Where to Stay in Hong Kong (2026): Five Areas and 12 Hotels, Compared

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Hong Kong was the world’s second most visited city in 2025, after Bangkok, with 23.2 million international arrivals by Euromonitor International’s count, and it is really two places facing each other across a harbour. Kowloon, on the mainland side, is denser and usually cheaper; Hong Kong Island, opposite, has the banks, the Peak and the old double-decker trams. Where you sleep decides how often you cross, and how: by MTR under the water, or by the Star Ferry over it.

This guide compares five areas, then names twelve hotels across them, with the reason to pick each and, where there is one, the catch. They are researched picks, chosen for location, what each property publishes and consistent guest feedback, and each was checked as operating at the start of October 2026. One of them, The Park Lane, changed hotel brands in January 2025, and some booking sites still show its old name; we say which is which. No hotel pays to appear here.

The short answer

Tsim Sha Tsui: the first-trip base

Tsim Sha Tsui is the tip of the Kowloon peninsula, and for a first trip it is hard to beat. The Star Ferry leaves from the pier at the western end of Salisbury Road for Central, a short crossing with the whole Island skyline in front of you, and the waterfront promenade runs east past the Hong Kong Cultural Centre and the Hong Kong Museum of Art. Nathan Road, the spine of Kowloon, starts here, with the MTR’s Tsuen Wan Line beneath it at Tsim Sha Tsui station and the Tuen Ma Line at East Tsim Sha Tsui, the two joined by underground passages. From the airport, the Airport Express stops at Kowloon station in West Kowloon, a short taxi ride away.

Where to stay in Tsim Sha Tsui

How the hotel links work: a hotel’s name goes to its own website. “Check rates” opens it on Booking.com through our partner Stay22, which pays us a commission if you book, at no extra cost to you.

• The Peninsula Hong Kong, splurge. It opened on Salisbury Road in December 1928, and a 30-storey tower was added in 1994; it has 300 rooms and a fleet of Rolls-Royces painted “Peninsula green”. Choose it for the grandest address on the harbour, a short walk from the Star Ferry. Watch out: price. Check rates on Booking.com →
• Hotel ICON, comfortable. The teaching and research hotel of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, opened in 2011 on Science Museum Road in Tsim Sha Tsui East, with 262 rooms and a rooftop pool. Choose it for a modern hotel run as a working classroom for a hotel school. Watch out: it is a longer walk to the Star Ferry and Nathan Road than the hotels on Salisbury Road. Check rates on Booking.com →
• The Salisbury – YMCA of Hong Kong, good value. The YMCA’s hotel, on the same stretch of Salisbury Road as The Peninsula, with harbour-view rooms and suites among its room types. Choose it for the same waterfront at a far lower price. Watch out: rooms are plainer than its neighbours’, and not every room faces the harbour, so book the view if you want it. Check rates on Booking.com →

Central and Admiralty: the Airport Express and the Peak Tram

Central is Hong Kong’s financial district and the end of the line for the Airport Express, at Hong Kong station, which an underground walkway links to Central station. The Peak Tram leaves from Garden Road, the bars of Lan Kwai Fong and SoHo are up the hill, and the Central–Mid-Levels escalator climbs through SoHo. Admiralty, one stop east, is where four MTR lines meet, with the Pacific Place mall above. Hotels here are among the most expensive in the city, and several sit on the slopes, so check the walk before you book.

Where to stay in Central and Admiralty

• Mandarin Oriental, Hong Kong, splurge. It opened in 1963 on Connaught Road Central, near Statue Square, a short walk from Central station and the ferry piers. Choose it for one of Hong Kong’s classic hotels, in the middle of everything. Watch out: price. Check rates on Booking.com →
• The Murray, Hong Kong, splurge. It opened in January 2018 in the Murray Building, a government office block of 1969 converted by Foster + Partners, with 336 rooms on Cotton Tree Drive, opposite Hong Kong Park and a few minutes from the Peak Tram. Choose it for architecture and greenery between Central and Admiralty. Watch out: price, and a walk downhill to the MTR. Check rates on Booking.com →

Wan Chai and Causeway Bay: shopping and the trams

East of Admiralty, the Island’s north shore turns from offices to shops. Causeway Bay, on the MTR’s Island Line, is the shopping district, with SOGO, Times Square and Hysan Place around the station and Victoria Park on its eastern edge. Wan Chai, between it and Admiralty, mixes old street markets with the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre on the waterfront. The trams run along both, and a ride costs HK$3.30. Hotels are usually cheaper than in Central.

Where to stay in Wan Chai and Causeway Bay

• The Park Lane Hong Kong, Autograph Collection, comfortable. An 820-room hotel on Gloucester Road facing Victoria Park, a couple of minutes’ walk from Causeway Bay station. It ran as a Pullman hotel from 2015 and joined Marriott’s Autograph Collection in January 2025. Choose it for views over Victoria Park and the harbour, on top of the shopping district. Watch out: some booking sites still use the old Pullman name; it is the same hotel. Check rates on Booking.com →
• Hotel Indigo Hong Kong Island, comfortable. 138 rooms on Queen’s Road East, completed in 2013, with a glass-bottomed rooftop pool that juts out from the edge of the roof; Wan Chai station is about five minutes’ walk. Choose it for a design hotel on the older side of Wan Chai. Watch out: it is a walk to the harbour and to the shops of Causeway Bay. Check rates on Booking.com →

Sheung Wan: old streets and smaller hotels

Sheung Wan is one MTR stop west of Central on the Island Line, and much of old Hong Kong survives here: the antique shops and galleries of Hollywood Road, the incense coils of Man Mo Temple, the dried-seafood shops of Des Voeux Road West, and PMQ, the former police married quarters, now full of small design studios. The ferries to Macau leave from the Shun Tak Centre on the waterfront. Hotels are smaller and usually cheaper than in Central, which is a walk or a tram ride away.

