Hong Kong was not my first choice for a holiday. I wanted fabulous beaches and sunshine. My husband wanted cold weather and mountains. A friend suggested Hong Kong in November; we checked the dates and booked a week.
The full programme and dates are yet to be confirmed, so check the official Hong Kong Tourism Board website before planning your visit. By the time we walked out of our hotel and got our first proper look at the city, I knew I was going to love it. Skyscrapers, water, sunshine and hills in the distance, with people rushing around getting on with their day. I realised I am very much a city girl on holiday. Give me a new city to explore, plenty of places to eat and the freedom to get off the metro and walk around, and I am happy. We spent seven days in Hong Kong, visiting theme parks, temples, neighbourhood cafes, shopping streets and Stanley Beach. My biggest tip is not to try to cover every attraction in one visit. Pick the theme parks, neighbourhoods and food experiences that appeal to you, then leave time to wander. We often chose an MTR station, got off and explored on foot. That was how we found some of our favourite cafes and little shops. I went to Hong Kong thinking I wanted a beach holiday. I came back realising that a city with good food, easy public transport, plenty to see and room for spontaneous plans was exactly the kind of holiday I enjoyed. And yes, I would happily go back for another cold milk tea and a Mobile Softy. Here’s what to know about the Grand Train Tour I compared hard shell VS soft shell luggage; here’s what I’d buy again Handpicked monsoon destinations in India backed by hospitality experts; what to pack, how to plan
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Book your attractions before you fly
This is the one thing I would not leave until the last minute. If your registration is unsuccessful, you need to apply directly to the Hong Kong Immigration Department for an entry visa. PAR is free on the official government website. We booked our flights and hotels around three months in advance, and I assumed the paperwork would be straightforward. My husband’s PAR was accepted. Mine was rejected. I ended up applying for a visa instead. With the departure date getting closer, I emailed the relevant office, submitted the documents requested and kept following up. Thankfully, the visa came through in time. My advice is to apply early and check every detail you enter against your passport. I would not recommend guessing or substituting a place name. Follow the official instructions and make sure your details match your passport exactly. Having several bookings in one place made planning easier. Check the final amount before paying. Service charges and checkout options can vary, so putting several bookings in one cart may be convenient. Read the ticket conditions, too. Some attractions require a separate timeslot booking even after you have bought your ticket. We collected our Octopus cards at the airport using the QR code from our booking. Check the current collection options and card details before travelling, as these can change. The Octopus card made getting around much easier. My foreign exchange card did not work at every outlet we tried, so carrying some cash is a sensible backup. For currency exchange, I found several shops offering good rates at Chungking Mansions in Tsim Sha Tsui, usually called TST. We exchanged some money at the airport first and looked around once we reached the city. I found our hotel through Instagram. It was a service-style hotel in TST, around a five-minute walk from the Avenue of Stars. That came in handy after late nights out. I liked being able to step outside and immediately find food, shops and something to do. If you are choosing a hotel, look at the neighbourhood as much as the room. We spent so much time outside that having places to eat and explore nearby made a real difference. We arrived in the second half of the day, checked into the hotel and headed out. It is free to visit, and the waterfront is a lovely place to spend an evening. There are benches, people finishing their runs and sometimes bands playing music. We wandered through the lanes on the way back and found little cafes tucked into buildings. The fries at Potato Corner were excellent. That first night, I also spotted the Mobile Softy truck around Nathan Road. Finding it became a bit of a mission during the trip. The truck plays a recognisable tune, so you can often hear it before you see it. The soft serve was milky and subtle, very different from what I am used to in India. On some nights, I had two or three. On our last night, we went looking for it and ended up making ice cream our main event. Dinner was a late visit to McCafé, where I had my first Hong Kong milk tea. I was hooked. We spent the day at Ocean Park. I loved the mix of pandas, fish, roller coasters and rides. It is a full day out, so wear comfortable shoes and do not squeeze too many other plans into the same day. For dinner, we found a kebab and shawarma place in TST. We also ate Shanghai-style pan-fried buns at Cheung Hing