benzemalyonnais

It's really easy, and I've done it several times....just have your hotel buy the ticket for you in Shenzhen. I do find that the ticket is way too expensive for what you get, but you get some of the cash back at a tax refund office. The ferry is fast, only 30 min or so, and only 30 min to get cleared and ticketed after that. I'd still leave a lot more time though, just to be safe. Shekou is a bit of a mess, and you'll need at least 30 min. You have to have proof of the plane ticket (which makes me think your friend won't be allowed??) - they check your ticket, to see if you have visas and such, and you get put into a line to clear customs. I always get here 30-45 minutes early and always barely get on the ferry.

rkkwan

Consider the hassles of the alternatives, the high fares of the ferries are well worth it, IMHO, and which is why they are able to maintain a frequent service.

anacapamalibu

Plus its fun and traditional to Hong Kong, like the trolley in SF.

christep

Eh? You believe that the ferries from HK Airport to Shenzhen are "traditional"?

anacapamalibu

Ferry service has been around for over 100 years in Hong Kong.
The style of the ferries has changed over time, but the method
of transport is traditional.

PTravel

Has the Shekou ferry terminal been updated? I haven't been there for about 10 years but, then, it was pretty low-volume, low-key -- not unlike a lot of the smaller airports. Personal trivia: I met my wife at the adjacent Nan Hai Hotel.

anacapamalibu

The terminal is 30 years old. Due for a facelift.
They upgraded skypier at HKG, no longer do you
take that bus that was surrounded by high fence and razor wire,
made you think they were taking you into a federal prison.

tentseller

You want traditional HK then you need to cross the harbour on a walla walla and ride the tram with the open top.

rkkwan

Speaking of tradition... From what I read, there were still 3 or 4 ricksaws at the HK Star Ferry before the old pier was demolished. I have never seen them at the new pier - wonder if those old guys have passed away or simply decided to retire along with the old pier.

christep

They are still around the new pier occasionally I think - I certainly saw them there a couple of months ago. Probably not when it's 30+ degrees though!

anacapamalibu

Rickshaw "Sale"

http://www.flickr.com/photos/conradito/4330548169/

Kristie Fitzsimons

I am flying out of Hong Kong airport tomorrow morning at 11 am and I need help getting there from Shenzhen. I was planning on taking the ferry from Shekou, but it was booked. Does anyone have any suggestions for getting to the airport quickly at that time without it costing an arm and a leg? Please help.

rkkwan

Tomorrow is the last day of a 4-day superlong weekend, so it'll be crazy at the border. I suggest you start super early. You can cross the border at Huanggang or Shenzhen Bay, then take a direct coach to HKG. If you cross at Lowu, or Futian/Lok Ma Chau, ride the East Rail for one stop to Sheung Shui, then switch to the A43 Airbus. All start early, and you can get to HKG in under 50 minutes after you've cleared the border.

moondog

I was in Shekou on Thursday afternoon, and received a phone call summoning me back to Shanghai immediately. While flying from SZX would have made far more sense, since I already had an open ticket from HKG, I felt compelled to use it (I was also looking forward to chowing down in the Cabin). I ended up going to Shenzhen Bay (y17 taxi ride from where I was), and grabbing one of those Toyota minivans for y150 (only costs HK130 in the reverse direction). The border checkpoints sucked up around 20 minutes, but I didn't have to get out of the car, and once we cleared the HK checkpoint, we made it to HKIA in 42 minutes. The entire process was honestly quite painless.

Steve M

That's right - no Immigration at HKIA SyPier.

Maybe if she has a boarding pass, as she could get through SkyPier security with it. But there is absolutely no way to be admitted into HK from the HKIA SkyPier directly. I ran into such a situation just this morning: We boarded the ferry from Shekou with a confirmed departure from HKIA. Once we got to the SkyPier and were standing in the check-in line, our flight was cancelled, and the rebooked flight was in 2 days.

They told us that it is simply not possible to enter HK from the SkyPier, even under such circumstances, and that the ONLY option was to return to China via the ferry! If we wanted to spend the 2 days in HK instead of China, they told us the only way to do so would be to take the ferry back to Shekou, then another ferry from there to Central. Fortunately for us, our flight was "reinstated" about an hour after it was cancelled, and ended up departing 2 hours past schedule.

The problem is that you can't get through security at the SkyPier without a valid same-day boarding pass. We could not be issued one since our flight had been cancelled. Had a similar situation occurred where we already had boarding passes, we'd probably have been able to get through SkyPier security unnoticed and then once airside, get to the main terminal and somehow to arriving Immigration from there, but it's not possible without a boarding pass. And, the ferry terminal at Shekou can't issue boarding passes for certain airlines (such as UA) at all, and even CX boarding passes can't be issued there if your destination is the US, so there are some situations where all appears good at Shekou but then unravel by the time you get to the check-in counter at the SkyPier.

It's a highly unusual and unlikely corner case, but it can and does happen. So beware.