Hong Kong and Macau - 15 hours in HKG, what do you suggest doing?

I land in HKG at 745 AM and depart at 1045 PM. I am trying to change to arrive at 545 AM. I am flying first class and connecting to business class.

What should I do?

I was thinking of doing a city tour (any suggestions?) and maybe going to Macau (do I have time to do both?)
Thanks
NDTraveler

I land in HKG at 745 AM and depart at 1045 PM. I am trying to change to arrive at 545 AM. I am flying first class and connecting to business class.

What should I do?

I was thinking of doing a city tour (any suggestions?) and maybe going to Macau (do I have time to do both?)
Thanks
NDTraveler

Just my 2 cents but depending on the day, Macau could be tight as I assume you are travelling on a NA passport? there a few threads about ideas in HKG for a day. no chance to do both unless you take a helicopter. :D

Dang, oh well that means the next trip I will have to do it.

What I was looking for is a particular tour I should look at doing. I searched the forums and didn't see much about tour companies to use for a day tour.

Disneyland...at the least...it is close enough...:D

Disneyland...at the least...it is close enough...:D

with new Toy Story land...

Dang, oh well that means the next trip I will have to do it.

What I was looking for is a particular tour I should look at doing. I searched the forums and didn't see much about tour companies to use for a day tour.

Here's the detail on Macau - I actually think it's quite feasible given your timings.

Details
a.) You'll have to take the ferry from HK city if you do Macau first (instead of taking the ferry from HKIA to Macau, since the first one doesn't go until 10am).
b.) Helicopter service: Starts at 9am, runs every 30 minutes. Cost is 2800 HKD each way, takes about 18 minutes from take-off to touch-down. I usually can exit immigration in one port and clear it in the next in around 30 minutes with the helicopter. You get to go through the diplomatic channel at Macau, but coming back to HK there is no immigration benefit.
c.) Ferry service: runs 24 hours, service at intervals of every 15 or 30 minutes between 6am and the evening. Cost is 150 HKD each way for an economy ticket and about 250 hkd for a premium class ticket. Major benefit to the premium ticket (called "super class") is you offload the ferry first, getting you ahead of the mobs for immigration clearance.
d.) Immigration is rarely over 10 minutes in either place. Both immigration facilities aren't exactly modern, but despite the dingy appearances at the ports you can wait a lot longer with a passport at HKIA than you can at the Macau or HK ferry terminals.

Say you arrive at 5:45am. You can easily be on the 7:30am ferry from the HK/Macau ferry terminal in Sheung Wan (main HK ferry terminal). You'll be through immigration in Macau by 9am. You could tool around Macau until 1pm and take the helicopter back, clearing HK immigration no later than 1:30pm. You then could have a 4 hour tour of HK before taking the Airport Express back and getting on the plane again.

If you want to do the ferry returning, you'll need to shorten your tour of HK to about 3 hours.

Here's what I would most likely do

you land at 745AM, by the time you grab your bags and pass through immigration, i'm going to say its 815-830.... Find a place to stash your bags and bring a small backpack withyou consisting of the basics. i.e. tour book , camera, passport, wallet etc

830-900: Airport express into Central Station
9:00- 10:30 , Either have a breakfast at a local cafe (google Tsui Wah) , or have a early morning dim sum lunch at Maxims, which overlooks Victoria harbour. I reckon they are open by then?
10:30-12:00, Head up to the Peak by tram or by the Bus (Bus 15), its the most scenic part of HK. I'd recommend it for any first timer. there should be a easy 2km hike with great views.
12:00-15:00, depending on if you're hungry yet, you can always have lunch up by the peak or head back down to central. If not hungry, maybe a little shopping at IFC? Then i'd probably do more walking from HK Island towards the wanchai/causeway bay area.. just to get a feel of the city.
16:00-16:45 take a coffee break... my legs would probably be tired
17:00-1930 subway it over to Tsim Sha Tsui... HK should start to get dark by now and you should walk the avenue of stars to catch the famous HK Skyline. It's probably the nicest one in the world, and I say that without bias.
1900-1935- find something quick to eat
20:00- train it back to the airport via Kowloon Station, retrieve stashed bag, and hang out in the lounge.

