alright guys, so in today's video we are goingto be sharing some travel tips for hong kong and also letting you know how expensive ishong kong? yeah, how expensive is hong kong? i think we all know the answer to that. yeah, it is quite expensive but there is alsosome really cool aspects about hong kong (香港)
Nan Lian Garden, almost unlike any other city we've visited. there is a plethora of free things to do andbudget eats. budget eats and also transportation is reallycheap. but we're going to break everything down andlet you know the costs for hong kong.
okay so first up let's get started with transportationfrom the airport in to kowloon (ä¹é¾) or hong kong island (香港島). right and like our last travel tips videowe've got our notes on our computer so you'll see us looking down from time to time. we just don't want to miss anything. alright, so the first point we have is arrivingby airport express. and that is what we did getting in to hongkong. it is like this really fast train that takesyou right in to the city. you can get off at kowloon (ä¹é¾) or youcan go all the way to hong kong island at
central station. and it super efficient, really fast, verycomfortable. um, in terms of the price so you're lookingat a $100 hong kong dollars all the way to central or you're looking at $90 hong kongdollars to kowloon station. so that is about $11 to $12 usd dollars. something else important to know is that theyhave free porters to help you bring on your luggage. fancy. we didn't take advantage of that service.
no one helped us with our bags. no but if you do have trouble getting yourbags on to the train there is someone that is apparently available to help you do that. good to know. that is really good to know. um, an even cheaper option is the buses. and there is a bus called the a bus systemcalled the cityflyer and this is how we got back to the airport. from the city to the airport when we wereleaving.
yeah and prices can range anywhere from 10hong kong dollars to 48. ah, it is going to be closer to the fortyeight range if you're leaving anywhere from the centre of hong kong (香港) which iswhat we did. and you're looking at like five to six usbucks for that. this is also quite a comfortable way to getto the airport. i remember i think it was air conditionedinside. i fell asleep so i don't remember much. yeah, i mean they have a little section foryou to put your luggage and yeah uh as long as there is not a lot of traffic then it isa fairly efficient way to get from the airport
to the city or vice versa from the city backto the airport. so we can also recommend doing that. especially if you want to save a little bitof money. and the last option that we have here is takinga taxi. oh man. and that is going to cost you a lot. that is anywhere from 250 to 350 hong kongdollars. so you're looking at around forty maybe fiftyus bucks to get you in to the city. and i guess the only time we'd recommend takingthat is if you were in maybe like a super
rush. something like that. but otherwise why wouldn't you take the firsttwo options. save some money guys. so for accommodations you have a few differentoptions but we're going to tell you right now it is going to be pricey. this is probably the most expensive city inall of asia for accommodation. and you're not going to get a whole lot ofspace. if you watched our hong kong hotel room tourthere is a shot where sam is like touching
the two walls. it was tiny. and like the beds were tiny as well. you kind of feel like a giant when you'rein a typical hong kong hotel room. you do. but anyways your best bet if you're travelingon a budget would be a hostel. so how much would you say that is. so the dorm rooms can be anywhere from about17 to 30 us dollars and the price range reflects on where you're staying and also the qualityof the hostel.
yeah. so that is about as cheap as it gets. also you can sometimes get like a really cheapflop house. what we call a flop house at that price. which technically is your own room but itis almost like it is so small it is almost like a closet. so you're not going to get a tonne of valueat that price range. that is just like the rock bottom price foraccommodations in hong kong (香港). so the next step up would be kind of likea budget or mid-range hotel.
and that is what we did. for our visit to hong kong (香港). and well you paid. tell us the price. yeah, i think we were paying around sixtyor seventy us dollars. and it was the nicest place we've ever stayedin hong kong. but it was super tiny. nice. what was really cool about our particularroom is that it had a really good shower.
but everything else was really small. our bed was super tiny. our desk was like almost a bit of a joke. like i could barely sit down on the stool. but um yeah this is what you're going to payand it is usually about 40 us dollars all the way up to a 100. so we were still on the lower range of thatscale. i think our room was typically around 80 dollarsbut we found it on special so it had a bit of a discount.
but still you don't get a lot of space forthat amount of money. yeah, i don't think you really start gettinglike typical small hotel space until you're spending at least probably over a 100 us dollars. so yeah. it is very expensive. so the next option would be to do a luxuryhotel. a luxury hotel. yeah, how much would that be? 100s of dollars.
thousands of dollars. well over two hundred and probably like anywherefrom two hundred to five hundred to six hundred us dollars. depending on location. yeah, if you want to live it up you definitelycan in hong kong (香港). woo! and then the other option would be to do anairbnb or an apartment rental. and between the thirty five and eighty dollarrange you can usually get a room in someone's house.
um, closer to the eighty dollar range sometimesyou can get a really small room but it is almost more like a hotel size. like a tiny hotel. but then if you're bump it up to the 80 to200 dollar range sometimes you can get a whole apartment or a studio. so that is something to consider. we didn't do that on our trip but maybe inhindsight that might have been a good idea. so another place that you could consider stayingin as a traveling on a budget is the infamous chungking mansions.
hahaha. ooh. um, that place is scary. that place is it is kind of this sort of rundownbuilding it is near the tsim sha tsui (尖沙咀) area of kowloon (ä¹é¾) and um yeah it isalso a good place to get a curry. you can get some really good indian food buti remember a few years back we were looking at rooms in there and it is like dark anddamp and run down and super sketchy characters outside. yeah but that is about as cheap as you'regoing to get.
