11 hour transit at Hong Kong
 

Next month I'll have 11hours to kill at Hong Kong airport between flights from New Zealand to Europe with my family (wife, 2 boys 16 and 15, and 6 year old daughter).

Some people have suggested that's long enough to have a look around in town?

Others have said book a day room at an airport hotel and lounge by the pool for the day.

Anyone got any ideas or experiences with Hong Kong?

I believe they have transit visas of up to 24 hours to leave the airport as long as you have outbound boarding passes without paying departure taxes..

Have a look around
 

If you think you will have enough collective energy after a 10Hr ??? flight from NZ to HK, I vote you have a look around.
I would take the train to Kowloon - Tsim Sha Tsui & have a walk around the harbour side perhaps take a short ferry ride to the Hong Kong island and have a look around the shops there too. Get some selfies of yourselves on those cute little ferries!

Be aware that Hong Kong has become a theme park for the mainland Chinese so you wont have the time to wait in the Disneyland like queue lines for, say, a tram ride to the Peak. But just to wander around the harbour will probably give you a taste for the place. just enough so you plan to fit in a 2 day stopover on your next visit!

Also be aware of the 'touts', usually Indian, that will target you, so that you visit their uncle's suit shop - they arent beggars or gypsies and mean no harm but can get annoying. The whole place is very safe.

We have eaten at various cafes in the airport and these have been excellent too.
Have fun.

Do Victoria Peak. Catch the train to Central then get off and go to the bus station and catch the 15 bus (Not 15C) to the end. It is much, much quicker than catching the Peak tram. Only becasue the line for the tram is always a 50 minute wait. It will give you great photo opps. I love Hong Kong, such a great place. When you get to the airport buy an Octopus card so you can travel on all the public transport quickly and easily.

Bus 15 to The Peak

http://hong-kong-travel.org/octopus/

After that flight I would get a room at the Regal Airport Hotel and have a nice steak downstairs at the restaurant.
They have an outside pool that is nice.

Subscribed! The wife and I are headed to HK in September for a week.

I was in HK a couple months ago. It seems to be a city obsessed with shopping. The only non-shopping things to do are Victoria Peak and the cable car to the Giant Budha (250 stairs to the top though).

I'm not saying it's bad, it's actually a fun place to walk around. But on one walk from my hotel I think I ventured through four huge malls filled with the kind of stores that could make my wallet cry. Tsim Sha Tsui is where I was a lot of the time. I felt completely safe the whole time I was there.

The metro there is the best I've ever seen. Super clean, great signage, little lights that show which station you're at so you don't have to look out the windows for the signs. I think every sign I ever saw had English on it. Very crowded at times, especially around Central. Octopus card is the way to go. Just refill as needed.

Take the bus into Kowloon, ride the ferry into the central district then take a taxi and do the Peak tram (15-10 min ride to the top) in Hong Kong if you can. Have a nice meal at those restaurants up top. We ate at those old fashion restaurants established for the english with money from the old days instead of the ones inside the tram station.

There's a special train that will take you straight to the airport from central district. No traffic to deal with and they are on schedule. fun place, thankfully my wife did very little shopping.

I watched an Anthony Bourdain - Layover segment on HK and he went into town and had a nice, custom suit made for $400 in 24 hours. Anyone have any inside info on where to find such a place?

Yes, Thailand. Sorry I couldn't help you. But my friend married a Thai woman and they go there every two years and he gets his suits made there.

If you're full of energy then take the train into town and do the Star Ferries.... Peak if you can.. but very busy.

Just wandering the streets is an adventure....try the trolley cars for fun..and local flavour.

Another alternative is Lantau Peak, just next to the airport.... great cable car ride to a theme village in the hills and a giant Buddha...Places to eat and relax in the hills..

Lantau Peak | Hong Kong Tourism Board

Motion... Getting a suit made is easy.. plenty of places to chose as you walk around...

Also, Take a cab to the Stanley Market. Interesting vendors and stuff.
The Star Ferry at night is an absolute must!!! IT is an incredible experience!

The guy that made that suit on the show is a not-so-nice guy and his price has shot up to $650ish after that episode aired. Right around the corner from his shop in TST there´s a guy named Jack at Modell Fashions who makes great suits...had six made there last October. Once you´re measured up you´re given a number and you can order anything online easily in the future. He´ll ship it to your house in the USA. $300ish. However to get a properly fitted suit you´ll have to go in for 2-3 fittings so 24hrs is tight. I´d recommend at least a few days.

OP depending on the day the W in Kowloon opens the rooftop pool to the public. It´s a perfect place to grab a bite/beer and take in the amazing HK skyline. HS Train will take you right there.

Dare I say that public transportation is one of the best in the world. If all else fails, take the taxi back.

Wow some great suggestions here - that's why I love this place!

It will be a Sunday from 6.30am to 11pm so a full day.

From the feedback it's looking like we will leave the airport.

Keep them coming. Any markets or not-to-be-missed food courts?

Awesome, thank you :)

The train from the airport goes soooo fast it doesn't take long to get into town. In fact you almost lose your eardrums as it goes into tunnels LOL. Mt. Victoria, Nathan St.(Kowloon), well worth it.

