Hong Kong itinerary

I am a strong believer in planning ahead, most practically in travelling. So as much as possible, I try to book our travels months in advance so that there is more than enough time to save money, research about the place and strategize on how we can maximize the little time to be spent there.

From the accommodation, dining and shopping places up to the modes of transportation, knowing what to expect and finding good deals is a great advantage. For our four-day trip to Hong Kong, we decided to lodge in the Tsim Sha Tsui area and intended to visit five attractions: Avenue of the Stars, The Peak, Ocean Park, Giant Buddha and Disneyland.

ETA: December 7, 2012

ETD: December 10, 2012

Day 1: Tsim Sha Tsui (TST), Avenue of the Stars, Tram ride, The Peak

Day 2: Ocean Park HK, Temple Street

Day 3: Lantau Island’s cable car (Ngong Ping 360) and giant statue of Buddha (cancelled), HK Disneyland

Day 4: HK International Airport

A reasonable budget is 15,000 to 20,000 pesos per adult for the itinerary above, enough to survive HK for four days. The estimate includes expenses for food, accommodation, tickets, travel fees, transportation and, if you’re prudent enough, some shopping.

For accommodation, we chose a guesthouse instead of a more expensive hotel since we’re going to spend most of the day outside anyway. But of course, we do not want to risk our safety and quality time for just any cheap inn, so I checked forums (Pinoy Exchange, GirlTalk) and blogs for reviews until we ended up booking two rooms at the Golden Crownguesthouse. It has many satisfied customers and its website is very transparent, with a convenient and reliable reservation system, realistic photos and a guestbook wherein guests can post questions or requests to which staff reply promptly. They also offer discounted ticket prices for most tourist spots in HK.

It helps to check the web sites of every attraction you want to visit in order to know the ticket price and location; decide on the must-sees and must-tries; and get an idea of how big every place is. Upon researching about ticket prices, I came across the China Travel Services (CTS) that sells ticket vouchers at a lower price. After comparing ticket prices online, I decided to buy OP and The Peak tickets at CTS and Disneyland and Cable car tickets at Golden Crown.