yes. if you're looking for excellent. if you're looking for ultra hardcore backpackerbeeline it to there. but some other cool areas also on kowloon(ä¹é¾) to consider is mong kong. it is a really cool busy area. you're nearby a lot of really good night markets. lots of good restaurants. the ladies market. yep.
and also the temple street night market isnearby too. and if you want to go to hong kong island(香港島) there was one time it was before i met you where i stayed at a hostel at cow'sway bay. cow's way? cow's way bay. causeway bay. not cow's way bay. so next up let's talk about transportationaround the city. and hong kong is a place where you have likeso many different types of transportation.
you've got the ferry, you've got the subway,you have double decker buses. so plenty of options that is for sure. trams. you've got it all. and the card that you're going to want topickup to travel on all of those options is the octopus card. you can pick it up right from the airportand i think it is called the octopus card because of the what the eight arms. 8 arms.
are there 8 modes of transportation in hongkong? i think so. i think that is what it is. i don't think i could list all 8 of them. me neither. anyways yeah you can pick it up right at theairport. um, and then it is one of those reloadablecards that you can just deposit some money on it and it makes transportation so muchmore efficient because there are certain modes of transportation in hong kong where if you'repaying by cash or coins you need the exact
fare. or you won't get anything back. no change. right. so if you have the octopus card you avoidthat. and it is also a really versatile card inthe sense that you can use it for some museums, you can use it in certain convenience stores. apparently you can use it in mcdonald's. we didn't try that there but yeah it is oneof those really highly versatile transportation
travel cards. well worth getting. so the transportation we actually ended upusing the most especially when we were pressed for time was the mtr. which is hong kong's metro subway system. and it is an awesome way to get around. it is cheap, it is efficient, it is clean. it can be extremely crowded during peak times. oh yes.
so try to avoid rush hour. otherwise you are like a sardine squeezedinto a can. uh huh. literally. and there was times where it was just so fullwe couldn't get on. we couldn't get on. like the train just left and we were waitingfor the next one. so had to try the next one. so that is what the experience like is there.
and moving on from there. so we talked a bit about the trams. now this is probably in terms of like groundtransportation this is my favorite way to see hong kong (香港). the double decker trams. and this is on hong kong island and they arejust so cool. it is just such an iconic and old fashionedof getting around the city. especially if you can go up to the secondlevel. and so the thing to note here is that youenter through the rear and your fare is paid.
you pay your fare when you're actually exitingthe tram. after your ride. so that is kind of cool. um, so yeah definitely try to go up to thesecond level. sometimes it can be a bit crowded on thereas well. so if you see one that is really packed maybelet that one go by and hop on the next one. and in terms of the price there is a flatrate of hong kong dollars two dollars and thirty cents which in us dollars is aboutthirty cents. so it is ridiculously cheap to go on here.
um, this is somewhere where you'd want topay with your octopus card or have exact change because they don't give change back on here. so another form of transportation you canconsider in hong kong is the peak tram that takes you up to victoria peak where you getsome amazing views over the city. but that is actually a sightseeing attractionso we're going to mention that later. and let's move on to sam's favorite modesof transportation. my absolute favorite. the ferry! yes, the star ferry going from hong kong islandto kowloon crossing victoria harbor is just
so so cool. apparently, this is been in operation letme see here. i had it written down. so it has been going for over a 120 years. so it is it is i've mentioned this in ourcity guide. like our things to do guide. i think it is the most iconic way of seeinghong kong. i believe it is an eleven minute ride andif i look at my notes here it is only like between two fifty and three forty hong kongdollars.
so you're talking like between thirty andfifty us cents to get on a ride. so it is just so cheap. it is such a fun way to experience the harbourand also the skyline in hong kong. especially cool if you get on the star ferryduring a symphony of lights laser show. or at sunset. yes, or at sunset. and um you know what it can be crowded duringthe rush hour but i find like during the middle of the day it is usually not very crowdedat all. but even if it is crowded it is still somethingwe recommend taking for sure.
so now let's talk about free attractions inthe city. there is quite a bit that you can do for freearound hong kong (香港). so first up we would recommend checking outa symphony of lights and this is like a music and laser light show on the harbor. and it takes place both on hong kong island(香港島) and kowloon. but i would recommend being on kowloon lookingout to hong kong island because they have a really cool skyline. and it just looks amazing once the lightscome and it all starts flickering and flashing. it is really cool.
so some other really cool free things to doin hong kong and this is really awesome because the museums. at least three museums are free on wednesday. oh. so the ones that you can go in to for freeon wednesday are the hong kong heritage museum, the hong kong science museum and the hongkong museum of art. so keep that in mind if you're going to bethere. if you're going to be in hong kong for a wholeweek maybe plan your museum day on wednesday. so for some great free views of hong kongwe recommend going to central plaza.
you can go up to the 46th floor which is calledthe sky lobby and there was hardly anyone there when we went. like we were what maybe there was one otherperson. seriously. and you get incredible views looking out overthe harbor and you can see the other really tall buildings and you get a great view ofthe skyline. it is awesome. you can actually get 360 degree views. you can walk around in a circle and it isall like glass windows from floor to ceiling.
and you don't have to pay. i can't believe it is not more popular. it is really worth visiting. yeah, it is really underrated. i would say it is the most underrated thingwe did in hong kong. there is hardly anyone there when we visitedin the morning. alright, so moving on to something else thatis free there is a lot of really cool parks you can visit in hong kong for free. two of our favorites were hong kong park whichis a really nice park on hong kong island.
