First time visitor - planning help please

Question

Hi all,  I'm wanting to go to HK soon and have a few questions I hope you can help with.

1.  Is Sept/Oct s good time to travel, or would it be better to leave it until March/April/May?

2.  Is it cheaper to get there and back by buying a ready made flight/transfer/hotel package or should I try to do it myself?

3. If I get a package, are they flexible in terms of adding stop-overs or extra nights?

4.  If I book the separate elements myself, are the transfers to and from the airport easy?

5  What area/s of Hong Kong is it best to stay in?  I guess I'm looking for ease of access to the sights/transportation etc to save time and cost in getting to them.

6.  Where is it best to stay if I wanted a stop-over?  I'm hoping not to break the bank in doing this!

7.  How long would I need in HK?  I know this is a piece of string question, but would say 5 nights mean I've seen most of the key sights?

8.  Will I be able to get vegetarian (no fish either!) food?

Loads of questions I know - sorry - but hope you can advise.

Thanks a lot.

Katetam · Accepted Answer

1) Weather wise- October would be better, less hot and less humid. (BEST time is November to February).

April and October are the most expensive months for hotels in HK.

2) Depending on what kind of promotions are going on, it 's hard to say which would be cheaper. e.g. , Oasis airline + a promotion at a 3 star hotel..... would certainly be cheaper than booking the CX holidays. Depends what you are looking for.

3) CX holidays are flexible in these options. (MONEY is magic).

4) Transfers and tranportation in HK is SUPER easy, efficient, and affordable. A lot cheaper than in England.

5) First time to HK, best to stay- better do a research on this one in the forum. Many would say Kowloon is better, many would say HK island is better.

6) Stop Over? - meaning what? Stop over on the way TO Hong Kong? Or HK AS a stop over?

7) 5 nights would be alright. 7 days would be better.

8) Yes.... vegetarian is very common. There are specialty restaurants for vegetarian cuisines, AND most restaurants will indicate on their menus now.... what's vegetarian. You can also always ask the waiter for recommendations .... for a vegetarian.

Be more specific with your need for info... post again.

Pfeiffer · Answer

Great - thanks for prompt reply and advice, especially about when to go...Nov seems good.

I'll look on the forum but - basic question - what are the essential differences between HK island and Kowloon in terms of where to pitch up?

By the way, what does CX stand for?

hkukphoenix · Answer

CX=Cathay Pacific= (Hong Kong's airline) They do have some good packages available from UK, on certain dates, when I looked on their website last week.

simonwX4605HS · Answer

Hello - I had a holiday with my wife and two children a couple of years ago and these observations are based on that.

I cannot comment on when is the best time to go but it is certainly very much cheaper to just book a flight and a hotel. There is now one charter company offering flights to HK and they seem very good value:-

http://www.oasishongkong.com

It is very easy and cheep to get from the aiport ,we purchased Octapus cards at the actual airport and then used them for getting around for the complet duration of our holiday.

As public transport is so cheep and effecient any of the main areas e.g. Kowloon or HK island are OK to stay in.

You will have not have trouble getting vegetarian food.

Five night would be great we actually stayed for two weeks and did not run out of things to do!!!

ALJ · Answer

I agree with Katetam that November is a good time to go - we went last November and the weather warm and pleasant.

We went on a package with Trailfinders (we combined Australia with Hong Kong) . We paid extra for the tranfers between airport and hotel. To be honest you'd be better off making your own way to the hotel from the airport since the MTR system is very easy to use. Price wise for the package it worked out more or less the same than do it yourself on the internet. Also Trailfinders and maybe other travel agents may offer one night free if for example you book 4 nights.

On the other hand right now Cathay Pacific have a good offer on their website where you can fly to HK for £389 return in November.

It really doesn't matter which side of HK you stay on. Travelling around HK on the MTR or the Star Ferry is cheap.

Fearless802748 · Answer

This topic has been closed to new posts due to inactivity.What are forum guidelines?

First time visitor - planning help please - Hong Kong Forum

First time visitor - planning help please

Hong Kong Hotels and Places to Stay