Follow These 9 Essential Hong Kong Travel Tips When Visiting

If you’re looking for the best Hong Kong travel tips for your upcoming holiday, you’ve come to the right place! This no-frills guide will tell you exactly what you’ll need to visit this wonderful little city.

1 Prepare Cash

For a cosmopolitan city, Hong Kong is surprisingly not cash-free yet. While most big restaurants, convenience stores, and big brand stores accept credit cards, smaller establishments only accept cash. If you’re planning to eat at cool Michelin-recommended local hot spots, you should definitely arrange cash. A meal in Hong Kong costs between HKD 80-150, so for the whole day, I’d recommend you carry about HKD250 to remain comfortable. This accounts for sometimes spending on cards or your Octopus card.

2 Buy an Octopus Card

Perhaps the most important Hong Kong travel tip is to get an Octopus card. An Octopus card is a transit card with stored value on it (think of it as a more versatile Oyster Card in London, or an Opal Card in Sydney). It’s a must-have when travelling on the MTR, tram, ferry, bus, or even minibus. Aside from paying for your travel, a lot of merchants also accept payments via Octopus card since they aren’t charged a fee per transaction like credit cards.

You can use your Octopus card to buy drinks at 7/11, or even buy bread at bakeries. All supermarkets will also accept Octopus cards as a form of payment. The easiest way to equip yourself with this card is to buy one ahead of your journey. Visit the link below to purchase it online. Once you’re at the airport, you’ll be able to pick up your Octopus card easily and conveniently at the counter.

Anytime you need to recharge the card, simply head to the nearest convenience store or train station to load it up again. Bear in mind that you can only load the card up with cash. If you don’t plan on coming to Hong Kong very often, just go ahead to the MTR customer service again and ask for a refund on your card. They’ll return the remaining balance and that initial fee you paid.

3 Get a Travel Sim

Mobile data in Hong Kong is fairly cheap. I would recommend buying an eSim online prior to your journey to avoid paying high rates at the airport. Check out the link below for a great deal.

Note that you will not be able to buy an eSim inside Hong Kong. In fact, iPhones sold in Hong Kong are deliberately sold with physical SIM card slots. All Hong Kong residents are required to register their ID details to a phone number in a bid to crack down on crime. This is why I find eSIMs to be the best option with the least hassle.

4 Carry your ID at All Times

In Hong Kong, all adults are required to carry identification with them at all times. Hong Kong residents carry their Hong Kong Identity Card and travelers should carry their passports. Although rare, police can carry out random ID checks to make sure you’re in the city legally.

5 Find your Lost Items

Speaking of carrying your passport, what happens when you lose something? Hong Kong is one of the safest cities in the world, and you don’t need to worry about ever getting mugged, even at 3 am in the morning.

However, if you forget your important things somewhere – don’t worry! Head to the nearest police station or lodge your missing things on the eReport website. As a rule of thumb, always add your contact information to your belongings so that people can get back to you. Hong Kong people generally return items such as phones, wallets, and other things. As long as you don’t keep a big wad of cash in your wallet you should be fine.

6 Download these Apps!

Getting Around

MTR App – Metro Train
- Despite being a small city, Hong Kong is extremely well-connected by the extensive MTR network. If you want to go somewhere, simply enter your destination on the app, and it will tell you the get-on and get-off stations and the MTR exits. Handy right? If you’re travelling late at night or early in the morning, you can also see the first and last train information for any station.
Uber/HKTaxi – Taxi
- Our public transportation is pretty extensive but If you’re on a time crunch, taxi or Uber can get you anywhere in minutes. You can either use Uber or HK Taxi for this!
Moovit – Public Bus
- If you’re going somewhere with limited train access then the bus could be a great option. Download the Moovit app to track schedules and live locations for the bus.

For Food

Openrice
- Openrice is Hong Kong’s go-to restaurant app. You can check reviews, book restaurants and look at the information such as the menu. In some instances, it can be more reliable than Google food reviews, but the best thing about it is the ability to discover restaurants and book tables.
Google Maps – Restaurants
- Google Maps are pretty good if you don’t want to download yet another app. It can tell you what’s open, what’s nearby and how the food is. The only drawback of it is that you cannot reserve tables for most places. It should still be okay as you can do it through the Openrice website!

7 Check the Weather

Hong Kong is a tropical destination and depending on the time of the year you visit, there may be typhoons and tropical storms to look out for. You can visit the HKO website every morning to check the weather or look out for weather-related announcements! Even if outdoor activities may be closed you can enjoy the extensive list of indoor activities Hong Kong has to offer.

8 Carry a foldable Umbrella

Hong Kong outdoors can get extremely hot or rainy depending on the time of the year you’re visiting. As such, it’s always a great idea to carry a foldable umbrella in your bag. It could start raining or get too sunny, so you’ll always be prepared for the outdoors. Don’t worry if you didn’t pack any! Head over to any convenience stores such as 7-11 or Circle K, and you’ll find some great quality ones.

9 Hong Kong Travel Etiquettes

Escalators – Stand on the right-hand side of the escalators so that people can pass by on the left.
Priority Seats on Public Transport – Do not sit on priority seats on the trains or buses. Give your seat up for someone in need, for example, the elderly, the disabled, pregnant women and those with small children.
Always Line Up! – You’ll notice that there are lines everywhere. If you need to access an activity or service, always line up and wait for your turn.
Calling the Waiter – In a restaurant, you can always call the waiter by raising your hand and saying “MM GOI” which is Cantonese for “excuse me” or “thank you”. It’s quite simple and can be used as a gesture of politeness.