Hong Kong International Airport is on reclaimed land at Chek Lap Kok, off Lantau, about 35 kilometres from Central. It opened in 1998, replacing Kai Tak, and is consistently among the busiest cargo airports in the world.
The Airport Express
The fast option: 24 minutes to Central, 21 to Kowloon, with trains every ten to twelve minutes from early morning to around 1am.
It costs considerably more than ordinary MTR fares but is still modest by international standards, and return tickets and group tickets are meaningfully cheaper than singles.
Two things make it better than a comparable airport train elsewhere:
Free shuttle buses run from Hong Kong and Kowloon stations to most major hotels, and they are genuinely free with an Airport Express ticket.
In-town check-in at Hong Kong and Kowloon stations lets you drop bags and collect a boarding pass up to a day before departure with many airlines, then travel to the airport without luggage.
The buses
A-series buses — A11, A12, A21, A22 and others — run to Hong Kong Island, Kowloon and the New Territories, taking 45 to 75 minutes depending on destination and traffic.
They cost roughly a fifth of the Airport Express, have luggage racks, and announce stops in English. For anyone not in a hurry, or travelling to somewhere the Express does not serve, they are the sensible choice.
E-series buses are cheaper still and slower.
N-series night buses run when the Express does not.
Taxis
Metered, from the rank. To Central takes 35 to 45 minutes and costs several times the Airport Express for one person, competitive for three or four.
Remember the colour rule: take a red taxi for Hong Kong Island and Kowloon, blue for Lantau destinations. There are separate ranks.
Tunnel tolls are added.
Onward to Macau and the mainland
The airport has direct connections that bypass Hong Kong entirely:
Ferries from the SkyPier to Macau and to several Pearl River Delta ports, for passengers in transit — you do not clear Hong Kong immigration.
Buses over the Hong Kong–Zhuhai–Macau Bridge from the airport’s own port.
Coaches to Shenzhen and Guangzhou.
Times
Allow three hours for departures. The airport is large, and the walk to some gates involves an automated people mover.
Money and arrival
Hong Kong uses the Hong Kong dollar, pegged to the US dollar in a band around 7.75–7.85, so the rate barely moves.
Buy an Octopus card in arrivals — there are counters and machines — and top it up. It is the single most useful thing you can do in the first ten minutes.
Cards and contactless are widely accepted, but minibuses, market stalls, older cafés and many taxis are cash or Octopus.
Free wifi throughout the airport; local SIMs and eSIMs are cheap.
Which option for whom
One or two people going to Central, Kowloon or a major hotel: Airport Express, and use the free shuttle at the far end.
Three or four people: a taxi is competitive and simpler with luggage.
Anyone not in a hurry, or going somewhere the Express does not serve: an A-bus, which costs a fraction and has luggage racks.
Arriving between 1am and 5.30am: the Express does not run; take the N-series night bus or a taxi.
The other airports
Some itineraries route through Shenzhen Bao’an or Macau, both of which connect to Hong Kong by ferry, bus or bridge. Both are full border crossings and Shenzhen requires a Chinese visa for most nationalities.
Check what your ticket actually says.
In-town check-in, in detail
Available at Hong Kong and Kowloon Airport Express stations for many airlines, from 24 hours before departure until 90 minutes prior.
You drop your bags, take your boarding pass, and then have the rest of the day without luggage before travelling out. On a late-evening flight this converts a wasted afternoon into a usable one, and it is the single best reason to choose the Airport Express over the bus.
Check whether your airline participates; not all do, and the list changes.
Leaving
Allow three hours for an international departure. The terminals are large, and gates in the satellite concourse involve an automated people mover of several minutes.
If you have used in-town check-in, two hours is comfortable.
The Airport Express runs from about 5.50am to 12.48am; outside those hours the N11 and N21 night buses cover it, taking around an hour.
Kai Tak, for context
Until 1998, Hong Kong’s airport was Kai Tak, in the middle of Kowloon, with a single runway built out into the harbour.
The approach was famous: aircraft descended between apartment blocks, made a 47-degree right turn at low altitude on visual reference to a painted checkerboard on a hillside, and levelled out seconds before touchdown. Passengers could see into flats.
It was one of the most demanding commercial approaches in the world and it closed overnight in July 1998, with the entire airport’s operations moved to Chek Lap Kok in a single night.
The site is now a cruise terminal, a sports park and housing, and the old runway is visible on any map of Kowloon Bay.