In addition to Hong Kong Disneyland, what are your other must see/do ideas?

[BLTtinkerbell]

We are planning our first trip to Hong Kong & being Disney fans, will check out HKDL. What other places would you recommend seeing?

Victoria Peak?
Repulse Bay?

Please share your must see/do list. Thank you!

 

[Timchat2]

We explored the city after our HKDL stay in May. Taking the Star Ferry across the harbor (especially at night) is a pretty classic Hong Kong experience. And it is no secret that the views from Victoria Peak (again especially at night) can be spectacular if the weather cooperates. We made a point to ride up on the Peak Tram a few hours before sunset so that we could hike a couple trails around the Peak area while the sun was still out. As you'd imagine the crowds increased considerably near the mall area at the Peak by nightfall but we found that if you were willing to walk ten minutes along one of the trails you could get the epic views without the epic crowds.

On the Kowloon side of things we enjoyed the various street markets (Bird Market, Flower Market, Goldfish Market) and then the Temple Street Night Market as it got dark.

The nighttime light show on the harbor called A Symphony of Lights is unique, although it is generally a better idea than reality. Still, it is a interesting enough if you happen to be near the waterfront to catch it happening at 8:00PM each night.

Unfortunately the Ngong Ping 360 gondola was closed during the week of our visit so we did not get up to the Big Buddha (Tian Tan Buddha), which is another classic Hong Kong tourist attraction located between HKDL and the airport.

 

[Douglas Dubh]

Victoria Peak and the Star Ferry are definitely must do's. We did a package that included the hop on hop off bus and the tram up to Victoria peak. It was a pretty good way to see the city. If we had a bit more time, I would have liked to walk around Stanley Market. When we go back I'd like to spend a day going to Ocean Park and to see the Buddha on Lantau Island, which we didn't get to on our first visit. We spent a few hours visiting the zoo, but the only reason I can recommend that is it was free.

 

[hopemax]

As previously mentioned, Victoria Peak (we took the bus, instead of potentially waiting in a long queue for the Tram, and we still found it enjoyable. Gave us a chance to see more of Hong Kong Island) and Star Ferry (which I absolutely loved)...

I would also recommend the Nan Lin Garden & Chi Lin Nunnery. Riding the Ding Ding on Hong Kong Island (go in late morning, it's packed! later in the evening. We rode it from where our hotel was located in Sai Yin Pun all the way to Causeway Bay and it was a good view of the city. Definitely, get an Octopus card. You can use it to pay for the MTR train, Star Ferry and Ding Ding. Plus, it's good at convenience stores like 7-11 and Circle K (we bought a lot of water on our days) and at some fast food locations.

We must have been there the exact same time as Timchat because we were disappointed we couldn't do the Ngong Ping Gondola because it was closed that week. Stanley Market was also recommended to us, but we didn't have time to fit it in.

The rest, we kind of went off the beaten path. We went toy hunting and that took us to some unique places, and so we didn't do the "typical" Markets recommended for tourists.

 

[Shiella]

will be going to HK with the fam in December...but we'll be holing up in HKDisneyland...wanted to go to Ocean Park (really wanted to see the pandas)...Snoopy Park...Noah's Ark...the markets...rent Qipao and do a photo shoot...join a food crawl tour...I also saw a tour to go to the instagrammable places in Hong Kong...the one with all the street art....

 

[KingCrusher]

I went to HK earlier this year and did Big Buddha, Vicky's Peak, Disney. I'm going to go against next year and will make sure to hit Ocean Park and also Macau.

 

[Just-Pete]

Just got back yesterday from HK. We did three days as we were passing through. And our middle day was our Dis day... Loved it and tempted to write a TR but can’t see a section here for TR’s from the Asian parks.

Anyway the other things we did have been mentioned. But on our last day we did the Big buddha by taking the Ngong Ping Cable car, and it was beautiful and breathtaking. So would deffo suggest that. The queue for the cable car was about 45 minutes which was easily twice as long as anything we queue for in HKDL. But it was fine and definitely worth the wait when we boarded and made our way to the top!!!

So out of them, this would be my
Top recommendation.

 

[BLTtinkerbell]

Just got back yesterday from HK. We did three days as we were passing through. And our middle day was our Dis day... Loved it and tempted to write a TR but can’t see a section here for TR’s from the Asian parks.

Anyway the other things we did have been mentioned. But on our last day we did the Big buddha by taking the Ngong Ping Cable car, and it was beautiful and breathtaking. So would deffo suggest that. The queue for the cable car was about 45 minutes which was easily twice as long as anything we queue for in HKDL. But it was fine and definitely worth the wait when we boarded and made our way to the top!!!

So out of them, this would be my
Top recommendation.

Thank you for your response.

I would love to hear all about your trip.

 

[Just-Pete]

Thank you for your response.

I would love to hear all about your trip.

Well the kicker is that I left my iPad on the flight from HK back to Bangkok where I have been based from on this little Asia trip, so it’s safe to say that is gone.