Where to stay in Sheung Wan

• 99 Bonham, comfortable. An all-suite hotel on Bonham Strand, about three minutes’ walk from Sheung Wan station, with a lounge and dining area and a work desk in every suite, and self-service laundry. Choose it for room to spread out on a longer stay. Watch out: there is no pool, and Central is a 20-minute walk. Check rates on Booking.com →
• Lan Kwai Fong Hotel @ Kau U Fong, comfortable. On Kau U Fong, a lane among the galleries and antique shops between Sheung Wan and Central, with balconies in some rooms and city views from the upper floors. Choose it for walking distance to both. Watch out: guest reviews often mention small rooms. Check rates on Booking.com →
• iclub Sheung Wan Hotel, good value. A no-frills hotel from Regal Hotels International, with 248 rooms and suites at 138 Bonham Strand, five minutes’ walk from Sheung Wan station, and free coffee and tea around the clock in its lounge. Choose it for a low price on Hong Kong Island. Watch out: facilities are basic, and booking sites list a second iclub nearby, iclub AMTD Sheung Wan; this one is at 138 Bonham Strand. Check rates on Booking.com →

Jordan and Mong Kok: markets and lower prices

North of Tsim Sha Tsui, Nathan Road runs on through Jordan, Yau Ma Tei and Mong Kok, three stops on the MTR’s Tsuen Wan Line. This is Kowloon at its busiest: Temple Street Night Market between Jordan and Yau Ma Tei, the Ladies’ Market on Tung Choi Street in Mong Kok, and streets given over to a single trade, from goldfish to sneakers. West Kowloon’s museums, M+ and the Hong Kong Palace Museum, are a walk or a short ride west. Hotels cost less than in Tsim Sha Tsui, and the harbour is a few stops away.

Where to stay in Jordan and Mong Kok

• Cordis, Hong Kong, comfortable. 664 rooms in the Langham Place complex at 555 Shanghai Street, linked directly to Mong Kok station, with an outdoor pool. It opened in 2004 as the Langham Place Hotel and took its present name in 2015. Choose it for the markets on your doorstep and a pool to come back to. Watch out: Mong Kok’s crowds start at the door. Check rates on Booking.com →
• Eaton HK, good value. 465 rooms and five suites at 380 Nathan Road in Jordan, about five minutes’ walk from Jordan station, with a rooftop pool, a food hall and its own radio station; the hotel says its look takes its cue from Wong Kar-wai’s 1990s films. Choose it for a lively, well-priced base in Kowloon. Watch out: it is a busy, social hotel, not a quiet one. Check rates on Booking.com →

All 12 at a glance

Before you book

• Read the bill. Hong Kong hotels normally add a 10% service charge, and since 1 January 2025 a 3% Hotel Accommodation Tax on the room charge (not on the service charge), so the total runs about 13% over the room rate. Booking sites differ in whether the first price you see includes them, so compare totals (Inland Revenue Department).
• Choose the station before the hotel. On both sides of the harbour, a hotel by an MTR station saves more time than a bigger room up a hill. If you are still choosing a booking site, our hotel booking sites compared goes through them.
• Check your airline for in-town check-in. With an Airport Express ticket, Cathay Pacific, China Airlines, Hong Kong Airlines, Mandarin Airlines, Qantas and Singapore Airlines passengers can check in their bags at Hong Kong station before heading to the airport, so the last day is free of luggage; fewer airlines offer it at Kowloon station (MTR).

Getting around from your hotel

• From the airport, the Airport Express reaches Hong Kong station in as little as 24 minutes. An adult single costs HK$120 to Hong Kong station or HK$105 to Kowloon station with an Octopus or contactless card, and HK$130 or HK$115 with a ticket. The free shuttle buses that once ran from both stations to most big hotels have given way to shuttles that a few hotels run themselves, which MTR lists; otherwise take a taxi from the station or change to the MTR.
• Around town, an Octopus card pays for the MTR, the trams, the Star Ferry and the buses; the trams cost HK$3.30 for adults.
• Across the harbour, the Star Ferry links Tsim Sha Tsui with Central and Wan Chai. For an evening on the water, see our guide to Hong Kong harbour cruises.
• Before you fly, sort out mobile data (the best travel eSIMs), and read Hong Kong for first-timers and things to do in Hong Kong.

Frequently asked questions

Sources & further reading

• Euromonitor International: Top 100 City Destinations Index 2025
• MTR: Airport Express tickets and fares
• MTR: Airport Express services
• MTR: hotel shuttle service
• MTR: in-town check-in
• Inland Revenue Department: FAQ on Hotel Accommodation Tax
• Hong Kong Tramways: schedules and fares
• Marriott International: Autograph Collection debuts in Hong Kong with The Park Lane
• The Peninsula Hong Kong: history
• Hotel ICON: PolyU’s teaching and research hotel
• The Murray, Hong Kong: the Murray Building’s conversion
• Mandarin Oriental, Hong Kong: history
• Hotel Indigo Hong Kong Island: building and pool
• Cordis Hong Kong: from Langham Place Hotel to Cordis
• iclub Sheung Wan Hotel: about the hotel
• Official websites of each hotel named above, checked in October 2026

Hotels rename, renovate and reprice. Every detail here was checked at the start of October 2026; confirm rates and room types with the hotel before booking. These are researched picks, not reviews. This article contains affiliate links: hotel rates on Booking.com and other booking sites through Stay22; if you book through them we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. No hotel pays to be included.

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