Hong Kong and Macau - Cheap ways to get to Taiwan?

I'm looking to make a side-trip from HKG to Taiwan in the next week. I had heard there was a ferry, but I can't find any evidence of one.

Are there any budget ways of getting from HKG to Taiwan? Strange routings that I might not be aware of?

(Or, if you know of some amazing trip from HKG I should take, I am all ears!)

It's a 90 minute flight, so I doubt there's a ferry. I've gotten RT tickets for China Airlines for $150 USD. I'm sure you can get cheaper tickets. If you've only got the weekend, don't waste your time routing through another country.

I've got loads of time. I thought maybe there was some horrific 12 hour ferry that I could subject myself to or maybe a 4 hour layover in Macau, maybe. All of the flights I can find are closer to $300 US.

I've got loads of time. I thought maybe there was some horrific 12 hour ferry that I could subject myself to or maybe a 4 hour layover in Macau, maybe. All of the flights I can find are closer to $300 US.

Are you travelling with anyone (I'm guessing no)? If so, lots of pretty cheap CX packages that include hotel along with airfare. Look into China Air and also Eva Air. Might be others too (CX/KA often will not be the cheapest).

Try to pick up a copy of the SCMP or the Standard. The latter is free and you can get it at most MTR stations in the morning. The travel agencies will be listed in the back.

Try to pick up a copy of the SCMP or the Standard. The latter is free and you can get it at most MTR stations in the morning.
OR you can just use the online version http://paper.thestandard.com.hk ;)

I've seen KA a few months back with a fare of HK$900+ exc. of tax/YQ, while nowadays it goes at around HK$1200. Travel agents should get it down to HK$1000.

- There's No Ferry to Taiwan
- There're unscheldued curiseliner from Hong Kong to Taiwan, operated by http://www.starcruises.com/
- Conclude... better off flying direct from HKG, we have route serving 3 major airports, HKG --> Taiwan is one of the top 10 busiest air route

OT : For some truely horrific ferry, I tried one 12 years ago from Hong Kong to HaiKou (海口) and it's truly unforgetable ... nowadays Star Cruises do Hainan (海南) also

For some lower cost trip out of HKG, Taiwan / Xiamen (on bus) / Guangdong (on bus / High Speed Train) will be interesting, CTS (中旅社) actually operate a bunch of those, however you need to flexible for that http://www.ctshk.com/english/leisure/gdhighlights/gdhighlights.htm

All of the flights I can find are closer to $300 US.

Where are you searching for fares? I've travelled TPE-HKG vv a couple times in the past few months and every time I searched on one of the big American travel sites (Orbitz, Expedia, etc.), I came up with prices similar to what you've found. I ended up booking directly with CX and found their website both easy to use and the fares cheap. BR & CI are your other options and I know that BR offers online booking. TG is also an option but their fares are ridiculously high on their website.

kevincrumbs: On the CX site, nothing comes up in the next week or two for under 2,829.00 that I can see.

ChrisLi: I can't find any evidence of that Star Cruise, but I have heard about it before. It's not listed as a destination on their English site.

Jamolda & toyotaboy95: The Standard ads look like a good bet, I will research some of those today.



I'm also wondering if maybe I could do a HKG-TPE-MNL route. Would CX allow a stopover like that? That might make this trip more interesting! (nevermind, I see that TPE flights go through HKG)

Try use www.cathaypacific.com (and select Hong Kong - English)
or www.zuji.com.hk
or www.priceline.com.hk
or travel agent at Mong Kok "Bank Center Building" or Causeway Bay "Hang Lung Centre" once you arrived in HK

For Next week, it is post-Xmas period so air tickets tend to be more in demand for this golden route and nothing real cheap will be available.

Try use www.cathaypacific.com (and select Hong Kong - English)
or www.zuji.com.hk
or www.priceline.com.hk
or travel agent at Mong Kok "Bank Center Building" or Causeway Bay "Hang Lung Centre" once you arrived in HK

For Next week, it is post-Xmas period so air tickets tend to be more in demand for this golden route and nothing real cheap will be available.

I might add http://www.dragonair.com/ also, sometimes I can find additional flights in KA site but not in CX.

Thanks for all of the suggestions. Because of the post-Xmas and New Year timing, I didn't find any cheap (enough) flights to Taiwan. I did take the suggestion to try Priceline.com.hk and found a cheap ticket to Manila so I am off there in two days.

Thanks again, Flyertalkers!

There are no ferries between HK and Taiwan, plus even if there was it probably wouldn't be that much cheaper ; )

I'm not sure why the flights you were looking at were so expensive. I used to fly that route a lot and it was never more than 200-250 round trip (and this was during the peak when gas prices were ridiculously expensive).

I always booked through local travel agencies, they have a lot of great deals!

On a side note if you're looking for a cheap hotel in Taipei I highly recommend Rainbow Hotel in XiMenDing. You walk outside and you're in the middle of a bustling street with street food everywhere!