Hong Kong has opened its doors now for tourist after the pandemic. We decided for a quick Hong Kong weekend (with a Macao side-trip) last March. We did not have a lot of time to plan and so we just made a very simple itinerary.
OUR ITINERARY
Day 0 – Travel to Hong Kong via Cebu Pacific Air
Day 1 – City Tour [Tsuen Wan area; Nian Lian Garden; Central Hong Kong; Tsim Sha Tsui; Mongkok]
Day 2 – Macao Day Trip
Day 3 – Disneyland
Day 4 – Fly back home
We did not include the regular tourist attractions like Ngong Ping 360 (it was closed during our visit) and The Peak, we were able to visit these places 9 years ago. I know there are bound to be changes but, we would like to explore more of Hong Kong with the minimal days we visited.
OUR BUDGET
Airfare – Php 20,500 – Cebu Pacific Air has always been our airline of choice. It is cheap and has been reliable for us.
Hotel – Php 7,400 – We stayed at Hotel Ease Tsuen Wan for 4 days and 3 nights. If you have small children and elderly, I would not advise this hotel. It is quiet far from the MTR (though they have free shuttle bus). The location is more of industrial and not touristy. The hotel is very nice though. Bigger than the regular Hong Kong hotels, and they have complete amenities, and toiletries were provided.
Macao Day Trip – Php 6,900 – Our Macao Day Trip includes transportation cost [HKD 464], meals [HKD 196], pasalubong [327]. We used HZMB to go to Macao and it saved us a lot on transportation.
Disneyland – Php 16,500 – We bought our Hong Kong Disneyland tickets at KKDay and registered our visit in Disneyland website. Our tickets include 3-in-1 meals (HKD 140 voucher for lunch; HKD 140 voucher for dinner; ice lollipop or popcorn), and it saved us a lot. You can bring snacks inside Disneyland to save money but all the walking and enjoyment will make you hungry and thus, eating inside park restaurants will be unavoidable especially if you visit from 1030am (opening time) until 9pm (closing time).
Food – Php 5,100 – Meal cost does not include our meals in Disneyland and meals in Macao.
Transportation – Php 2,000 – We saved a lot on transportation as we use the MTR when we travel. We made sure to avail of the Octopus card as it gave us discounted fares versus the single ticket. We also did not use the Airport Express and utilize the Airport buses [our more-than-an-hour ride on the bus from Tsuen Wan to the airport cost HKD 10.8! ]. We also tried the ferry from Central to Tsim Sha Tsui, which was surprisingly cheaper than the MTR [we initially just wanted the experience].
Miscellaneous – Travel tax cost Php 1620 for adults and Php 810 for child below 12yrs old; here are additional expenses you may incur: insurance [good to have], SIM [buy MySIM at 7/11 for HKD33 only], adaptor [if your hotel cannot lend you one], and of course, pasalubong.
*All cost are for 2 adults and 1 child.
We first visited Hong Kong nine years ago. It was such a memorable experience as it was our very first out of the country trip, with our little boy at almost 2yrs old [and was free on all expenses]. This second visit to Hong Kong was a very different experience. Aside from the cost being multiplied by three and the post-pandemic restrictions, we were able to visit other places we did not visit on the first time (aside from Disneyland). I thought visiting any country the second time around would not be as exciting as the first visit, but I was clearly wrong. I might visit Hong Kong the third time 😉
