Ok, so you are in Hong Kong and need to know how to get around using whatever public transport is available and what it is like to get around like this.

And before anyone asks, you can rent a car, and I have done this in the past. Just be aware that the traffic in Hong Kong ranges from busy to a total nightmare, and that's on a good day.

Given the traffic issues and how good the public transport is, I would strongly recommend against it.

Over decades of visits, I have used just about every form of public transport and found it to be about as good as it gets, and that's coming from someone who has visited over 40 countries and made an effort to try everything safe to use.

This very long page (sorry!!) is based on my personal experience with using these services, complete with thoughts, general comments, and even the odd rant.

In short, based on feedback and talking to various people who want to visit Hong Kong, it seems the most common concern is the perceived language barrier when dealing with locals.

As for me, I do not speak much Cantonese but have had very close to zero issues communicating with locals; all it takes is patience and treating people with respect.

Honestly, I have had more communication problems while travelling through mainland Europe than in Hong Kong or even mainland China. Things in Hong Kong are even easier than in most of mainland China; remember, it used to be a UK territory, so English is all over the place, signs, etc., and all of the locals I have interacted with have been friendly and had some level of English.

So, I would not worry about any language barrier, have patience, and treat everyone with respect.

When I first visited some 30+ years back, the first form of public transport I was introduced to was the subway system, known as the Mass Transit Railway or just the MTR, its network goes just about everywhere, including to the airport and mainland chain via the high speed rail, the ticket costs are reasonable, the trains are very modern, clean and safe.

Note I said safe, and after decades of visits and riding the trains at all times of the day and night, I have always felt safe and have never seen anything that made me feel uncomfortable.

Also, I have only very rarely ever seen any police or any other type of security. That, to me, says it all, so I would say it's safe to maintain normal precautions while travelling.

From more recent visits, the ticket costs are still cheap, the network has expanded with new lines, and now there is the octopus card which can be used for just about every trip, and is even accepted as payment in some shops.

As a surprise to no one, there is a phone app available that claims to make your life easier when using the MTR network.

Note I said claims, well I have no personal experience using this phone app, yet. I expect that to change after the next visit, so count on this page getting updates .

And yes, all the trains are fully Air Conditioned, so you can use them to hide from the HK summer heat. 🥵

Before moving on, it's time for a minor rant.

Sorry for the rant, but I did try to keep it constructive. And yes, I know that some shops prefer cash, and others may give deals if you offer cash. But here I am talking about transport, and not shopping in general. 😀

Note I mentioned the Airport line earlier; now, while this is run by the MTR company, it's not the same as the normal subway; it's a dedicated service running from the Airport to Hong Kong Island. I have used this many times and can say it's impressive, very fast, fully air-conditioned, comfortable, and so far not been too crowded.

Then comes the High-Speed Rail link to mainland China, which is also run by the MTR company, but again is not the same as the rest of the network, it's a high-speed service running from Kowloon to the mainland. So far I have not used this, but immigration allowing, it's on the "to do" list for the next visit.

My general rule of thumb is to get an octopus card, carry cash, and even take your credit card when travelling on any form of public transport.

Following my introduction to public transport on the MTR, I also used Taxis, Buses, Ferries, and various forms of trams.

Now is a good place to cover the iconic urban taxis; yes, I am talking about those red Toyotas as seen in just about every video shot in HK.

My first ever encounter with these was getting from the old airport to my accommodation. The driver, who I can still clearly remember to this day, was an older man who spoke some English and was keen to try it out on us.

This first encounter has proven to be the norm each time I have used them. Sure, there have been changes, newer models of cars used, prices increased etc.

And shock horror, some even take credit cards, however, this is not the norm, but things are finally improving. 🎉

Note I said my first encounter with these taxis, the driver's English was not great. So, does this mean there is a language barrier, and if you get into a taxi you are in for a bad experience?

Put simply, no. I have found that most of the drivers I have met have been older and have varying levels of english, but at no time has this been a problem. All that is needed is to treat them with respect and speak clearly, and you will not have a problem. Most of my experience has been before Google Translate was on every phone, so now there will be even less of a language barrier.

Back in the day, to make trips easier, I used to ask the hotel people to write my destination in Chinese, which, if the driver had problems understanding, was a quick fix and, from memory, always resulted in a "thank you" and in some cases a request to practice of English.

Multiple times, I have had drivers who are keen to practice their English, and never have I met a driver with a bad attitude. Not that there are none, but as I said, treat them (and everyone else) with respect, and you will have no problems.

And before I forget, all the Taxis I have ever used in HK have been air-conditioned, so again, there is more relief from the summer heat. 🥵

As for the ever-important costs, I have found the prices to be lower than back home in Sydney, and from what I am told, competitive with other places.

One last thing before moving on: yes, there are other colour taxis, with the colour being an indication of where they work; the ones I am aware of, in addition to the ever-present red ones who work in the urban areas, green work in the new territories and blue work on Lantau island.

Wikipedia has a good page, which covers this and some of the history in detail.

Back when I first visited HK, the buses where all over the place, and varied in quality from ancient 1960s era to some which where just like those in the UK.

Thankfully, things changed, and on my last few visits, every bus I have seen has been of the newer, fully airconditioned type.

Hang on, there are two types of bus services available: minibus style and modern double deckers. While I have used both types over the years, most of my recent experience has been with the double-deckers.

When it comes to the smaller mini-bus style, each time I have used them, it has been for short trips, and I found them a little basic when compared to the new larger ones, but comfortable, cheap, and the drivers for each one I have used have been friendly, if a little surprised to see a tourist using their service.