Chinatown,

Would you suggest using the Big Bus company?

http://www.bigbustours.com/eng/hongkong/custompage.aspx?id=day_tour

Personally for me, since I've already been to HK many times I'd do some spotting, go up the tram to overlook the city and maybe go to Cathay City and tour CX headquarters, but for you a tour of the city is perfect, just hard to find the right one !

Thread is about HK and not about CX Asia Miles.

Moving to the HK forum.

Guy Betsy
Cathay Pacific Asia Miles forum co-moderator

Chinatown,

Would you suggest using the Big Bus company?

http://www.bigbustours.com/eng/hongkong/custompage.aspx?id=day_tour

I think it's personal preference. I hate sitting in traffic. You can get to all those places by subway for less than $41 USD. The tram to the Peak is $40 HKD r/t (about $5.30 USD).

If you're used to riding the subways in other cities, you should be fine in HK.
http://www.mtr.com.hk/eng/homepage/cust_index.html

So this trip is approaching next week. I think I am going to with the suggestions here but does anyone have an idea of cost? Should I just exchange at the airport?

I feel comfortable enough walking around so if the subway is the way to go then I will do that.

A day pass for the MTR costs HK$ 55 and a same-day round trip ticket on the airport express costs HK$ 100 so a total of about US$ 20.

I took a Big Bus tour in HK a few days ago. There are three routes: two on HK Island and one around Kowloon. An individual trip costs HK$ 200, or you can get a ticket for all three, including the cost of the Star Ferry and the Peak Tram for HK$ 350. I bought a ticket for the Red Line only. It was okay, but if you do a little research ahead of time, it would probably be better just to use the subway, which is fairly easy to use.

Hmmmm...while currency exchange isn't the best at the airport, with 15 hours or so, you willl want to focus your time on sightseeing.

What Chinatown suggested, shouldn't cost you too much. Peak Tram costs about $7? I like the tram as you get the experience of a steep climb.

While you are at the peak, can do the sky terrace 428 to see most of Hong Kong but it's an additional cost.

If you have the time, I recommend that you ditch the tourist area up at the Peak and do the 1 hour circular walk called Hong Kong trail (along Lugard and Harlech Roads) --- doesn't cost you anything. You'll have other opportunities to the skyline -- and for free. You can also hike up to Victoria Peak trail and get a free few of Hong Kong as well. I found it relaxing when I was there 1 month ago.

Taking the Star Ferry has been a favourite of mine. Costs almost next to nothing and you get a great view of Hong Kong.

I also recommend you get an Octopus card near one of the MTR train stations. This will give you access to the Peak, Star Ferry, and most of Hong Kong's transit system. You can even pay for food stalls that are near the MTR.

Wrobably best to walk along the water's edge on the Kowloon edge as Chinatown suggests. Great views.

If you want to splurge, Pennisula Hotel has tea time. I'm not sure if it's still there, but the Felix lounge on top of the Pennisula has some great views of Hong Kong Island.

The big bus tour looked interesting. It may be worth it with a limited time budget. While you can take the MTR subway to get most of the same places, you'll be travelling underground -- thus missing some of the sights. A very cheap alternative is to take the tram (not peak tram) from Admiralty to causeway bay. Use the Octopus card or pay a few bucks Hong Kong.

Azreal

A few pointers in detail for your reference -

The currency exchange booth at HKG is just outside the arrival hall, after exiting immigration control and custom - where the MTR Octopus Card and/or AE Passes can be purchased. The conversion rates aren't great (about 5% premium/reduction) compared to licensed exchanges easily found in the city's tourist area like TST & Central, or walk into any of the HSBC or Standard Charter Bank (Passport/ID's required nowadays plus a transaction fee, as I recall) - but the airport location is open around the clock, 24/7 whereas the ones in town are NOT but they offer better, official rates - especially for major ones like RMB, USD and Euro's.

