Hong Kong stopover

[akissbeforebed]

We're planning a trip to Japan next year and want to break the journey there with a stop in Hong Kong - we're very very unlikely to be heading in that direction again and it seems too good an opportunity to miss.

If you've done this, how long would we need in HK to do it as best we can? We'd book at least one night but wondering if we would need two or even three.

I'd definitely go for more than one night. We stayed there for one night at the end of a trip to China and it really wasn't enough. It's quite a culture shock and very warm. You probably need a day to acclimatise. We're going back to China next year and I'll probably allocate three nights for Hong Kong and even that will barely scratch the surface.

You could see a lot if you stayed two nights. That’s what we used to have as cabin crew and I often took my husband or family with me and we did little tours.
Day one - bus to Stanley market area for breakfast. From there a bus to Aberdeen harbour and a ride on a Sampan boat round the harbour. Then a bus back to Central are and get the double decker bus up the mountain to the Peak for sunset (much better ride and views than the tram, which you can get back down).

Day two - boat from Central across to Lantau and then a bus up to the Big Buddha. Cable car back. Watch the canon at night.
Bit of shopping and meals in and among.

You could perhaps consider making a stopover in Taiwan as well as (or instead of) Hong Kong. Taipei is a lot less hectic than Kowloon. We really enjoyed our three days there.

(Plus, Taiwan as a whole has the advantage of not — currently 😳 — being a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Chinese Communist Party, nor do large numbers of its people feel the need to claim political asylum in other countries.)

Two nights would be perfect

Thank you all - looks like one night isn't going to be enough.

What time of year are you going and do you like hiking?

We're thinking of March/April. Possibly around Easter as my holiday allowance isn't as generous as DH's. We do like hiking but don't really want to drag boots etc all that way.

That’s a good time to go generally- it won’t be crazy hot. You might want to avoid the HK 7s though ( unless you’re a fan and want to go) as pushes hotel and airline prices up a fair bit.

I think I spent 3 days there on my first trip, love Hong Kong. It is was Easter time and peak was foggy so didn't go up but otherwise better weather for sightseeing. Was there briefly in August 2019 and it was so hot. Only did Disney on that trip as we had kids by then and it was a fleeting visit.