Kee, a Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand restaurant in TST. The buns and dumplings were some of the best I have eaten. Hong Kong has plenty of small food places like this alongside its more formal restaurants. Leave room for meals you have not planned in advance. We visited Po Lin Monastery and ate at its vegetarian kitchen. The spring rolls and noodles were delicious, filling and affordable. Check your cable car ticket and timeslot details before setting out, and leave enough time to explore once you arrive. We spent the entire day at Disneyland and stayed for the fireworks. It was my first Disneyland visit, so I enjoyed the whole experience. Carry a water bottle. We found free cold filtered drinking water at some tourist attractions and metro stations, which made refilling easy. Familiar snacks from home can be surprisingly useful when you are out all day. We had planned a day trip to Macau, but changed our minds. There was still plenty to see in Hong Kong, so we slept in, had a late breakfast and spent the day exploring Mid Levels and Soho. We stopped for Vietnamese food and banh mi, then had coffee beside the pond at Hong Kong Park. I would absolutely make time for this. We also walked around the Victoria Prison area. Dinner was at Chilli Fagara, which we booked in advance through OpenRice. The food was worth planning around, particularly the dumplings in chilli oil. We returned to Hong Kong Island and explored Wan Chai before walking around Mid Levels in search of Indian food. That is how we found Papa Gomes One, a tiny place with just three tables. The owner cooks the food himself, and we had a lovely thali with a samosa, a drink, naan or paratha, rice and two curries. Later, we went to Sham Shui Po for toys and stationery. If you are travelling with children, add this area to your list. We bought markers and boxes of sketch pens for the boys, and some of those supplies are still being used at home two years later. For our last day, we finally headed to Stanley Beach. We spent some time around the area, with cafes nearby, before visiting a flea market and taking a few buses just to see more of the city. After returning to the hotel for a rest, we went back to the Avenue of Stars and revisited some of our favourite food spots. It was a nice way to end the trip without trying to cram in another big attraction. In reality, we ended up eating breakfast at Bolton Cafe, a cha chaan teng just three buildings from our hotel, on most mornings. We tried Red Fork Cafe one day, too. For shoes, look at Citygate Outlets. We found discounts at the Nike, Fila and ASICS stores. If you are shopping for On Cloud shoes, stick to genuine or authorised retailers rather than taking a chance on random outlets. I would not go to Hong Kong expecting luxury handbags to be cheap. For toys, stationery and affordable little finds, Sham Shui Po was far more interesting for us. You can also find a wide variety of Christmas decorations. For magnets and small souvenirs, look at shops and market stalls around TST instead of buying everything at major tourist spots. Hong Kong has no general sales tax or VAT, but that does not automatically make every purchase cheaper than in India.
If you are planning a Hong Kong trip in 2026, here is what I would sort out before flying, along with the places I loved and the little things I wish I had known earlier. Eligible Indian passport holders can visit Hong Kong visa-free for up to 14 days, but they must successfully complete Pre Arrival Registration, or PAR, before travelling. I used Klook to book our Octopus cards, Ngong Ping 360 cable car, Disneyland entry, Ocean Park tickets and eSIMs. Ours came with HKD 50 stored value and was ready to use after collection. We topped ours up at 7 Eleven outlets, which are easy to find around the city. Shops, restaurants and people out on the streets kept the area active even at 2 am, and I felt comfortable walking around the nearby lanes. There was no hotel restaurant or breakfast buffet, but there was a 24-hour McCafé in the same building. Our first stop was a 7 Eleven for snacks and drinks, followed by the Avenue of Stars to watch the light show. The Michelin Guide lists its outlet at 48 Lock Road, Tsim Sha Tsui. The cable car ride on Ngong Ping 360 was a lovely way to see another side of Hong Kong. The restaurant is at 7 Old Bailey Street in Central. Our meal came with a 45-minute dining window, based on our experience, so check the conditions when booking. We spent around ₹ 2 lakh to ₹ 2.5 lakh for two people for the week. Costs depend on flights, hotel choice, shopping and how many attractions you book, but a budget below ₹ 3 lakh for two may be possible with some planning.
Because kGF was not available as an option, my passport had KGF listed, but I entered Kolar. Because the food options did not work particularly well for us, especially when we wanted Indian food, we also carried khakra from home.
We ate our khakra before the fireworks, then returned to TST for a random dinner, takeaway coffee and egg tarts. I had planned a list of restaurants before the trip.
