We enjoyed a brilliant week in Hong Kong in October 2024. This is a city that we’d always wanted to visit and thought would make a good first visit to Asia. It’s an amazing place with so much to do, especially for families. We covered our holiday on our Instagram page @paradisefallsfamily and in our Youtube vlog series which we’ve included some links to on this site. On this and the accompanying pages, we provide a more detailed overview of Hong Kong and our holiday to help you plan your own trip.
Why Hong Kong?
Hong Kong boasts an array of family-friendly attractions that cater to all ages, ensuring an unforgettable experience for everyone. From amazing theme parks (Hong Kong Disneyland & Ocean Park) to vibrant culture, iconic sights and vast shopping malls. Hong Kong is a bustling modern city, that felt very safe and family friendly, and with perhaps the best public transport system we’ve ever encountered it was so easy to get around. The incredible skyline, the beautiful lights, the amazing array of food on offer, its just such an exciting and enthralling city that all 4 of us loved. Hong Kong also still has that western twist meaning it’s a great way to dip your toe and try Asia for the first time.
Hong Kong has been on our list for many years – its always been somewhere Greg wanted to visit, and Katy wanted to tick off another Disney park. We’d heard great things and so decided the kids were old enough to start trying some new and different places. Hong Kong, although it feels the other side of the World, was surprisingly more affordable than we were expecting – probably comparable to a break in New York, with a time difference comparable to west coast USA. So overall, not as unattainable as you might first think. We only visited for a week – and people thought we were mad – but it honestly went amazingly well and we’d do it again in a heartbeat.
Hong Kong is a special administrative region of China and sits on the south coast of China. It’s a former British colony so does have a unique blend of Eastern and Western influences. Given this we found English was spoken pretty widely, although to varying degrees, and all signs were in English as well as Chinese.
Hong Kong is broadly split into two, either side of Victoria Harbour. The northern side is Kowloon, on the mainland, and the southern side is Hong Kong City on Hong Kong island. You’ll probably find you spend equal time on both sides, and both are great options. There are also attractions out on Lantau island to the west, including Disneyland and the big Buddha as well as the airport. Plus there are other day trips you can enjoy, most notably Macau, known as the Las Vegas of Asia.