there is an aviary there is just a lot ofreally nice places to walk around. it is really lush, really green. it is kind of like this tiny little oasisescape in the middle of the city. it is kind of in the heart of the city. and then the next one we really liked waskowloon park which was on the side of kowloon which is where we were staying basically. that is another really nice park. it is very big and very spread out. um, highly recommend going for a walk there.
so something else you can consider doing inhong kong is hiking. there are a lot of different hiking trails. one of the most famous being the dragon'sback. another place we really enjoyed visiting thatwas absolutely free except for getting there was the tian tan buddha and the po lin monastery. admission to those two places is completelyfree to visitors. you just have to pay to take the cable carthere. or if you want to go an even cheaper routeand i did this several years ago, you can take the bus up there.
and you don't have to wait in line for thatunlike the cable car. okay, the next one that we have here is thetemple street night market. so obviously if you want to eat or shop you'regoing to pay some money but if you just want to take it in you can walk through the marketfor free. um, the noon day gun. this was the one attraction that i reallywanted to do in hong kong (香港). i don't know why i liked it so much. it is a little bit quirky. just every day at noon they fire this off.
it is basically near causeway bay. and you have to go underground to get to there. you have to go through like an undergroundparking place. so two other places that we really enjoyedvisiting were the chi lin nunnery and the nan lian gardens and the two are located rightnext to each other. they have beautiful gardens with like bonsaiand waterfalls and lakes and it is just really quiet. really pleasant. they play soft music while you're walkingthrough the gardens.
it is very tranquil. it is just a lovely place to go for a stroll. and finally so we've done ten things here. 10 free things! it is the avenue of stars and unfortunatelythis is under construction at the moment. they are renovating. hopefully by the time you visit it will beopen again. and this is where you can see like the iconicbruce lee statue. yeah and it is basically an area along thewaterfront so you also get great views of
the city from there. so we've talked about free attractions andnow we're going to tell you about some attractions that you're going to have to pay for but theseare iconic experiences in hong kong so you'll most likely want to dish out those bills. yeah most definitely. so the thing we recommend doing the most obviouslyis taking the peak tram up to victoria peak. and that is like such a steep tram ride. it is like oh my gosh. it is like a rollercoaster.
you're like lifting back. yeah, exactly and in terms of the price ihave it written down here. so if you just do the peak tram only and notthe observation deck which is what we did. you can get some really good free views whenyou go up top. it is going to cost you for a return ticket45 hong kong dollars. so that is just under 6 us dollars. so it is actually not that expensive and itis something that we highly recommend. although it can be quite crowded lining upto get on it. so be prepared to wait a bit.
and if you don't want to if you kind of wantto beat the crowds then don't go right at night because that is probably the most populartime. also it is really popular on the weekends. so considering going on a weekday maybe mid-afternoonbefore yeah sunset. it would be really good time to go. so now we're going to move on to our favoritepart. the food and the eating and what should youeat. so first up we're going to recommend a reallywell known restaurant. tim ho wan.
they specialize in dim sum and they are amichelin star restaurant that is surprisingly affordable and the food is amazing. yeah, and i just have to mention sorry forthe construction noises. there is some building going on. ah but yeah we'll just roll with it. roll with it. but yeah tim ho wan is really cool becauseit is affordable dim sum michelin star quality and there is several locations so definitelycheck it out. but also don't be afraid to check out yourlocal neighborhood dim sum place because dim
sum is just awesome in hong kong and we ateit at several different restaurants while we were there. yeah, we found a little local spot that actuallyhad discounts if you ate mid-morning and mid-afternoon. yeah, so it was like 15% off. 15% off. sometimes our bill would be just like over10 dollars for the two of us. yeah, for a lot of dim sum. yeah, so it is cheap. it is affordable, it is delicious.
oh man is it ever good. but aside from dim sum there are other coolfoods that you can try. so what else? so in terms of other things you can have congeewhich is juk. it is kind of like a juk for breakfast butyou can also get it anytime of day. so a juk is a porridge. you used a korean word. why is he speaking korean? yeah, i don't know why.
but then you can also get roasted pork overrice which is also really delicious and there is also really nice baked goods. like there is something called wife cake andthen of course the iconic hong kong egg tarts. so yeah there is a lot of really good foodsto try in hong kong. that is just a few of them. so now let's talk about a fancy meal. not on this last visit but a few years agowe went out for afternoon tea at the peninsula hotel. oh my.
that was not a good day for sam because theydo not allow you to make reservations. so we probably stood in line for two and ahalf hours and sam was sulking and then he refused to come on camera and make a videoabout it. yeah, i lost my cool that day. i mean it is a really awesome thing to dobut you really need to be prepared to wait for a while. and it is the most famous place to have teain hong kong and it is cool. i mean it is popular for good reason. yeah, i mean it is a beautiful setting.
but. it is a beautiful hotel and they have classicalmusic. like there is people playing the harp andthe violins. so it is fancy but long wait times and itis expensive. right so i'm going to talk about the priceright now. so for two people currently it is 658 hongkong dollars which is roughly about $85 us dollars. so you're looking at tea. you're looking at over $40 dollars per person.
it does come with a generous amount of fingersandwiches and yummy snacks but yeah it is not cheap. there is an alternative. there is a lot of alternative places to havetea in hong kong. and the place we ended up going to recentlywas a place called the lion rock. so what we did is we called them up for areservation the same day that we went which is incredible. and we arrived on time, we were able to sitdown right away and within minutes we were served our tea and we had really amazing setof sweets and savory foods as well.
and that one was quite a bit cheaper. i have the price here. 428 hong kong dollars for two people. knock. ready. and we are back. they came knocking to clean our rooms so we'veactually been gone a few hours. we had lunch. lunch.
