A week near Hong Kong

Ooaj Travel Guide, tourism, hotel reservation, residence, plane, cheap pension for you holidays in a week near hong kong

Free Travel guide Ooaj.com A free travel guide for holidays. Hotels in a week near hong kong, Bed and Breakfast!

You could easily spend a week, or several, in Hong Kong itself, or in any of many other areas of China.

This intinerary has suggestions for someone who wants to get out of Hong Kong (perhaps cannot afford Hong Kong, or has seen it before) and has about a week to spend.

	a week near hong kong Travel Guide : 1 Background 1.1 Visas 1.2 Cities 1.3 Costs 2 Route 2.1 Alternatives

Background

The region in question is the Pearl River Delta. Politically, it is three areas, Guangdong province and two former colonies that are now Special Administrative Regions of China, Hong Kong and Macau.

Economically, it is a powerhouse. Guangdong does a third of China's exporting. The Delta is the fastest growing region of the fastest growing province of the fastest growing country on Earth. While Western countries have GDP growth of 1% to 3% annually, China has had 8% or better for years in a row. For the Delta area, closer to 15%.

Visas

You will need three separate visas for this trip, one each for Hong Kong, Macau and mainland China. See the Hong Kong, Macau and China entries for details.

Citizens of most countries can get Macau and Hong Kong visas at the airport, but will need to get a Chinese tourist visa in advance. You can get these from a Chinese embassy or consulate in your own country. For most passports, visas can also be obtained in Hong Kong via travel agents or the government office.

There are special visas which allow you into Shenzhen or Zhuhai but not out into the rest of China. They would not be useful for my suggested route, but might be for related trips. They may be obtainable at the border, but last I heard were not available for US or some other passports. Check the Shenzhen entry for details.

Cities

Major cities include:

• Hong Kong former British colony on the East side of the river mouth
• Macau former Portuguese colony on the West side of the river mouth
• Shenzhen on the mainland, next to Hong Kong
• Zhuhai on the mainland, next to Macau
• Guangzhou, provincial capital a few hours up river. Known as Canton in the tea-clipper era.

Two of these cities — Shenzhen and Zhuhai — were basically fishing villages until the 1970s. Then they were made Special Economic Zones and developed rapidly. Today Shenzhen is about six million and Zhuhai over a million.

The other three cities have a longer history. Guangzhou is thousands of years old. Macau goes back to the 16th century, Hong Kong to the 19th. Both of those were built largely to trade with Guangzhou.

Costs

The traveller on a really tight budget should get out of this area altogether and seek the real bargains in China's hinterland.

The cost-no-object traveller can stay in Hong Kong, or go to up-market places in other cities, and have a wonderful time either way.

As a general rule, both Shenzhen and Macau are cheaper than Hong Kong.

Zhuhai is cheaper than any of the above. Consider doing most of your shopping there.

Route

Given a week, I suggest a route that goes:

• train from Hong Kong to Guangzhou
• a few days in Guangzhou
• bus to Zhuhai (catch it on the East side of Garden Hotel)
• a day or two in Zhuhai, mostly for the shopping
• a day in Macau
• ferry back to Hong Kong

This misses Shenzhen, but that may not be a large loss. You can easily include it if you like.

If you have less time, perhaps just take the ferry across to Macau and then back to Hong Kong.

Alternatives

Interesting places reasonably nearby (under 12 hours by bus, or a very quick flight).

• Guilin and Yangshuo, for famous scenery
• Sanya, a beach resort
• Xiamen, a lovely city in Fujian province

and a bit further:

• Kunming, capital of Yunnan and center of a major tourist area
• Wu Yi Mountain, for scenery and old buildings

Biggest country to travel: Biggest cities to travel: Islands in the top travel 40: World Travel guide Random travel link: Bangladesh USA Nigeria England Chicago in USA Chicago in USA Paris in France Sao Paulo in Brazil Moorea Seychelles Great_Barrier Lanai Bahamas Anguilla Trinidad_and_Tobago Ghana Benin Singapore Belfast Portugal Marseille France Switzerland

• Url Rewriting, optimisation, referencement professionnel: Atuvu Referencement
• Cours 2 langues, cours d'anglais tous niveaux Cours 2 Langues
• Photographe aix en provence Daniel Weiss
• Ooaj Travel Guide Home Page