We are going to HKG en route to BJS in July

Are there any hotels near the airport?
The CX flight from ORD arrives late at night after the PEK flights have left.
We have all night and next day till 6 PM when we have to go to PEK.
Any suggestions welcome

On the way back, we are in HKG at 11 AM and will spend the day there and get the next AM flights back to the US.

there is..
1) Marriott Skycity
2) Novotel Tung Chung Citygate
3) Regal Airport

3 is connected to the terminal but 1&2 are global chains where its easier to get hotel points. From my experience 1&2 are also cheaper. Tung chung is actually a nearby town with its own local metro station... so connection to the city would be cheaper.

if you are staying at 2) I'd suggest taking the metro into town (Hong Kong station). take bus A11 from the airport if you're staying at 1 or 3 and get off at anywhere after the highway and the tunnel-some 5 stops into the trip. it takes 40mins to get to the far end of the tunnel... but see things to do

things to do - go to the peak on a good day. if you cannot see the top of the tall building on the other side of the harbour from the open area of either Hong Kong or Kowloon Station, dont bother going to the peak.

go around central/wanchai/tsim sha tsui and take the star ferry to see the buildingline

have dim sum at (i suggest) City Hall in Central- this is the 4th stop after the tunnel (and into the area with crowded buildings)... note buses dont have to stop at every stop... but i'm 99.9% sure the stops are announced (if not broken, which is rare). Opens at 11am on weekdays, 10 on Sats and 9 on suns.

if you still have time, wander around wanchai. It still has part of the old and typical Hong Kong AND english is more usable in this area(than the other older parts outside of Central/Tsim Sha Tsui).

The ORD flight arrives at 810p, not that late. You're much better off staying in the city rather than any of the airport hotels.

Agree that for a 22 hour layover staying at the airport seems a waste.

+1 on going into "town" instead of staying near the airport in the "countryside" high-rise concrete towers. First-time to HKG?

The Novotel Citygate (at Tung Chung on Lantau Island) is 10-15 minutes from the airport connected/part of a retail mall/outlet packed with mainland shoppers, easily reached by taxi/hotel shuttle & MTR - Hong Kong's excellent mass transit/public transit system (and, inexpensive, efficient & reliable vs. USA) With out- and in-bound stopover, getting the Octopus Card would be a good idea to get around, instead of just buying & using the Airport Express
deal (pro's & con's - refer to the Sticky on top, tons of useful tips & links.)
Tung Chung's Citygate Mall has a nice food court with a variety of meals, self-serviced fast food style plus fine dining too - only if you arrived jetlagged and do not want to go into town at all. Otherwise, there's plenty of night life and it is safe to venture around. Train stopped running before 1 am but there are 24 hour buses to get back and there's always the licensed taxi option.

Perhaps put about $100 to $150 USD's worth of stored value, per person (including a small, refundable security deposit) on the Octopus Card - giving you about $700 to $1,100 HKD's worth to cover express train, regular subway, bus, cross harbour on the world-famous Star Ferry, and even the Public Mini Bus (16 pax) if you are adventurous enough to brave & try it.) It can be used to pay for newspaper & purchases at local 7-11's and meals at McDonalds and chained store pharmacies - instead of fumbling for loose & exact change or figure out the coin's faced value - very convenient. It doesn't expire and unused deposit can be refunded in HKD at any MTR station booth - or keep it for the next trip/pass it along to a colleague or friend going to HKG next time.

Depending on your preference & status, there are plenty of hotel options and price tiers to choose from - occupancy rates are high & varied depending on your exact dates, please price compare accordingly.

Flying on CX/KA connections to/from PEK & HKG - your checked luggage might be thru to PEK/final destination and if you keep a change of clothes with your carry-ons, you don't have to worry about dragging everything. Otherwise, CX can check-in your bags again up to 24 hours before flight departure in-town from the Airport Express stations on Hong Kong Island or Kowloon Station stops - and you can zip thru airport checkin, allow 2 to 3 hours as security is quick & friendly and immigration/custom is professional/fast as well.

Go ride the Star Ferry on its shortened (due to landfills) cross-harbour route, walk down Nathan Road' shops and stores, and step back to watch the flow of masses of people rushing everywhere in Central, and if weather is nice on a clear day/night - ride up to the Victoria Peak for great views (the bus is scenic & very nice, non-tourist oriented and you can ride the Mini Bus quickly back down to re-connect to the MTR) Signs & directions are nearly all bilingual and visitor friendly, so there's no worries.