met up with friends. we had a little siesta with friends. the lighting has changed. so we're not going to pretend we're just rollingseamlessly. anyways, we were talking about tea. the price. afternoon tea. right so the price of afternoon tea we weretalking about at the lion rock and yep that is 428 hong kong dollars for two people.
and that is basically $54 us dollars so about$27 or $28 per person. yeah, it is cheaper. a lot more affordable than the peninsula wecan tell you that. yeah, the advantage are it is cheaper andmore affordable and you can make a reservation, arrive and have it exactly at the time youbooked. that is really nice. so next up we're going to talk about thingswe loved about hong kong. yeah and there is quite a bit we loved abouthong kong (香港). so the first being all of the free attractions.
and we've already listed ten of those so wewon't ramble on about that. but hong kong is just a city where almostmost of the things we ended up doing ended up being free. yeah and it kind of balances out nicely becauseaccommodation is going to eat up a big chunk of your budget. but then you can go sightseeing and not necessarilyhave to spend a lot of money. yeah, you could literally plan the whole dayjust around free activities. so that is pretty awesome. okay, next up.
second, dim sum. and i wrote in my notes dim sum is amazing. haha. and it is. i don't know what else to say beyond that. it is just such tasty food. it is cheap. and it is just all over hong kong. and you know what with dim sum you can eatit anytime of day.
we were having this for breakfast, lunch anddinner. sometimes it is like a mid-afternoon snack. let's get dim sum. yeah, exactly. it is such a versatile meal. you can have it for lunch or you can haveit as a snack. exactly. and we ate it a lot. okay number three.
most diverse and interesting options of transportationin any city we've visited. like i can't think of any other city whereyou can take a ferry, where you can take a tram, where you can take the metro, whereyou can be in a cable car or you can take a steep peak tram going up. it is just options galore and everything isreally efficient. everything is cheap and affordable. and that is what is awesome about hong kongis it is so easy to get around and there is so many different options you can choose from. my suggestion would be to try them all.
especially the tram and the star ferry. another thing we loved about hong kong isthe views. like i think this is a city that has suchan iconic skyline. especially at night when the lights come on. it is really amazing. yeah, it is cool and if you keep revisitingthe city it is always changing. there is always a new building. skyscrapers. yeah, it is amazing by day and also by night.
so and from different vantage points. it is really cool from victoria peak and itis great on kowloon where you can see like the laser and a symphony of lights show. like there is just so many different coolvantage points where you can see the skyline and like we mentioned it is totally iconic. so number five, hong kong is a dynamic cityand there are not too many comparisons. like it is just an assault on the senses. and there is just so many people, there isso much going on in terms of transportation. it is just a very exciting city.
you can feel the pulse of the city almostanywhere all the time. anytime of day. but you know what? that can be a good and a bad thing. so now this is going to be our transitioninto things we didn't necessarily love about hong kong. and there were a few. so i would say number one for me is the crowds. there are certain areas in the city or certaintimes of day where it can feel quite claustrophobic.
and we've also been in hong kong before duringholidays and festivals. celebrations. yeah we were in mong kong and like there wastimes where we would look out our apartment window and we're not going to even bothergoing out. it just looked like ants scurrying acrossthe street. yeah at night. and as an example i remember a few years agowe decided we wanted to go to the movies on a friday or a saturday night. it was probably like six or seven pm so wethought oh we'll just walk over to the movie
theatre and buy a ticket. and we got there and everything was sold out. for the whole day. for the whole night. nothing. it is a place where there are so many peoplethat sometimes you need to actually like make reservations and bookings in advance if thereis something you really want to do. yeah, exactly so it is a bit of a double edgedsword. you can get swept up by the excitement ofthe city but is also can be overwhelming especially
when you're feeling a little rundown or alittle tired. maybe a little sick. all the crowds can be really overwhelming. okay so the next thing is uh i'll just perfectlyblunt it is some of the worst value accommodations you'll find in asia. for what you spend like you're just gettingvery cramped type of quarters and unless you're willing to splurge and hong kong might bethe city that if you've been if you have the resources to splurge it might be worth it. because we don't.
you really pay for what you get and at ourprice range that we paid. it is quite a bit higher than what we paidin a lot of other cities in asia. we had paper thin walls, we could touch ourwalls. babies crying at night. couples fighting. we didn't have one good sleep to be honestbecause there was babies crying at night and then there was construction during the day. so that was a it weared on us over time. the accommodations.
and the last thing is that uh nightlife andfine dining can get a little bit pricey. and you would expect that in a big developedcity like hong kong. so i just like if you're going out for drinksit is going to be pricey. it is a lot cheaper to get your drinks froma convenience store and have them at home. yeah but i would still experience the nightlife. at least once. i think it is a city that you have to experienceat least once in your life. it is truly impressive. it is amazing and it is just so iconic.
so i would say go to hong kong but maybe saveup your cash so you can actually have fun, stay in the types of hotels you want to andmaybe splurge on a few experiences and really enjoy it. and if you're someone that doesn't have enoughmoney for like a more expensive accommodations than just plan to be out most of the day. you don't want to spend a lot of time in yourroom. if it is that small. anyways we recommend going to hong kong. we loved it.
we've been there many times and we will probablybe back in the future. so those are our tips for hong kong. we hope you found some of this informationhelpful. if there is anything else you want to knowabout this city maybe leave us a question in the comments below and we'll try to answerthat. if not if you're a local feel free to answerthose in the comments. because yeah we are just visitors and thelocal perspective is always better. so yeah signing off and do visit hong kongif you get the chance. see you later.
ciao.
