jrjcopp

Last, last, last minute. My wife and I may be heading to Hong Kong July 2-July 14. Our son is there and will be starting a job July 1 assuming his work visa comes through.

So maybe spend both weekends in Hong Kong and head somewhere for 3-4 days during the week. We have never been to Asia. Have no visas. Probably rather not visit another large city. So, we need easy visa requirement, want easy to get to, don't want to spend a lot of time transitting.

Have plenty of BA, AA, and UA points if that matters.

I don't know. grasping at straws here.

Should this post be in the Asia forum?

LHR/MEL/Europe FF

From Hong Kong the 'world' (asia) is pretty much your oyster! There are hundreds of flights to all sorts of destinations depending what you're looking for... and almost all of them (with the notable exception of China) will be visa free for US passport holders. (And if not visa free, you can apply for a visa on arrival).

While I appreciate you want to avoid 'big cities', unfortunately in that part of the world it's not that easy to escape them... for example Bangkok/Singapore/Tokyo/Taipei/Seoul are all easy and can be cheap to get to from Hong Kong (Bangkok in particular is cheap with a lot of airlines offering fifth freedom tag-on flights).

If you want a beach break you could try Bali, Phuket, Boracay.

As Cathay Pacific flies to all of the above destinations... and some of them are pretty close in terms of mileage, BA avios can represent pretty good value... both in coach and business class (especially if you select the 'cash plus pay option you can fly around in business class for just a couple thousand avios and a couple hundred dollars in cash... even cheaper for coach!)

Of course there is also Macau!

txflyer77

For 3-4 days I would consider Penang in Malaysia. Amazing food, okay beaches, jungles, colonial history, beautiful temples. You can use BA Avios for the KA nonstop (depending on availability obviously).

No visa required (as with much of Asia for Americans)

https://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Penang

I spent 10 days there earlier this year and I'm helping a friend plan 4 nights there for November with his wife, also as a side trip on a trip to China!

BuildingMyBento

Of course, It's tough to determine how weather (in this case, a rainy season, in parts of insular SE Asia) will react, so perhaps this makes Bali/Jogja a decent choice?

889

I'd suggest heading for someplace nearer than Bali/Yogya, fine as those places are for a visit. Bali certainly deserves more than three days.

In addition to Penang -- unfortunately HK Express seems to have dropped service there -- Hanoi also makes a good choice for a short break and it's a short flight away.

Angkor Wat via Siem Reap is unforgettable, and easily reached by HK Express, but I'm not sure traipsing through the ruins in July is a great idea. If you can put up with the weather, though, it's a prime destination.

LHR/MEL/Europe FF

Just to note that Hanoi will require a visa, or at least an advance application to be made to get a visa on arrival.

Swiss Tony

Kota Kinabalu is well connected with both Dragonair and Malaysian flying nonstop from HKG, I think every day.

If you're savvy about it, you could construct a triangular route through China and qualify under the 72hr transit visa rule, but it's complicated because you can't fly back to where you came from, so would have to do something like HKG-PEK-BKK-HKG.

Another beach spot that seems to be OK for weather around then is Hua Hin, although that's about a 2.5hr drive from Bangkok Airport.

As noted above, Penang would make for a good call, too...

889

"If you're savvy about it, you could construct a triangular route through China and qualify under the 72hr transit visa rule, but it's complicated."

On that approach, I'd probably go for HK-Shanghai-Macau on Spring AIr.

Note that HK Express sometimes has reasonable fares to Chiang Mai, and if you're interested in Thailand that would be a lot easier (and a lot more interesting) than Hua Hin via Bangkok.

dtsm

Couple of thoughts to supplement what others have posted:

1. July is incredible hot and humid so drink lots of water and be mentally prepared.
2. CX has lots of special discounted ticket offers, when you go to their website, change location to Hong Kong/English and last minute searches can get some good deals.
3. One example is a combo Air/Hotel package to Bkk, which is one venue to seriously consider. A second is Angkor Wat in Cambodia. There are two threads to look at: Asia and Thailand for more information.
4. I'd skip Singapore but that's personal choice.
5. Hanoi - you can apply for VOA on line here: http://www.vietnamvisacorp.com/
http://www.myvietnamvisa.com/

Enjoy your trip!

jrjcopp

This is all great. thanks. I've been spending some time on the oneworld interactive route map. Very handy.

Seriously considering Shanghai now that I've heard of the 72 hour transit rule. Great info. My wife has a cousin in Shanghai.

I think we'll have to take a grander tour next year!

Swiss Tony

Fair point, but Chiang Mai has very wet summers with flooding a regular occurrence. Early July may be ahead of this, but...

Swiss Tony

Of course another route is to go USA-Shanghai-HK. You really are awash with options, here...

This might give some ideas as well https://www.amextravel.com.hk/leisur...rent-packages/

I haven't priced these out recently but went through the exercise a year or so back and you were essentially getting the hotel for free.

Oh, and do bear in mind that you could easily spend one week in HKG exploring. It's not all built up either - you have the outlying islands, Stanley, Shek O, New Territories, day trip to Macau etc, all of which are going to be better done during the working week.

rkkwan

You cannot fly HKG-Shanghai-HKG and use TWOV. Need to go to a third country. Macau, Taiwan are okay.