You will leave the airport and get into Hong Kong and wish you had planned a few days stopover. Your kids would love Ocean Park and Hong Kong Disney.

View from the peak. Sadly an overcast day

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1401953934.jpg

One other thing to add.
After a day of sightseeing, you & family will be so tuckered out that you will sleep like babies on the next 12 hour leg of your flight to Europe (Paris??) http://forums.pelicanparts.com/suppo...sleephappy.gif

HK is one of the great cities of the world. Take the train in maybe to Central. Since it's early morning on a Sunday, maybe take the DingDing to one end then back and get off near the Peak Tram. Check out all the maids hanging out in every park- it's their only day off. After you get down from the Peak, go towards the midlevels escalators. After noon, they run up so you can take them up then walk back down.
Take the double decker bus over to Standley Market and try to sit up top in front. It's better than a roller coaster. Great places for food and shopping. Bus back to the city and then find one of the Star Ferry terminals and take it back to Kowloon side. Beautiful walk along the harbor to check out the lit buildings. Plenty of sightseeing and shopping on Kowloon- not sure if the Night Market is on Sunday but probably so. Train back to airport.
HK is about as safe a place as you'll find.

Actually Frankfurt to transit to Budapest. My father is Hungarian and each year my parents escape our (NZ) cold weather to the European summer for 3-4 months so we are going there to visit them.

We will be in a place called Eger (north east of Budapest)

That Ding Ding is cool. The British put it there around the turn of the century. The first time I rode on it, I was so intrigue by it that I rode it the whole way twice during the day and night just to see all the city lights and the locals.

And for only 1HKD I think. Greatest transportation city in the world.

Its amazing that the tram system is old, very old by any mass transportation systems, and it is used as a DAILY mass transport, not a tourist ride. The one I rode in had a belt you pull up and its held by a hook to keep the window open. I want to ride it through Central District and Causeway Bay right now to the night markets looking for something to eat now that we are just talking about it.

Great suggestions. I've done the 11 hr layover Train to Central, taxi to the Peak tram, find the escalator to take you back to Central (that is a very interesting solution to the hills). Then ferry to Kowloon (one of the greatest bargains in the world), Sam's for a suit, shopping, drinks at the top if the Peninsula, if you have time dinner at Hutong to watch the laser show, then I would taxi back to the airport. US$35 from there or so. Give yourself 1 hr for immigration and security.

You can leave your bags at left luggage. Used to be after you exit into the arrivals hall all the way to the right

Its a fantastic city, theres more to do than shop. Eat, for example. Public transport is easy, get the trolley car up to the Peak and walk down. Get Yum Cha, head up to Soho, just take it in. If you can get out on the harbor, the vista is awesome. 10 hours to Yoorup to sleep it off. I have family there, love visiting, great town.

We just got back from Europe yesterday with the transit in Hong Kong that started this thread. Considering all the great advice I had from this forum I thought it only fair to let you guys know what we did. Many of it was exactly as you guys described... (I even took a copy and paste of some of the comments with me as a guide).

Left our suitcases at the Left Luggage (to the right down the ramp after coming out of arrivals). HKD$8 per hour per piece

Caught the MRT train into the central station then located the bus station just outside the train station and down the stairs. Caught the 15C bus to the Peak. Tip - make sure you have some smaller notes or coins.

Snack and views from the Peak - a really amazing perspective of the city. All the photos and postcard shots can't prepare you for the moment that you actually see it with your own eyes. Caught the same bus back to the Station and walked across the overbridge to the Star Ferry terminal and caught the ferry to Kowloon. Wandered through one of the biggest malls I've ever seen (I think it was called Harbour City) - it seemed about a kilometre long and 3 or 4 levels high! But mercifully it was air-conditioned. Yum Cha inside the mall - cheap and delicious.

Wandered around some of the streets of Kowloon but the heat and weariness from the 11 hour flight as well as a reluctant 6 year old limited how far we could go.

Then the ferry back to the central station and then MRT back to airport and killed the last few hours in the airport lounge.

It was an enjoyable if tiring day. The one impression that Hong Kong left with me (and my wife) - and I may have just been unlucky - was the unfriendliness of everyone from the bus driver to MRT ticket seller even staff at McDonalds for the kids. We got the feeling that we were just a number being processed, an income stream. It could have been a language thing. It could have been that we were tired but I consider myself a friendly guy and I'm pretty sure it wasn't my approach.. There was no "human" touch to any of the transactions.

I think we got a brief taste for Hong Kong so thanks again to all of those that contributed here.

My wife reminds me that you can shop in the airport. In fact, there is no place you can't shop in Hong Kong so that can occupy plenty of time and money. Worth it to hit Victoria Peak, but Shirley says to take the Peak Tram rather than the bus to the summit. Get off on Admiralty and walk to the Peak Tram station.

You are not just a number, so don't feel bad. I think its a cultural thing? Most Chinese do not go out of their way to smile, especially to foreigners they do not know. think about it, they are stuck doing the same darn job day after day (with little pay?) and that must be hard to fake a smile. We found the same thing when we were there and my wife notice that treat the locals the same way. Glad you had fun, we love visiting there (especially my wife with the shopping within walking distance from our hotel).

It must have changed since I was there a few years ago. I found it to be quite the opposite.