of the cheap public transportation options

Pick up an Octopus card early on to take advantage of the highly efficient public transit available:

• Star Ferry – runs every 15 mins between HK Island and Kowloon, and offers great views along the way
• MTR – efficient underground lines
• Tram – double-decker “ding dings” that run along HK Island, great for seeing new neighborhoods

Taxis are also abundant and quite cheap. It’s the best way to get to Victoria Peak while avoiding the crowds on the peak tram.

Explore the city on foot

Hong Kong is super walkable. There are numerous elevated walkways so that one hardly ever needs to cross at street level, and the Central area has a series of escalators and moving walkways to move people up and down the hills efficiently. (Amazingly, everyone stands orderly on the right hand side so that people in a hurry can pass on the left). There are tons of fun bars and restaurants to be found in the nearby SoHo district, and wild nightlife in Lan Kwai Fong. And since Hong Kong is rated as one of the world’s safest cities, you really don’t have to worry about ending up in a bad neighborhood.

Enjoy the night-time view over drinks from one of the countless high rises

Make reservations in advance at one of the following bars to get a prime spot with an amazing view of the Symphony of Lights.

• Café Gray Deluxe
• Ozone Bar at the Ritz Carlton
• M Bar at Mandarin Oriental

Here’s our 4-day itinerary which worked out quite well!

Some things we missed and will be looking to do on our next visit were the urban hiking trail Dragon’s Back, a trip to other remote parts of the island such as the Ping Shan Heritage Trail, and a visit to nearby Macau.  Hong Kong was an excellent destination that doesn’t require an extended amount of time so don’t hesitate to book that long weekend trip or extended layover!