In December 2023, my friends and I flew to Hong Kong for 4 days after winning free base fare tickets with Cathay Pacific. We joined the Hong Kong International Airport Authority’s World of Winners campaign in the Philippines, and we each got one roundtrip free base fare ticket valid until December 2023. My friends and I chose December as our travel month to avoid the heat (which we did not), and to have better weather in general.
Today, I will share with you what happened in these 4 days and 4 nights around Hong Kong. My friends and I have all been to Hong Kong in the past, but we still went for the usual sightings. Read on below to learn which places we visited and how we managed to fit everything in for less than ₱30,000 per person all-in.
Hong Kong SAR
Hong Kong is a special administrative region of the People’s Republic of China. The autonomous territory has its own government, economy, and currency. This highly developed territory is one of Asia’s financial and economic hubs; it is the center or base of many multi-national companies and corporations.
Hong Kong is one of the Philippines’ biggest travel markets. Many Filipinos fly between Hong Kong and the Philippines daily. It is also one of the favorite and first-time go-to destinations of Filipino families and tourists. Hong Kong grants Philippine passport holders a 14-day visa-free entry to the territory.
Plane Tickets
My friends and I won complimentary return base fare tickets with Cathay Pacific from the Hong Kong International Airport Authority’s World of Winners campaign. The HKIAA gave out thousands of roundtrip plane tickets to Hong Kong to people from around the world to lure travelers back to and revive Hong Kong’s post-pandemic tourism industry.
I only paid US$66.30 (₱3,638.99 charged by my local bank) each for taxes and fees for the return Cathay Pacific flights. I wrote about these Cathay Pacific flights in my previous flight reports: CX 912 Manila to Hong Kong and CX 901 Hong Kong to Manila. I hope you can check out these reports.
Accommodation
My friends and I went around Hong Kong for 4 days and 4 nights and chose Yesinn Youth Hostel @ Yau Ma Tei as our accommodation. It is a no-frills hostel with Hong Kong-standard-sized private rooms and private toilets. We paid ₱4,988.64 each for 4 nights in 2 standard bunk rooms.
I wrote about the property and our 4-night stay in this affordable accommodation. I hope you can check out the hostel of the day feature on Yesinn Youth Hostel @ Yau Ma Tei here.
Going Around Hong Kong
Hong Kong has an efficient transportation system. Everything is accessible by trains, subways, buses, and trams. The country’s transportation system is also synced with Google. It is easy to search and navigate your way around the territory if you have a working internet connection.
My friends and I bought and used the country’s Octopus Card for all types of transportation during the trip. The Octopus Card is a reusable contactless smart stored value card widely used around Hong Kong. It is also a widely accepted alternative mode of payment in the territory. We bought Octopus Cards for HKD200 each with HKD150 stored value and HKD50 refundable card deposit.
Internet Sim Card
My friends and I bought this internet sim card from Klook, paid ₱400.60 after discounts, and plugged it into one of our spare phones. We accessed and shared the mobile data through the phone’s mobile hotspot.
The internet sim card came with 80 GB of LTE high-speed data and 1,000 local voice minutes. The four of us did not even use up 25% of the sim card’s data allocation.
Travel Insurance
One of my non-negotiables when going on a trip is getting travel insurance. This insurance protects me from any happenings, delays, cancellations, or unexpected circumstances during a trip.
For this Hong Kong trip, I bought my travel insurance from Standard Insurance. I paid ₱350 for the Asia Protect Peso 500K insurance plan.
Places Visited in Hong Kong
As mentioned above, my friends and I are not first-timers in Hong Kong. We carefully chose the places we visited and took our time going around these places. Here are the places we have been on this four-day trip.
YAU MA TEI
We walked around our hostel neighborhood, Yau Ma Tei, while waiting for check-in. We came across a small local café, had a nice lunch, and immediately had our egg tart fix.
