Hong Kong is a study in contrasts. Accommodation is among the most expensive in the world. Transport and food are among the cheapest of any developed city. Which of those dominates your budget depends entirely on how you travel.
The currency
The Hong Kong dollar, pegged to the US dollar in a band around 7.75 to 7.85 since 1983. The rate barely moves, so there is nothing to time.
Cards and contactless are widely accepted. Octopus covers transport and a great deal of small retail. Keep some cash for minibuses, market stalls and older restaurants.
Daily budgets
Per person per day, excluding flights:
- Frugal: hostel or guesthouse, Octopus for everything, cha chaan teng and street food, the free trails, temples and Tai Kwun.
- Comfortable: mid-range hotel, a mix of casual and restaurant meals, museums, the Peak Tram and a day trip.
- Generous: harbour-view hotel, starred restaurants, Macau, taxis throughout.
The frugal figure is genuinely low. Hong Kong is one of the few expensive cities where you can eat extremely well for very little.
The transport is nearly free
This is worth stating plainly.
The Star Ferry across the harbour costs less than a bottle of water. The tram along the north shore of the island is a flat fare of a few dollars. The MTR is distance-based and cheap. Outlying island ferries are a few dollars.
A full day of ferries, trams and MTR costs less than a single metro journey in London or New York.
The food
Cha chaan teng set meals, wonton noodles, roast meat over rice and street food are all extremely cheap, and several of the best of them hold Michelin recognition.
Where it gets expensive: hotel restaurants, Central at lunchtime, and alcohol — a beer in a bar costs several times what it costs in a shop, and Hong Kong’s bar prices are among the highest in Asia.
Where the money goes
Accommodation, overwhelmingly. Hong Kong hotel rooms are small and expensive, and the difference between a 15-square-metre room and a 25-square-metre one is substantial.
The Peak Tram, Ngong Ping cable car, M+ and the Palace Museum are the main ticketed items and none is expensive by international standards.
Macau as a day trip, with the ferry and a full day’s spending.
What is free
A great deal.
Every country park and hiking trail. Tai Kwun including the galleries and prison. The permanent collections at the Museum of History, the Museum of Art and the Heritage Discovery Centre. Every temple. The Mid-Levels Escalator. The Symphony of Lights. The markets. PMQ. The Peak’s Lugard Road walk, which is better than the paid viewing platform above it.
Seasons
October to early December is the best weather and the peak for hotel prices.
Chinese New Year — late January or February — sees prices rise and a great many restaurants and shops close for several days. Check the dates.
Summer, July to September, is hot, humid and typhoon season, and is the cheapest.
Tax
There is no sales tax in Hong Kong. The price shown is the price paid, except in restaurants that add a 10 per cent service charge.
Hotel bills may carry a small government levy.
Where visitors overspend
Harbour cruises, when the Star Ferry crosses the same water for a few dollars and the 8pm crossing coincides with the Symphony of Lights.
Sky Terrace 428 at the Peak, when the Peak Galleria roof and the Lugard Road walk are free and better.
Hotel breakfast added to a room rate, when a cha chaan teng set breakfast costs a fraction.
Taxis across the harbour, which pick up tunnel tolls, when the MTR takes four minutes.
A realistic four-day sum
Two people, mid-range hotel in Sheung Wan, Octopus for everything, M+ and the Palace Museum, a day on Lantau, one proper Cantonese dinner and otherwise cha chaan teng and noodle shops: Hong Kong comes out well below Tokyo or Singapore on food and transport, and above both on the room.
The room is the whole difference.
Chinese New Year
The one period that changes the arithmetic. Falling in late January or February, it brings higher hotel rates, packed transport, and — the part that catches visitors — a great many restaurants and small shops closed for three to five days.
Check the dates against your trip. If you are coming for the festival itself it is worth it; if you are coming to eat, it is not the week.
No sales tax
Worth repeating because it is unusual: Hong Kong has no VAT or sales tax. The price on the label is the price you pay.
Restaurants add 10 per cent service and that is the only routine addition.