How to maximize a vacation in Hong Kong

Two weeks ago I flew to my favorite destination Hong Kong. Have you ever been there? if not, promise me to go there. The place has everything you need for a complete vacation. City, beach, mountains, a mix of Asia and Europe, good climate and it is just a fantastic place. I traveled there with my adventure partner in crime and here comes a short recap of how we maximized our days in HKG. If you want more detailed guides, they will pop up here within short.

Saturday

We left Sweden after work on Friday and took the SAS flight though Copenhagen to HKG where we arrived in the afternoon. A bus ride later we and some steps between the skyscrapers at Hong Kong island we left our bags at the hotel, ready for new adventures. We walked to the harbor and took the Star Ferry over to Kowloon. The more asian side of HKG where we watched the sunset together with hundreds of others before doing some shopping.

Rushing around was the theme of this vacation. Back to the hotel for a short change and then we went to my uni friends place at Hong Kong island for BBQ with a view and hangout. If you looking for some good shopping while in HKG you should check out their business, OnTheList where you can buy premium brands to great prices.

Sunday

A few hours of sleep then we went out for breakfast at my favorite brekkie place in HKG, Le Pain Quotadien. They have an excellent outdoor terrace and having the coffee outside in 25 degrees the 1st of December, who say no to that?

Fueled up with brekkie energy we went hiking. Of course not equipped with hiking gear, but handbags and beach wear. We hiked a pretty tough hike called Twin Peaks which accounted for 100 floors in the iPhone health app. But worth the effort and it finished at Stanley beach where we spent the rest of the day until sunset.

The day was of course not over after that. We went home for a quick shower and then out to eat premium dumplings that tasted like crap and finished the day at the rooftop bar Wooloomooloo which is pretty touristic but the view is a million dollar one.

Monday

It is pretty difficult to find good breakfast places in Hong Kong and if you wish a western style one Pret, LPQ and Starbucks are the most common places I have found that serves yoghurt and stuff like that. So for the second day we went to LPQ to start our day before taking the boat to Macau. A day full of excitement in a country reminding me about Disneyland but for grownups. I was there about 10 years ago but honestly it was totally different now. I will tell you the whole story about Macau another day so check back for that. But worth devoting a day to at your HKG trip.

Tuesday

There are loads of great hikes in Hong Kong and we had serious difficulties to choose which one to go for this second hiking day. After loads of thoughts we decided to go for  the easily accessible one Dragons back which I hiked two times before since we had so much on our to-do list. So we went there and had yet another fab hiking day (with sore legs). After finishing the 3 hours hike we got the reward, beach time! If you just do one hike in HKG, do this one.

Back to the city again and then a night out. First a short visit at Sevva. We were pretty late and they stopped serving drinks one (!) hour before closing so we could only check out the view there. Then we went to LKF, the famous bar street to have some drinks before ending our night out at another rooftop bar Ce La Vie, same name as my favorite rooftop bar in Singapore. HKG is the place to be for rooftop bars. Did you know that HKG have more skyscrapers than New York?

Wednesday

Why resting when you are on vacation? although our legs were more than tired at this point we decided to go for a morning run. I really didn’t felt for it but a must so it became a super short one. 5K. But every run counts, right? And after running comes beach. This day was cloudy but what stops to Swedes when it is 25 degrees in December and a beach is a bus route away? nothing. We spent the afternoon in horizontal position at Repulse bay doing nothing except listening to podcasts and reading books. Then off to the city again for some shopping before we waved goodbye to lovely HKG and took the bus to the airport at 9 pm. And guess who slept almost all the way back to Stockholm? me. Totally worn out.

Honestly, I am already missing Hong Kong and will for sure have a stop over there my next visit to Asia. Anyone else who has been to HKG? or wanna go there?

/ Pernilla the Hong Kong lover