As Asia’s world city, Hong Kong truly represents the very best of the East and West. From gleaming skyscrapers, shopping spots for every budget, a diverse food scene that’s bound to satisfy and an internationally renowned nightlife, this is the city you have to visit at least once in your life. If you’re looking to visit Hong Kong for the first time, take note! These travel tips will help you make the very best of this vibrant city.
1. You can use your Octopus Card virtually anywhere
99.98% the first thing you’ll buy straight off the plane is an Octopus card.
The Octopus card was initially introduced as a form of payment for the train, ferry, bus, tram, minibus and taxis. Now, it’s morphed into a debit card of sorts, where you can use it as payment in major retailers including convenience stores, supermarkets, fast food chains and many more. With the exception of traditional mum and pop stores, it’s more than likely that the card is accepted, so remember to ask if you can pay with your Octopus and to always have it topped up!
2. Don’t bother with Uber
Just don’t. Uber works out to be more expensive than taxis, which start at $20.50HK and $24HK for the first 2km on green and red taxis respectively. Even then, Hong Kong’s public transport system is so well developed that you can virtually get anywhere with your Octopus card. Just plug in your destination on Google Maps, and take a ride on iconic transport options like the double decker buses, minibuses and ding-ding trams! It’s all part of the HK experience!
3. You don’t HAVE to stay on the Hong Kong Island side
Conventional wisdom suggests that first-time visitors stay on Hong Kong Island, the Westernised side where English is more widely understood. This is compared to Kowloon which is pitched as the local side of the city and best saved for a day trip.
Times have changed dramatically and, if language barriers are your biggest concerns, let me tell you that mutual understanding is just an app away. Just make sure your Google Translate is set to Chinese (Traditional), the language that Hong Kongers read and write in, and you’ll have no problems conversing!
4. So which side should I stay on?
The real deciding factor when picking where to stay should be how close you can position yourself to a MTR station. Being close to the bus, ferry and tram is nice but it’s how far you are from the MTR that will really count. This is because the subway reaches most parts of the city including the large majority of Hong Kong’s tourist sites, and can do it without the traffic jam.
Having said that, if you’re gung-ho on HK Island, stay in Central, Sheung Wan or Causeway Bay. Otherwise, check out Tsim Tsa Tsui, Mong Kok and even Yau Ma Tei.
4. Service charge and minimum spends
Most restaurants will add a 10% service charge on top of your bill, which they’ll state at the bottom of their menu. It’s a common practice and not an optional payment you can talk you way out of if the service wasn’t up to your standards! Also look out for a ‘minimum spend per person’, which will also be noted on the menu. This is something that is increasingly common in restaurants and bars which require a certain spend per person to avoid customers taking up tables without ordering. Time, space and money is of the essence in Hong Kong!
5. Visiting in Summer? What a brave soul you are!
Summer in Hong Kong is excessively humid. The city is home to some beautiful beaches and soul cleansing mountain hikes. But the summer heat is so unbearable that you’ll find yourself ducking in and out of shopping malls, and wanting to cut short or completely skip outdoor activities! A much better time to visit would be around late October to early December when temperatures simmer down and you can actually enjoy the city’s outdoor activities with just a cardigan when it gets chilly at night.
6. There’s more to HK’s nightlife than the Lan Kwai Fong Experience!
Good old Lan Kwai Fong is a stunner when everyone’s spilling out of the 80+ bars and just partying on the streets with drinks in hand. But the whole scene filled with techno sets and $$$ drinks can be a bit too monotonous after the first few rounds. What to do instead? Here’s your game plan – Grab beers from the nearby 7/11, party with everyone else in the middle of the street before moving on to speakeasies in Soho and Sheung Wan with way better drinks at much friendlier prices.
7. Hong Kong gets real busy during the weekends
Walking through busy neighbourhoods like Causeway Bay, Tsim Tsa Tsui and Mong Kok on the weekends can feel like a total mission as you try to dodge people and suitcases. Saturdays and Sundays are when it feels like everyone is fighting for a table at yum cha, trying to shop the last of a sale and lines for the latest trending Taiwanese milk tea are about 3 hours long. Leave these areas for the weekday and use the weekend for the beaches, mountains and even villages like Tai O and Cheung Chau. Oh, there’ll still be crowds but they’re nothing compared to the city’s most populous areas!