alright guys, so in today's video we are goingto be sharing some travel tips for hong kong and also letting you know how expensive ishong kong? yeah, how expensive is hong kong? i think we all know the answer to that. yeah, it is quite expensive but there is alsosome really cool aspects about hong kong (香港)
Nan Lian Garden, almost unlike any other city we've visited. there is a plethora of free things to do andbudget eats. budget eats and also transportation is reallycheap. but we're going to break everything down andlet you know the costs for hong kong.
okay so first up let's get started with transportationfrom the airport in to kowloon (ä¹é¾) or hong kong island (香港島). right and like our last travel tips videowe've got our notes on our computer so you'll see us looking down from time to time. we just don't want to miss anything. alright, so the first point we have is arrivingby airport express. and that is what we did getting in to hongkong. it is like this really fast train that takesyou right in to the city. you can get off at kowloon (ä¹é¾) or youcan go all the way to hong kong island at
central station. and it super efficient, really fast, verycomfortable. um, in terms of the price so you're lookingat a $100 hong kong dollars all the way to central or you're looking at $90 hong kongdollars to kowloon station. so that is about $11 to $12 usd dollars. something else important to know is that theyhave free porters to help you bring on your luggage. fancy. we didn't take advantage of that service.
no one helped us with our bags. no but if you do have trouble getting yourbags on to the train there is someone that is apparently available to help you do that. good to know. that is really good to know. um, an even cheaper option is the buses. and there is a bus called the a bus systemcalled the cityflyer and this is how we got back to the airport. from the city to the airport when we wereleaving.
yeah and prices can range anywhere from 10hong kong dollars to 48. ah, it is going to be closer to the fortyeight range if you're leaving anywhere from the centre of hong kong (香港) which iswhat we did. and you're looking at like five to six usbucks for that. this is also quite a comfortable way to getto the airport. i remember i think it was air conditionedinside. i fell asleep so i don't remember much. yeah, i mean they have a little section foryou to put your luggage and yeah uh as long as there is not a lot of traffic then it isa fairly efficient way to get from the airport
to the city or vice versa from the city backto the airport. so we can also recommend doing that. especially if you want to save a little bitof money. and the last option that we have here is takinga taxi. oh man. and that is going to cost you a lot. that is anywhere from 250 to 350 hong kongdollars. so you're looking at around forty maybe fiftyus bucks to get you in to the city. and i guess the only time we'd recommend takingthat is if you were in maybe like a super
rush. something like that. but otherwise why wouldn't you take the firsttwo options. save some money guys. so for accommodations you have a few differentoptions but we're going to tell you right now it is going to be pricey. this is probably the most expensive city inall of asia for accommodation. and you're not going to get a whole lot ofspace. if you watched our hong kong hotel room tourthere is a shot where sam is like touching
the two walls. it was tiny. and like the beds were tiny as well. you kind of feel like a giant when you'rein a typical hong kong hotel room. you do. but anyways your best bet if you're travelingon a budget would be a hostel. so how much would you say that is. so the dorm rooms can be anywhere from about17 to 30 us dollars and the price range reflects on where you're staying and also the qualityof the hostel.
yeah. so that is about as cheap as it gets. also you can sometimes get like a really cheapflop house. what we call a flop house at that price. which technically is your own room but itis almost like it is so small it is almost like a closet. so you're not going to get a tonne of valueat that price range. that is just like the rock bottom price foraccommodations in hong kong (香港). so the next step up would be kind of likea budget or mid-range hotel.
and that is what we did. for our visit to hong kong (香港). and well you paid. tell us the price. yeah, i think we were paying around sixtyor seventy us dollars. and it was the nicest place we've ever stayedin hong kong. but it was super tiny. nice. what was really cool about our particularroom is that it had a really good shower.
but everything else was really small. our bed was super tiny. our desk was like almost a bit of a joke. like i could barely sit down on the stool. but um yeah this is what you're going to payand it is usually about 40 us dollars all the way up to a 100. so we were still on the lower range of thatscale. i think our room was typically around 80 dollarsbut we found it on special so it had a bit of a discount.
but still you don't get a lot of space forthat amount of money. yeah, i don't think you really start gettinglike typical small hotel space until you're spending at least probably over a 100 us dollars. so yeah. it is very expensive. so the next option would be to do a luxuryhotel. a luxury hotel. yeah, how much would that be? 100s of dollars.
thousands of dollars. well over two hundred and probably like anywherefrom two hundred to five hundred to six hundred us dollars. depending on location. yeah, if you want to live it up you definitelycan in hong kong (香港). woo! and then the other option would be to do anairbnb or an apartment rental. and between the thirty five and eighty dollarrange you can usually get a room in someone's house.
um, closer to the eighty dollar range sometimesyou can get a really small room but it is almost more like a hotel size. like a tiny hotel. but then if you're bump it up to the 80 to200 dollar range sometimes you can get a whole apartment or a studio. so that is something to consider. we didn't do that on our trip but maybe inhindsight that might have been a good idea. so another place that you could consider stayingin as a traveling on a budget is the infamous chungking mansions.
hahaha. ooh. um, that place is scary. that place is it is kind of this sort of rundownbuilding it is near the tsim sha tsui (尖沙咀) area of kowloon (ä¹é¾) and um yeah it isalso a good place to get a curry. you can get some really good indian food buti remember a few years back we were looking at rooms in there and it is like dark anddamp and run down and super sketchy characters outside. yeah but that is about as cheap as you'regoing to get.