Back in the day, when I was living out at Discovery Bay, the buses they had to shuttle residents around must have dated from the 1960s.

You could smell them from the amount of diesel smoke. They had no air conditioning and were very uncomfortable, but they were still better than walking up a hill when going home.

And yes, the drivers, even of these smoke-belching antiques, were super friendly and had, in most cases spoke near perfect English. Not that, that should be a surprise as the whole area was very popular with expats.

Anyhow those smoke-belching antiques are no more, replaced with excellent modern buses.

On my last visit back in August 2023, I took several Bus trips on Hong Kong Island and found the buses to be way better than those back in sydney, very comfortable, fully air-conditioned, and the drivers friendly.

The only bad thing I can say is that the seats are waterproof, so if you, like me, are very sweaty from the humidity, you will leave a wet seat for the next person. This makes zero sense to me, as back home, I have not seen a waterproof seat in forever and have never had a wet seat. And yes, we are talking about Sydney, which gets way hotter than Hong Kong does with humidity off the scale.

Maybe someone from the Bus company should talk to Sydney Buses. Now, that is something I never thought I would ever say 😀

On one of my recent trips from Stanley to Central on Hong Kong island, the driver showed some seriously impressive skills dealing with very narrow and twisting roads, busting with almost every type of traffic you can imagine.

In short, buses in Hong Kong are highly recommended, being cheap, comfortable and fully air conditioned.

Back in the day when I called Discovery Bay home, I used to commute to Hong Kong island via the fast ferry, so I am now totally hooked on this form of transport, to the point that for several years at home in sydney, I used to commute into the city via the ferries across the harbour.

The ferry used on the Discovery Bay run when I first used it was brand new, very comfortable, air-conditioned, fast and cheap. Now, decades later, they are still just as good, if not as cheap anymore.

Just look at the photo on the left; that's Discovery Bay 1, which, as the name suggests, is one of the very first ones, and it is still running all those years later.

A few days later, I used this very ferry to visit friends in Discovery Bay, and I can say I am impressed with how little has changed since the first time I rode this one; yes, it is a little dated, but it looks to be well maintained, and as for the ride, it was just as comfortable and fast as I remember. And yes, the air conditioning is still as good as ever.

This being Hong Kong Harbour, this is not even close to the only ferry service available, and way too many to cover each of them, so I will cover the ones I used during my August 2023 trip.

The next one is the ever-present iconic Star Ferry, which runs from Kowloon to Central on Hong Kong Island; these have been running since what amounts to the beginning of time and are on just about every tourist promotion video I have seen.

I remember the first time I ever rode this ferry. This was back in the 90s, and to be honest, it looked like fun, being all open, low to the water and packed.

My first trip was on the lower deck (more on that later), and other than ending up a little wet from the spray, I decided it was the only way to cross the harbour, being about as cheap as it gets at around AUD$1

Note I said lower deck, well as the photo shows there are two decks, with the lower being totally open, and prone to some spray, but has a killer view of the harbour traffic from the low vantage point. It goes without saying the lower deck has no air conditioning.

Then comes the upper deck, which has two closed-in areas, with one open in the middle. Each of the closed-in areas is Air Conditioned and is a relief from the heat. The open area in the middle may not have AC but does have spray protection. To be honest, I cannot remember if the upper deck AC is a new addition, but regardless, it's most welcome.

Moving on, the other ferry service I have recent experience with is the Hong Kong Island to Peng Chau run, and again, this service runs modern, fully air-conditioned ferry; the ride was fast, reasonably priced and very comfortable.

Note I said modern, and really mean it, as the first time I ever visited this island, around 30 years back, it was on a ferry which was, how shall I say, basic, being held together with rust, think, no AC, rough trip.

Not sure then these new ferries replaced the old ones, but the change is welcome, and shows the commitment to modernisation from the ferry companies.

In this case, I talked to one of the crew who was interested in the DSLR camera I was carrying; his level of English was ok, to the point we had no real problems with the language barrier, and Google Translate helped with that. In sort a very positive interaction, and another example of the lack of a real language barrier.

There are many others, for example, the fast service to Macau, several that go to mainland China, and others to the many outer islands that make up Hong Kong.

Of these the only one I have experience with is the outer island services, and that was 30+ years ago, so cannot really comment on these, other than from memory the service was basic, but still worth experiencing.

With the upcoming trips to Hong Kong, I am planning to visit more islands, and immigration allows visit the mainland, so I never knew I could update this page.

Overall, I find the various ferry services I have experienced to be excellent, fairly well-priced, reliable and have friendly crews. In short if you want to see more of Hong Kong, get on a ferry, and go see more of it.

These trams, also known as "Ding Ding" run only on Hong Kong Island, the full length of the island, and, from experience, are very popular and crowded at times.

On my latest trip, I did not need to use one of these, but I have used them in the past and found them to be one of the experiences just about any visitor to Hong Kong needs to experience.

Back when I used this service, there was no air conditioning; they only took cash, and me being me, I decided to ride one in the middle of the busy time. After that trip, I really knew what a sardine feels like, but it was still an experience I enjoyed and will repeat in upcoming trips.

There are many videos on YouTube that show the full trip on the line from Kennedy Town to Shau Kei Wan, which are well worth watching; for example, this one

After some research, it seems not much has changed with these trams, they still have no AC, but now do accept the octopus card in addition to cash.

Before anyone else contacts me, yes I know there is the "other" tram service, which runs from Central to the top of the Peak. And yes, it's a tram, but not really public transport, more a dedicated service for a specific destination. Yes, it's another one that every visitor to Hong Kong needs to experience; it's well-priced, air-conditioned, and very comfortable.