For a short 24 hours or less stay, you can exchange $100 USD per person which should yield about $775 HKD at most places, but maybe $725 HKD at the airport (I just don't recall exactly nor can I find my last receipt - FT's/locals, please help with your input on this) - that amount will be enough to buy the AE Card or Octopus Card ($400 with $350 available for use and a $50 refundable deposit) - it will cover regular MTR rides/day pass, express bus, ferry, island tram and Peak Tram, plus you can use it to debit buying incidents at numerous 7-11 all over town for things like English newspaper, soft drinks & bottled water, gum, pocket-sized paper tissues (tip/hint: it is very handy for lots of things) and freshly-baked goods, tea & coffee sold inside MTR concourses for folks on the run.

For dining at upscale restaurants, you can always charge it to your CC or use cash (HKD only) once you get into "town" (unless it's a Sunday as banks are closed & you will have to find currency exchange that's open) and exchange more local currency. Taxi drivers only take local bills & coins as only a handful of them are equipped to do CC transactions.

Another option and the net effective exchange rate is just as good as using the exchange is to find the next bank ATM - we've used both HSBC and Citi(bank) ATM's and just withdraw $$$ in local currency using 4 digit PINS, no Passport needed - fast & easy (did this once inside the Kowloon Tong MTR/Rail Stations' concourse) - just a small foreign transaciton fee for the conversion & non-bank ATM usage charge (which I'm cool with, as you are saving time & not standing in line.) That's been our strategy for visiting HKG - get USD $100 exchanged into HKD in the airport for a running start, and withdraw anothe $100 or $200 for next day or two as needed for daily use, and charge other items on CC as needed (usually we call our bank/CC to alert them about our travel plans to avoid problems with fraud prevention.)

At the end of the trip, I just ziplock bag the unused bills & coins until the next time (and airlines like CX give out envelopes in-flight, encouraging pax to donate/contribute their leftover loose changes to worthwhile charities instead of being dumped & taken home for the cookie jar)

Well, today was the day and thanks to all of you for your advice.

I landed at 715 AM hit up the arrivals lounge for a shower and some food. They also stored my bag for me. I went to buy train tickets and a same day return trip to Hong Kong was only $100 HKG. Unfortunately the weather today was crappy but I still did hit up the tram but you really could not see anything. I was down from it by 1030 AM and was wondering what the heck to do.

I basically just started walking and kept walking. I probably walked 3 miles and just as I was getting tired, what do I see?? Tsui Wah! Jackpot! I go in and order some more breakfast. I walked out and was thinking what do next and what do I see?? The tram to Shau Kei Wan. I got in and just rode and rode. It was really really neat. I got off (honestly no idea how far I went) and got on the subway to Tsim Sha Tsui. The weather still had not cleared up yet but I did the avenue of the stars and got some OK pictures.

Now its about 130 PM, and I debating what do since the weather is bad and I am a little bit tired. I remember seeing someone say the Peninsula does afternoon tea so I figured why not (I did this at the Burj Al Arab and it was really neat). I run into some other Americans in line and they let me join them (the line at 2 PM was about 20 deep). It took some time but we were out by 330 PM. By the way, it was about $300 HKG per person. A little pricey but I thought it was worth it.

We decided to walk to the Jade market and along the way stopped at a produce/meat market. It was quite the site. By the time we made it back to the Peninsula it was almost 5 PM and time for me to head back since I was tired.

A few random notes
1. Cathay first class is amazing but I actually was disappointed in the food. Also, 15 hours is rough for me even in first. The seatbelt sign was on for almost 1/2 the flight so maybe that is why.
2. After walking around, I realize I am very tall (only 6'2)
3. There are a LOT more white folks than I was expecting to see.'
4. Public transportation was amazing and easy to use.
5. I only spent about $90 US the whole day.

Once again thanks to everyone for their advice! I am off to India now and just hoping I don't get sick.