It has been two years since my last visit to Hong Kong (Apr 2014) and 3rd trip in 4 years! I feel pretty comfortable in Hong Kong and the best part of my third trip is that.. it only gets cheaper.
Hong Kong Flights
The best part of my trip? It was my flight experience.
We booked 6 months in advance and flew Singapore Airlines both ways for only $274.80 (7am flight depart, 8pm return). The departing flight there was the newer in-flight system and the seats had slightly more legroom compared to the return flight. We had Häagen-Dazs ice cream too! One of the more iconic perks of taking our national carrier ^_-
Anyway, if we were to fly by budget airlines, it would probably be only 10 to 20% cheaper and the flight timings might be worse off. In recent years, ticket prices between Singapore and Hongkong have gone ridiculously low, even among the national carriers – SIA and Cathay Pacific. Despite inflation in everything, the only thing that reduces in price over the years is air tickets. I remember paying $300-500 for my air tickets 8 to 10 years ago.
Hong Kong Hotels
Similar to my previous two trips (2013 & 2014), I stayed in Hong Kong Island again. I really love staying in Hong Kong Island and I think I will probably continue staying in HKI for my future trips! It is just so convenient.
The first trip, I stayed in a hostel, second trip in airbnb and this time round, we chose a hotel as we realised that the prices were not too far off from airbnb. I suspect the prices of hotel dipped like crazy ever since the Umbrella Revolution where the number of PRCs visiting HK dropped significantly.
We eventually booked JJ Hotel (nearest MTR is Wan Chai) at a steal of $43 each per night ($86/room with twin beds).
Apart from not being a stand alone hotel (it is only 4 out of 20 floors of a building which consists of offices, a famous steamboat restaurant, tuition centers and bar on the top floor), the room size was good in comparison to my previous airbnb and yessin hostel experience. We even have a free room upgrade for 1 of our 2 rooms. The bigger room even had a bath tub and quite a reasonable walking space with our luggage open. The hotel also provided luggage storage on our last day of our stay.
The hotel is approximately 7 minutes walk from the MTR Station, 4 minutes walk from the airport bus stop. As seen from the map below, the hotel is conveniently located among my favourite food hangout places like Honolulu Cafe and Joy Hing! Even my favourite ramen from Butao is walkable =D
To read more about my food adventures, refer to this post.
By the way, similar to skyscanner, you can use hotelscombined.com to compare the prices of hotels across different booking websites to guarantee that you have the best deal before you make a booking!
Hong Kong Data Sim/Mobile Wifi
In today’s day and age, as much as you prefer to cut yourself away from technology while you travel, it is always more convenient to stay connected. What are you options in Hong Kong?
- Buy an Overseas Sim Card from Klook at only SGD 10
- 5 Day 4G Sim Card with 1.5G Data or 8 Day 3G Unlimited @ SGD 11
- Pick up at Hong Kong Airport right after immigration (9am to 11pm)
- Refundable Deposit of 5 HKD if you return the sim card to the counter
- Able to make local HK phone calls and send SMS to HK numbersShould you choose to buy in Hong Kong directly, the price is HKD 88 a the counter for the same card.
Booking is instant and the voucher will be sent to your email almost immediately!
If you download the Klook app, the vouchers will also be available in your app (something like Groupon) and it is really convenient!
- Hong Kong Tourist Sim at HKD 88 (SGD 16)
- You can get the Discover Hong Kong Tourist SIM Card at any 1O1O centres in town, including the new outlet at 5/F of the Hong Kong International Airport Arrival Hall, more than 1,000 7-Eleven, Circle K or VanGO convenience stores, csl or HKT shops, and the Hong Kong Tourism Board’s Kowloon Visitor Centre at the Star Ferry Concourse in Tsim Sha Tsui.
- You can also buy it from Changi Recommends for SGD 15.
- Changi Recommends – Overseas Wi-Fi Rental (SGD 5/day)
- Portable Wifi Rental – easy for sharing among friends up to 6 Devices
- 4G usage up to first 500mb/day
- Starhub Happy Roam from SGD 15
- Purchase this prepaid sim card in singapore and utilize $7 for every Gb of data.
- Singtel Ready Roam at SGD 20 per month
- Receive 1 Gb of data which can be used across 11 destinations (Hong Kong, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Macau, NZ, Philippines, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand)
Conclusion
Unless you intend to visit Hong Kong for more than 5 days, buying an overseas sim card from Klook seems to be the cheapest and more convenient option!
However, if you are someone that receives a lot of incoming phone calls from your Singapore number, it would be better to consider renting a portable wifi or use Singtel’s Ready Roam or m1 Data Passport as these are the only 2 option which does not require removing the sim card from your phone.
If you have any other options which are not in my list, feel free to let me know and I’ll add it in!