Orientation for new arrivals in the main urban areas is relatively easy: if you are "Hong Kong-side" - on the northen shore of Hong Kong Island - Victoria Harbor lies to your north, while to your south the land slopes upwards steeply to the Peak. The heart of this built-up area on Hong Kong Island is known, rather mundanely, as Central. Just across the harbor, in the area known as Tsim Sha Tsui, you are "Kowloon-side", and here all you really need to recognize is the colossal north-south artery, Nathan Road, full of shops and budget hotels, that leads down to the harbor, and to the phenomenal view south over Hong Kong Island. Two more useful points for orientation on both sides of Victoria Harbor are the Star Ferry terminals where the popular cross-harbor ferries dock, in Tsim Sha Tsui (a short walk west of the south end of Nathan Road) and in Central.
| Hong Kong phone numbers have no area codes. From outside the territory, dial the normal international access code + 852 (the country code) + the number. However, from Macau you need only dial 01+ the number. To call Hong Kong from mainland China, dial 00 + 852 + the number. |
Arrival
Public transport is so convenient and efficient that even first-time arrivals are unlikely to face any particular problems in reaching their destination within the city - apart from the difficulty of communicating with taxi drivers or reading the destinations on minibuses. All signs are supposed to be written in English and Chinese (although the English signs are sometimes so discreet as to be invisible) and travel times from the main international arrival points are reasonable, though road traffic is often heavy.
By Plane
The Hong Kong International Airport opened in 1998 in Chek Lap Kok on the outlying islnad Lantau as part of a $155.3 billion engineering project. Although a good deal farther out from the downtown areas than the old Kai Tak airtopr, the excellent rail and road links that were built with it mean that the travel times are not much longer. However, one thing the Hong Kong International Airport cannot match is the hair-raising approach that made the old Kai Tak airport so unique - swooping between apartment buildings, and with a dramatic last-minute turn, dropping onto a runway right in the central harbor.
The most efficient way to get into town from the airport is by the high-speed Airport Express (AEL) rail service (Tel:2881-8888). The station platforms are joined directly to both the arrival and departure halls. Air-conditioned trains whisk you to central in 23 minutes with stops on the way at Tsing Yi and Kowloon. Services operate daily every eight minutes between 5:50am and 1am. There are taxi ranks, bus stops and hotel shuttle bus stops at the Airport Express stations, and a left-luggage service at Hong Kong and Kowloon stations operates daily from 6am to 1am.
Running alongside the Airport Express line for much of the way is the Tung Chung Line, which also offers services every eight minutes. This is designed as a slower commuter line, stopping at five other stations in addition to the Airport Express stops. It's handy if you're heading for certain destinations in the New Territories, or as a cheaper means into the center, but you need to take bus #S51 or #S61 from the airport to Tung Chung first.
Another way into the city (and to most hotels) is by bus. There are six Airbus routes, and their departure points are clearly signposted in the terminal; the airport customer-service counters sell tickets and give change, while if you pay on the buses themselves you need to have the exact money. All six routes have very regular departures between 6am and midnight, and there's plenty of room for luggage, The #A11 and #A12 go to Causeway Bay on Hong Kong Island via Sheng Wan, Central, Admiralty and Wan Chai; the #A12 continues to Fortress Hill, North Point Quarry Bay and Tai Koo. Bus #A21 goes to Kowloon KCR station via Tism Sha Tsui, Jordan, Yau Ma Tei and Tai Kok Tsui (and stops off at Chungking Mansions); #A22 to Kowloon and Lam Tin MTR station via Kwung Tong, Ngau Tau Kok, Kowloon Bay, Kowloon City, to Kwa Wan, Hung Hom and Jordan; #A31 and #A41 go to the New Territories, with #A31 calling at Tsuen Wan MTR station, Kwai Chung Road, Kwai Fong, an hour. There are also 21 cheaper city bus routes, used mainly by local residents, some of which run 24-hour services.
Taxis into the city are metered and reliable. You might want to get the tourist office in the Buffer Hall to write down the name of your destination in Chinese characters for the driver, though they should know the names of the big hotels in English. It costs roughly $ 290 to get to for luggage and for tunnel tolls - on some tunnel trips the passenger pays the return charge too. Rush-hour traffic can slow down journey times considerably, particularly if you're using one of the cross-harbor tunnels to Hong Kong Island.
The new airport is open 24 hours, unlike Kai Tak, but transport for early or late flights can be a problem. Bet midnight and 5:50am the rail connections are closed. There are four night bus services, but otherwise you'll have to take a taxi.
By train and bus
The main land route into Hong Kong is by train. Express trains from Guangzhou arrive at Hung Hom Railway Station (train enquiries 2602-7799), east of Tsim Sha Tsui, also known as the Kowloon-Canton Railway Station (KCR). Signposted walkways lead from here to an adjacent bus terminal, taxi rank and - ten minutes around the harbor - the Hung Hom Ferry Pier: for Tsim Sha Tsui, take bus #5C to the Star Ferry; for Hong Kong Island, take the cross-harbor ferry to Wan Chai or Central.
A cheaper alternative is to take a local train from Guangzhou to the Chinese border city of Shenzhen, from where you walk across the border to Lo Wu on the Hong Kong side and pick up the regular KCR trains to Kowloon. However, bear in mind that you are likely to queue for anything from ten minutes to two and a half hours before passing through PRC customs, with the longest delays on Fridays, at weekends and public holidays. It's then a fifty-minute ride into central Hong Kong, the trains following the same length of track to Hung Hom station. By bus there are regular daily services from Guangzhou and Shenzhen operated by CTS and Citybus; these take about one hour longer than the direct train and arrive in downtown Tsim ShaTsui.
By Ferry
Arriving by sea is a great way to approach Hong Kong for the first time. There are two important long-distance ferry terminals, one for Macau ferries and one for ferries from other Chinese ports. The Hong Kong-Macau Ferry Terminal is in the Shun Tak Centre, on Hong Kong Island, from where the Sheung Wan MTR station is directly accessible. The vast, gold-colored Hong Kong China Ferry Terminal, where ferries from Shanghai, Xiamen, Guangzhou, Shekou and Zhuhai dock, is in the west of Tsim Sha Tsui, just ten minutes' walk from Nathan Road. There is also a berth for international cruise liners at Ocean Terminal in Tsim Sha Tsui.
Highlights of Hongkong:
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