yes. if you're looking for excellent. if you're looking for ultra hardcore backpackerbeeline it to there. but some other cool areas also on kowloon(ä¹é¾) to consider is mong kong. it is a really cool busy area. you're nearby a lot of really good night markets. lots of good restaurants. the ladies market. yep.
and also the temple street night market isnearby too. and if you want to go to hong kong island(香港島) there was one time it was before i met you where i stayed at a hostel at cow'sway bay. cow's way? cow's way bay. causeway bay. not cow's way bay. so next up let's talk about transportationaround the city. and hong kong is a place where you have likeso many different types of transportation.
you've got the ferry, you've got the subway,you have double decker buses. so plenty of options that is for sure. trams. you've got it all. and the card that you're going to want topickup to travel on all of those options is the octopus card. you can pick it up right from the airportand i think it is called the octopus card because of the what the eight arms. 8 arms.
are there 8 modes of transportation in hongkong? i think so. i think that is what it is. i don't think i could list all 8 of them. me neither. anyways yeah you can pick it up right at theairport. um, and then it is one of those reloadablecards that you can just deposit some money on it and it makes transportation so muchmore efficient because there are certain modes of transportation in hong kong where if you'repaying by cash or coins you need the exact
fare. or you won't get anything back. no change. right. so if you have the octopus card you avoidthat. and it is also a really versatile card inthe sense that you can use it for some museums, you can use it in certain convenience stores. apparently you can use it in mcdonald's. we didn't try that there but yeah it is oneof those really highly versatile transportation
travel cards. well worth getting. so the transportation we actually ended upusing the most especially when we were pressed for time was the mtr. which is hong kong's metro subway system. and it is an awesome way to get around. it is cheap, it is efficient, it is clean. it can be extremely crowded during peak times. oh yes.
so try to avoid rush hour. otherwise you are like a sardine squeezedinto a can. uh huh. literally. and there was times where it was just so fullwe couldn't get on. we couldn't get on. like the train just left and we were waitingfor the next one. so had to try the next one. so that is what the experience like is there.
and moving on from there. so we talked a bit about the trams. now this is probably in terms of like groundtransportation this is my favorite way to see hong kong (香港). the double decker trams. and this is on hong kong island and they arejust so cool. it is just such an iconic and old fashionedof getting around the city. especially if you can go up to the secondlevel. and so the thing to note here is that youenter through the rear and your fare is paid.
you pay your fare when you're actually exitingthe tram. after your ride. so that is kind of cool. um, so yeah definitely try to go up to thesecond level. sometimes it can be a bit crowded on thereas well. so if you see one that is really packed maybelet that one go by and hop on the next one. and in terms of the price there is a flatrate of hong kong dollars two dollars and thirty cents which in us dollars is aboutthirty cents. so it is ridiculously cheap to go on here.
um, this is somewhere where you'd want topay with your octopus card or have exact change because they don't give change back on here. so another form of transportation you canconsider in hong kong is the peak tram that takes you up to victoria peak where you getsome amazing views over the city. but that is actually a sightseeing attractionso we're going to mention that later. and let's move on to sam's favorite modesof transportation. my absolute favorite. the ferry! yes, the star ferry going from hong kong islandto kowloon crossing victoria harbor is just
so so cool. apparently, this is been in operation letme see here. i had it written down. so it has been going for over a 120 years. so it is it is i've mentioned this in ourcity guide. like our things to do guide. i think it is the most iconic way of seeinghong kong. i believe it is an eleven minute ride andif i look at my notes here it is only like between two fifty and three forty hong kongdollars.
so you're talking like between thirty andfifty us cents to get on a ride. so it is just so cheap. it is such a fun way to experience the harbourand also the skyline in hong kong. especially cool if you get on the star ferryduring a symphony of lights laser show. or at sunset. yes, or at sunset. and um you know what it can be crowded duringthe rush hour but i find like during the middle of the day it is usually not very crowdedat all. but even if it is crowded it is still somethingwe recommend taking for sure.
so now let's talk about free attractions inthe city. there is quite a bit that you can do for freearound hong kong (香港). so first up we would recommend checking outa symphony of lights and this is like a music and laser light show on the harbor. and it takes place both on hong kong island(香港島) and kowloon. but i would recommend being on kowloon lookingout to hong kong island because they have a really cool skyline. and it just looks amazing once the lightscome and it all starts flickering and flashing. it is really cool.
so some other really cool free things to doin hong kong and this is really awesome because the museums. at least three museums are free on wednesday. oh. so the ones that you can go in to for freeon wednesday are the hong kong heritage museum, the hong kong science museum and the hongkong museum of art. so keep that in mind if you're going to bethere. if you're going to be in hong kong for a wholeweek maybe plan your museum day on wednesday. so for some great free views of hong kongwe recommend going to central plaza.
you can go up to the 46th floor which is calledthe sky lobby and there was hardly anyone there when we went. like we were what maybe there was one otherperson. seriously. and you get incredible views looking out overthe harbor and you can see the other really tall buildings and you get a great view ofthe skyline. it is awesome. you can actually get 360 degree views. you can walk around in a circle and it isall like glass windows from floor to ceiling.
and you don't have to pay. i can't believe it is not more popular. it is really worth visiting. yeah, it is really underrated. i would say it is the most underrated thingwe did in hong kong. there is hardly anyone there when we visitedin the morning. alright, so moving on to something else thatis free there is a lot of really cool parks you can visit in hong kong for free. two of our favorites were hong kong park whichis a really nice park on hong kong island.
