Hong Kong Airport
Best Airport Winner
Lasting Impressions....
"we actually just slept on the floor because we were so tired and didn't have to time to look for somewhere better. My dad crawled under the seats so as to be out of the way." (Steve)
" There were a few security people around but I pretended to be looking out the window and as soon as they turned their backs I sneaked into the nursery." (Chris)
"My mom was in this airport as well and she said that when she was sleeping suddenly somebody took her bag, sometimes its dangerous, robbers are around there." (Irene)
Good times
by Elisa
I was travelling from Sydney, Australia to Helsinki, Finland in April 2008, with a 3-hour stopover in Hong Kong. The first leg was fairly uneventful but I was really tired, and my legs had swollen up so I felt like I was lugging around gallons of water. At the time their transit terminal was undergoing construction, so there was a lot of boarded up areas, ropes for queues and electrical tape on the floor. But the place was quiet, clean and spacious. China was clearly making a huge effort to welcome the Western World ahead of the Olympics.
Being early in the morning HK time, the shop was closed when I arrived (newsagent/snack shop) but the money exchange was open so I got hold of enough coins for the numerous drink machines, which were all cheap. Then I looked around for somewhere to rest and found a lot of people sleeping in the seating area near the airline's desks. The seats there have armrests every 2 seats, with a bag area beside that. But they weren't hard plastic so I decided to give it a go.
I put my bag on the bag area, then slept with my head and torso on the chairs, legs up on top of my bag, and covered up with my jacket. Bliss! My alarm woke me in plenty of time but that hour or so of shuteye was fantastic. And having my legs elevated was great to get rid of the swelling. Highly recommended if you're in transit, get your legs elevated and you'll feel so much better.
Transit has no announcements so it's nice and quiet. There were lots of spare powerpoints for your laptop, just make sure you have a US plug. Apparently there was also free wi-fi but I didn't try it out. And there are a couple of internet computers but there always seemed to be people queueing, same with the phones.
Once I went through to Departures I discovered an enormous shopping mall with every kind of shop imaginable. So anything you might need, you'd be able to find there. You could probably also find somewhere to sleep in Departures, but it's very noisy. For shuteye I recommend Transit. In fact for my next trip I intend to try and arrange a long stopover time just so I can catch some sleep halfway there.
Not a bad place, but not great either
by tammy
everyone was sleeping on the seats in the departure lounge so I thought; I can do that too, cause the airport hotel was way too expensive. Nobody cared about us they just let us all sleep, just annoying announcements every 15 min, but I would recommend that you can sleep safely in this airport ;-)
Um, you may want to rethink sleeping in this place
by Debbi
"I can't believe other people are rating this airport as one of the good ones! I've slept in Heathrow, Athens, Kuala Lumpur, Vanuatu, all sorts, but all were heaven compared to Hong Kong. Maybe it was just the day we were there, but it was FREEZING, & no matter where we tried to park ourselves, we were constantly told to move on - no sleeping allowed. I think the longest amount of peace we got was about half an hour. Maybe it was because it was during the day, but really, we'd been traveling through time zones & desperately needed just a few hours shut eye, but this was not to be. Better luck to the rest of you!"
Airport Guide
Here is some information that we've picked out of from your reviews. Be sure to read the reviews on the next page for the most up-to-date info:
- possible to sleep under the seats
- internet kiosks
- some seats without armrests
- hard plastic seating
- air-conditioning too high
- cleaners are noisy
- nursery, Kids TV area (near gate 1) has the Cartoon Network playing
- Traveller's Lounge near gate 60. Call 852-2261-2068 to book in advance
- WiFi and 24 internet cafe
- 24 hour buffet
- showers
- clean bathrooms
- Massages
- prayer room
- seats with massagers
- can get cold
- Read Hamid's detailed review