My advice to friends going for the 1st. time on quick turnaround is to skip the high-end harbour view rooms (unless it's comp/free/paid for via expense account) and pocket the savings for nice & variety meals - classic dim sum, price-fixed "set" lunch and perhaps seafood dinner (be careful about pricing, however) It will have you wishing to return next time & stay a bit longer.

Yes, seems it is for OP:

Hotels - thanks for the suggestions. I have status in Hilton, SPG and PC, not Marriott, so was trying to look for those first.

Thanks
We are a party of 4 and I could not get 4 seats on the same flight, so 2 are going via ORD and 2 on the 1 AM JFK flight.
The ORD flight gets in at 8 PM and the older (senior) people are staying overnight and I am meeting them in the (?early) morning ~6AM.

It will be only 12 hrs then to the next flight and I want a place to leave the carryons (so perhaps we could leave them with the overnight "airport" hotel for the first 2 guests) and get out to the city on a Saturday AM and look around.

Since the PEK flight leaves at 6 PM, I thought we would be able to take a taxi back at around 2 PM and still make it to the flight with plenty of time. So I am budgeting 6 hrs for a limited look, ? AM ferry across harbour and wandering and lunch.

On the way back we have more time, I arranged a 22 hr layover and so I think we can do the rest of the City that we missed out before and go to Victoria peak and go out to the city for the night (there will be plenty of time to sleep in the plane on the way back (luckily F not J return!)

I was not sure about the 22 hr layover with checked luggage, but it appears that if CX will check it through, then we will be quite light on the way back as well. So this time a hotel in the city would be better I think, than an airport hotel.

We have not been to North Asia before, but after running up the AA accounts for LT status, this seems a good use of the miles. Most of my trips have been EU, ANZ, South Asia and a bit of S America so far. North Asia and Africa are still open for trips (I was tempted to do as AS award HKG and Cape town in 1 trip in F, but do not have the time (work, that irritating thing)


Lots of useful advice, Thanks. Will get the octopus card.
If I were to simplify the list, I can see it will be

Ist Stopover
Arrive 6 AM,
Drop bags Hotel
Get Octopus card
AM ferry ride
Trip downtown
? tailor - Lufthansa flyer had d ber nice blog about it
Lunch
Return

2nd Stopover
Downtown hotel
Victoria peak in daytime
night out
Late Hotel return
Early AM departure to airport by cab.
Sleep en route

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/hong-...est-doing.html
This sounds like what I need to do on day 2

Macau
Sounds like what I would like to do if traveling alone, but prob not wise for first trip.

Still better off having the seniors arriving from ORD to stay in a hotel in the city, and you meet them next morning. You can leave your carryons at paid locker at airport, or if you have access to the CX lounges (airside, departure level), leave them there before going through immigration into HK.

If your flight is 6 pm, taking taxi at 4 pm leaves with you with PLENTY of time to check in and walk leisurely around the terminal. HK is not like ORD, immigration and security both relatively quick.

Updates for all those who responded to my queries.

The CX flights were among the best I have had in F.
So far LH F has been the best for the FCL and FCT; CX was better in flight as the flight was much longer, the almost fully private suites in F are great and the flight JFK-HKG is 15 hrs and leaves ~1 AM, so you get a great nights sleep. AND the abiity to sit across and share a meal in F is unique I think
I understand why Lucky was raving about these flights.

HKG
I was lucky I carried my debit cards and a few CC with PIN numbers for cash advances.
The rates are better with the debit cards getting cash directly from the cash machines

The arrivals lounge is fine and is below the train station entrance
They also hold your luggage for free (tip given and appreciated) while nearby there is a luggage storage facility (10HK$/ hr or 120 HK$ a day = about 1.3 USD/hr or 18 USD$ a day)

I converted 500+500 HK$ to Octopus - next time will be about 350$ each will be fine and carry the balance in your pocket for the few shops that do nto take it.

The airport express was 50$
The ferries were 3.4$ - 2.5 on lower deck on weekend
The buses were 4-10$
The tram - I took down from the peak and that was a lucky and wise move
There was a line a mile long going up, while the Bus 15 from IFC terminus to the peak was empty and the tram line down was empty as well
From the tram, station, bus 15C gets you back to the ferries and IFC and the airport express back to the airport.

The lounges are not what I expected, the F class was down and the showers were below in the Wing and not available at the G16 lounge

The one thing I would do differently is go up the peak first and ferries later,
The place gets hot and the 2 mile hike at the top would have been easier earlier and there would have been less worry about rain, though luckily there was none.

Thanks again to all who helped.

Is there some sort of sale going on now?

I happen to really like the Cabin when it is not super busy. It is one of my favorite lounges in Asia.