there is an aviary there is just a lot ofreally nice places to walk around. it is really lush, really green. it is kind of like this tiny little oasisescape in the middle of the city. it is kind of in the heart of the city. and then the next one we really liked waskowloon park which was on the side of kowloon which is where we were staying basically. that is another really nice park. it is very big and very spread out. um, highly recommend going for a walk there.
so something else you can consider doing inhong kong is hiking. there are a lot of different hiking trails. one of the most famous being the dragon'sback. another place we really enjoyed visiting thatwas absolutely free except for getting there was the tian tan buddha and the po lin monastery. admission to those two places is completelyfree to visitors. you just have to pay to take the cable carthere. or if you want to go an even cheaper routeand i did this several years ago, you can take the bus up there.
and you don't have to wait in line for thatunlike the cable car. okay, the next one that we have here is thetemple street night market. so obviously if you want to eat or shop you'regoing to pay some money but if you just want to take it in you can walk through the marketfor free. um, the noon day gun. this was the one attraction that i reallywanted to do in hong kong (香港). i don't know why i liked it so much. it is a little bit quirky. just every day at noon they fire this off.
it is basically near causeway bay. and you have to go underground to get to there. you have to go through like an undergroundparking place. so two other places that we really enjoyedvisiting were the chi lin nunnery and the nan lian gardens and the two are located rightnext to each other. they have beautiful gardens with like bonsaiand waterfalls and lakes and it is just really quiet. really pleasant. they play soft music while you're walkingthrough the gardens.
it is very tranquil. it is just a lovely place to go for a stroll. and finally so we've done ten things here. 10 free things! it is the avenue of stars and unfortunatelythis is under construction at the moment. they are renovating. hopefully by the time you visit it will beopen again. and this is where you can see like the iconicbruce lee statue. yeah and it is basically an area along thewaterfront so you also get great views of
the city from there. so we've talked about free attractions andnow we're going to tell you about some attractions that you're going to have to pay for but theseare iconic experiences in hong kong so you'll most likely want to dish out those bills. yeah most definitely. so the thing we recommend doing the most obviouslyis taking the peak tram up to victoria peak. and that is like such a steep tram ride. it is like oh my gosh. it is like a rollercoaster.
you're like lifting back. yeah, exactly and in terms of the price ihave it written down here. so if you just do the peak tram only and notthe observation deck which is what we did. you can get some really good free views whenyou go up top. it is going to cost you for a return ticket45 hong kong dollars. so that is just under 6 us dollars. so it is actually not that expensive and itis something that we highly recommend. although it can be quite crowded lining upto get on it. so be prepared to wait a bit.
and if you don't want to if you kind of wantto beat the crowds then don't go right at night because that is probably the most populartime. also it is really popular on the weekends. so considering going on a weekday maybe mid-afternoonbefore yeah sunset. it would be really good time to go. so now we're going to move on to our favoritepart. the food and the eating and what should youeat. so first up we're going to recommend a reallywell known restaurant. tim ho wan.
they specialize in dim sum and they are amichelin star restaurant that is surprisingly affordable and the food is amazing. yeah, and i just have to mention sorry forthe construction noises. there is some building going on. ah but yeah we'll just roll with it. roll with it. but yeah tim ho wan is really cool becauseit is affordable dim sum michelin star quality and there is several locations so definitelycheck it out. but also don't be afraid to check out yourlocal neighborhood dim sum place because dim
sum is just awesome in hong kong and we ateit at several different restaurants while we were there. yeah, we found a little local spot that actuallyhad discounts if you ate mid-morning and mid-afternoon. yeah, so it was like 15% off. 15% off. sometimes our bill would be just like over10 dollars for the two of us. yeah, for a lot of dim sum. yeah, so it is cheap. it is affordable, it is delicious.
oh man is it ever good. but aside from dim sum there are other coolfoods that you can try. so what else? so in terms of other things you can have congeewhich is juk. it is kind of like a juk for breakfast butyou can also get it anytime of day. so a juk is a porridge. you used a korean word. why is he speaking korean? yeah, i don't know why.
but then you can also get roasted pork overrice which is also really delicious and there is also really nice baked goods. like there is something called wife cake andthen of course the iconic hong kong egg tarts. so yeah there is a lot of really good foodsto try in hong kong. that is just a few of them. so now let's talk about a fancy meal. not on this last visit but a few years agowe went out for afternoon tea at the peninsula hotel. oh my.
that was not a good day for sam because theydo not allow you to make reservations. so we probably stood in line for two and ahalf hours and sam was sulking and then he refused to come on camera and make a videoabout it. yeah, i lost my cool that day. i mean it is a really awesome thing to dobut you really need to be prepared to wait for a while. and it is the most famous place to have teain hong kong and it is cool. i mean it is popular for good reason. yeah, i mean it is a beautiful setting.
but. it is a beautiful hotel and they have classicalmusic. like there is people playing the harp andthe violins. so it is fancy but long wait times and itis expensive. right so i'm going to talk about the priceright now. so for two people currently it is 658 hongkong dollars which is roughly about $85 us dollars. so you're looking at tea. you're looking at over $40 dollars per person.
it does come with a generous amount of fingersandwiches and yummy snacks but yeah it is not cheap. there is an alternative. there is a lot of alternative places to havetea in hong kong. and the place we ended up going to recentlywas a place called the lion rock. so what we did is we called them up for areservation the same day that we went which is incredible. and we arrived on time, we were able to sitdown right away and within minutes we were served our tea and we had really amazing setof sweets and savory foods as well.
and that one was quite a bit cheaper. i have the price here. 428 hong kong dollars for two people. knock. ready. and we are back. they came knocking to clean our rooms so we'veactually been gone a few hours. we had lunch. lunch.