I’m flying today on quite a convoluted route back to London (I’m a plane geek so have picked connections that get me on imho the coolest planes) so I don’t fancy typing up it all on my iPhone. So maybe when I am back home I will type up a mini TR on my MacBook and post it in here!

 

[AngelDisney]

Well the kicker is that I left my iPad on the flight from HK back to Bangkok where I have been based from on this little Asia trip, so it’s safe to say that is gone.

I’m flying today on quite a convoluted route back to London (I’m a plane geek so have picked connections that get me on imho the coolest planes) so I don’t fancy typing up it all on my iPhone. So maybe when I am back home I will type up a mini TR on my MacBook and post it in here!

Sorry about your iPad! Have a safe trip home!!

 

[BLTtinkerbell]

Well the kicker is that I left my iPad on the flight from HK back to Bangkok where I have been based from on this little Asia trip, so it’s safe to say that is gone.

I’m flying today on quite a convoluted route back to London (I’m a plane geek so have picked connections that get me on imho the coolest planes) so I don’t fancy typing up it all on my iPhone. So maybe when I am back home I will type up a mini TR on my MacBook and post it in here!

Oh sorry to hear about your IPad. Maybe a nice person turned it in.

Have a safe trip!

I look forward to hearing about your travels.

 

[wongck]

Weird.... I only saw Ocean Park mentioned once in this thread. Yay

The nighttime light show on the harbor called A Symphony of Lights is unique, although it is generally a better idea than reality. Still, it is a interesting enough if you happen to be near the waterfront to catch it happening at 8:00PM each night.

Symphony of Lights.... IMHO was a disaster. Not a lot going on... a colour flash at this building and another at a different building. Just too large a stage to concentrate. And because of the huge building, fully lighting it up may be difficult. Would not consider it a must-do. I mean if I were there again I would make a point to miss it.

I would also miss Ocean park as well. The place over ran with Chinese tourist and cutting queue... even step on my shoes, I shouted at the lady, she didn't even bother to turn and say sorry. The park was large and a day is not enough but i threw my revisit plans out of the window, so that's that.

 

[AngelDisney]

I am staying at Ovolo Southside and it’s just next to Ocean Park, but I am going skip it this time as well. I have been to Ocean Park countless times when I was growing up: school trips, visiting whenever relatives and friends came to Hong Kong, and going every summer when school was off. It’s grown a lot and now with many thrill rides. Yet it could be similar to Sea World and other aquariums so I decide to skip it again. The pandas used to be the draw, but we have 4 here in Toronto now.

We are visiting Macau for a day with my BFFs in Hong Kong. We are not casino people. They are taking us there for yummy local food. We are foodies. Leaving in a week! Can’t wait!!

 

[Just-Pete]

Weird.... I only saw Ocean Park mentioned once in this thread. Yay


Symphony of Lights.... IMHO was a disaster. Not a lot going on... a colour flash at this building and another at a different building. Just too large a stage to concentrate. And because of the huge building, fully lighting it up may be difficult. Would not consider it a must-do. I mean if I were there again I would make a point to miss it.

Yes we were staying in the Rennaiasance Harbour view, and a few people raved about the Symphony of Lights, and we were told we had a great view of it from the 28th floor. When we got to the room, we even had a card on the window about it and a note to tune to a certain frequency on the radio to hear the music in sync with it.

Well the lights didn't seem that impressive, and the radio wouldn't tune to the aforementioned frequency. So that was that!

 

[Tahlzy]

I left my iPhone on a plane from HK to Shanghai in December Was gutted! Then my find my iPhone had it in Ghunzhou and it was officially gone

My Hong Kong must do:
Disneyland
We enjoyed Ocean Park - it was a fun day! Expect a LOT of walking but its no Disney park - The kids had fun. We did go when it was quiet however.
We dim sum! Our favourite is One Dim Sum - SO GOOD - very traditional
Ladies Market - shopping!
Victoria's Peak - such a cool view
We always go over to Macau - we LOVE it - its an Asian Vegas! The Venetian is SO cool - its pretty similar to the one in Vegas - we also love the restaurants in the Wynn - there is a specialty dim sum place there that does the most amazing shredded beef. You can now drive over, or catch the ferry We caught Jimmy Barnes over there in December last year - amazingly hadn't seen him at home, but saw him at the Paris and it was such a good concert - Also saw him at brekky and he was super nice to talk to!

If you love food, one thing I have heard one of my friends do is the Anthony Bourdain style tour - Look up the places he goes and you know the food would be incredible

 

[Douglas Dubh]

I'm definitely interested in spending a day in Macau next time I go to Hong Kong. How easy is it to do? Can you just hop on a ferry one morning with a passport or do you need a visa and tickets booked in advance?

 

[Tahlzy]

I'm definitely interested in spending a day in Macau next time I go to Hong Kong. How easy is it to do? Can you just hop on a ferry one morning with a passport or do you need a visa and tickets booked in advance?

Hey
You can literally rock up to the terminal and its like an airport - you get a ticket and you process through immigration - Def worth going overnight tho IMO We bought our tickets in advance as we paid a bit extra and went 1st class - Recliners, drinks, and first off the boat