K11 MUSEA
K11 Musea is a modern, artsy, and beautifully designed shopping mall near Victoria Harbour. This uniquely designed shopping mall has hundreds of retail shops, restaurants, and entertainment spaces for all its visitors.
VICTORIA HARBOUR & AVENUE OF THE STARS
We visited Victoria Harbour and Avenue of the Stars for the nightly “A Symphony of Lights” at 8:00 p.m. light show.
NGONG PING 360 CABLE CAR
My friends and I took the 25-minute Ngong Ping 360 Cable Car to Ngong Ping Village. We took the glass cabin to the village and rode in the standard cabin on the way back. We got our tickets from Klook and paid ₱1,803.20 each.
NGONG PING VILLAGE, TIAN TAN BUDDHA & PO LIN MONASTERY
Upon arrival, we walked around Ngong Village and checked out the different shops. We also had our photos taken with the Tian Tan Buddha. We went up to the big Buddha structure and explored the museum inside. We also checked out the Po Lin Monastery before going back to Tung Chung.
CITYGATE OUTLETS
After Ngong Ping, we went to CityGate Outlets and had lunch. We spent the rest of the day shopping and finding the best footwear and wardrobe deals.
VICTORIA PEAK TRAM & SKY TERRACE 428
We took the iconic tram to Victoria Peak and enjoyed the beautiful panoramic Hong Kong skyline from Sky Terrace 428. We got our Sky Terrace 428 and return tram tickets from Klook and paid ₱725.55 each after discounts.
CENTRAL
We walked around Central, checked out some shops, and had lunch at Five Guys.
MONGKOK
We visited the bustling and busy area of Mongkok on our second to last night. We met a friend for dinner and spent the rest of the night around the busy Ladies Market and Mongkok shopping district.
HONG KONG DISNEYLAND
My friends and I spent our last day at Hong Kong Disneyland. We got early entry tickets from Klook and paid ₱6,394.03 each. We got into the theme park an hour before the official opening time and enjoyed the new rides at the recently opened (at the time of our visit) World of Frozen. We rode multiple rides throughout the day and stayed until the iconic fireworks display and the theme park closed.
Also, we availed of Klook’s Hong Kong Disneyland Dining Voucher, which included a lunch meal and a dinner meal in selected restaurants. We also got free ice cream (or caramel popcorn) from this voucher. We paid ₱1,836.35 each after discounts.
Summary of Expenses
On top of all these expenses, I exchanged the Philippine Peso for Hong Kong Dollars prior to leaving Manila for this trip. I exchanged HKD940 for ₱6,956 in a money changer in Makati Central Square.
Here is a list of all my expenses for this 4-day and 4-night trip to Hong Kong in December 2023:
Disclaimer: The expenses above do not include personal shopping (from CityGate Outlets), chocolates, and other ‘pasalubongs’.
I spent ₱28,412.91 for a 4-day and 4-night trip to Hong Kong — plane tickets, accommodation, entry tickets, food, and pocket money included. Not bad, eh?
My friends and I got lucky by winning free base fare tickets with Cathay Pacific. If, by any chance, we get our tickets for ₱1 base fare, the whole trip will pretty much be in the same cost range.
This 2023 Hong Kong trip summary shows that traveling on a budget is still possible given the elevated prices of everything. One needs to carefully plan and choose the places to visit.
Have you been to Hong Kong recently? How was your trip? I hope you had fun! Which place do you want to visit again? I hope you can share your experiences in the comments section below. Do you have any questions about anything mentioned above? You may send them to me via email at contact@thewkndtravel.com.
Thank you for joining me in today’s 2023 Hong Kong trip recap. I hope to visit more and more places on a budget and share how I did it with everyone. Before you go, I hope you can like, follow and share my social media pages – Facebook and Instagram. This will help me increase my reach; it will also keep you up-to-date with the latest blog posts, itineraries and flight reports on this website. Thank you and see you in the next one!
PS. Photos were taken using my OnePlus 9 Pro.