met up with friends. we had a little siesta with friends. the lighting has changed. so we're not going to pretend we're just rollingseamlessly. anyways, we were talking about tea. the price. afternoon tea. right so the price of afternoon tea we weretalking about at the lion rock and yep that is 428 hong kong dollars for two people.
and that is basically $54 us dollars so about$27 or $28 per person. yeah, it is cheaper. a lot more affordable than the peninsula wecan tell you that. yeah, the advantage are it is cheaper andmore affordable and you can make a reservation, arrive and have it exactly at the time youbooked. that is really nice. so next up we're going to talk about thingswe loved about hong kong. yeah and there is quite a bit we loved abouthong kong (香港). so the first being all of the free attractions.
and we've already listed ten of those so wewon't ramble on about that. but hong kong is just a city where almostmost of the things we ended up doing ended up being free. yeah and it kind of balances out nicely becauseaccommodation is going to eat up a big chunk of your budget. but then you can go sightseeing and not necessarilyhave to spend a lot of money. yeah, you could literally plan the whole dayjust around free activities. so that is pretty awesome. okay, next up.
second, dim sum. and i wrote in my notes dim sum is amazing. haha. and it is. i don't know what else to say beyond that. it is just such tasty food. it is cheap. and it is just all over hong kong. and you know what with dim sum you can eatit anytime of day.
we were having this for breakfast, lunch anddinner. sometimes it is like a mid-afternoon snack. let's get dim sum. yeah, exactly. it is such a versatile meal. you can have it for lunch or you can haveit as a snack. exactly. and we ate it a lot. okay number three.
most diverse and interesting options of transportationin any city we've visited. like i can't think of any other city whereyou can take a ferry, where you can take a tram, where you can take the metro, whereyou can be in a cable car or you can take a steep peak tram going up. it is just options galore and everything isreally efficient. everything is cheap and affordable. and that is what is awesome about hong kongis it is so easy to get around and there is so many different options you can choose from. my suggestion would be to try them all.
especially the tram and the star ferry. another thing we loved about hong kong isthe views. like i think this is a city that has suchan iconic skyline. especially at night when the lights come on. it is really amazing. yeah, it is cool and if you keep revisitingthe city it is always changing. there is always a new building. skyscrapers. yeah, it is amazing by day and also by night.
so and from different vantage points. it is really cool from victoria peak and itis great on kowloon where you can see like the laser and a symphony of lights show. like there is just so many different coolvantage points where you can see the skyline and like we mentioned it is totally iconic. so number five, hong kong is a dynamic cityand there are not too many comparisons. like it is just an assault on the senses. and there is just so many people, there isso much going on in terms of transportation. it is just a very exciting city.
you can feel the pulse of the city almostanywhere all the time. anytime of day. but you know what? that can be a good and a bad thing. so now this is going to be our transitioninto things we didn't necessarily love about hong kong. and there were a few. so i would say number one for me is the crowds. there are certain areas in the city or certaintimes of day where it can feel quite claustrophobic.
and we've also been in hong kong before duringholidays and festivals. celebrations. yeah we were in mong kong and like there wastimes where we would look out our apartment window and we're not going to even bothergoing out. it just looked like ants scurrying acrossthe street. yeah at night. and as an example i remember a few years agowe decided we wanted to go to the movies on a friday or a saturday night. it was probably like six or seven pm so wethought oh we'll just walk over to the movie
theatre and buy a ticket. and we got there and everything was sold out. for the whole day. for the whole night. nothing. it is a place where there are so many peoplethat sometimes you need to actually like make reservations and bookings in advance if thereis something you really want to do. yeah, exactly so it is a bit of a double edgedsword. you can get swept up by the excitement ofthe city but is also can be overwhelming especially
when you're feeling a little rundown or alittle tired. maybe a little sick. all the crowds can be really overwhelming. okay so the next thing is uh i'll just perfectlyblunt it is some of the worst value accommodations you'll find in asia. for what you spend like you're just gettingvery cramped type of quarters and unless you're willing to splurge and hong kong might bethe city that if you've been if you have the resources to splurge it might be worth it. because we don't.
you really pay for what you get and at ourprice range that we paid. it is quite a bit higher than what we paidin a lot of other cities in asia. we had paper thin walls, we could touch ourwalls. babies crying at night. couples fighting. we didn't have one good sleep to be honestbecause there was babies crying at night and then there was construction during the day. so that was a it weared on us over time. the accommodations.
and the last thing is that uh nightlife andfine dining can get a little bit pricey. and you would expect that in a big developedcity like hong kong. so i just like if you're going out for drinksit is going to be pricey. it is a lot cheaper to get your drinks froma convenience store and have them at home. yeah but i would still experience the nightlife. at least once. i think it is a city that you have to experienceat least once in your life. it is truly impressive. it is amazing and it is just so iconic.
so i would say go to hong kong but maybe saveup your cash so you can actually have fun, stay in the types of hotels you want to andmaybe splurge on a few experiences and really enjoy it. and if you're someone that doesn't have enoughmoney for like a more expensive accommodations than just plan to be out most of the day. you don't want to spend a lot of time in yourroom. if it is that small. anyways we recommend going to hong kong. we loved it.
we've been there many times and we will probablybe back in the future. so those are our tips for hong kong. we hope you found some of this informationhelpful. if there is anything else you want to knowabout this city maybe leave us a question in the comments below and we'll try to answerthat. if not if you're a local feel free to answerthose in the comments. because yeah we are just visitors and thelocal perspective is always better. so yeah signing off and do visit hong kongif you get the chance. see you later.
ciao.