The Best Hotels in Kowloon

Kowloon Hotels

Explore the teeming downtown streets where street food vendors sell steaming hot dumplings from wooden carts, discover fine-dining and elegant shopping in glamorous high-rise malls, or set sail on the open water as you traverse the gap to Hong Kong from the buzzing mainland city of Kowloon. The towering skyline of this multi-cultural city is bordered on one edge by the glistening waters of Victoria Harbor, and by the steep, rainforest-covered flanks of craggy mountains to the north. And at its core, visitors are attracted to the bright lights of Harbor City, like moths to a flame.

Wherever you go in the hectic city of Kowloon, you’ll need to cross Canton Road at some point on your travels. Its colorful length, lined with glamorous malls, high-rise business buildings, and a varied selection of restaurants, travels the length of Kowloon, passing in a neon-bright blur through one of the most popular tourist districts of this lively Hong Kong suburb. The dazzling lights, and exquisite dress sense of the Harbor City shopping mall overlooks the dark waters of the wharf, and the three storied piers that extend into the bay. It’s a melting pot of cultures, with international brand name stores sharing the same crowded malls as kitsch Japanese outfitters. Coffee houses and designer restaurants are dotted about its lengthy plazas. Just outside Harbor City, the Tsim Sha Tsui Star Ferry Pier is a bustling terminal for visitors to Hong Kong island. Its little green and white passenger boats chug incessantly back and forth across the deep waters of Victoria Harbor, and enjoying a ride is the perfect way to get a panoramic view of Kowloon’s dazzling city skyline.

Hotels in Kowloon

Kowloon doesn’t have quite the same status as the extravagant residential districts on Hong Kong itself, but don’t think you won’t find some great accommodation here. Luxury hotels in Kowloon are plentiful, and since most of them enjoy an inner-city location in high-rise buildings, you can find rooms with excellent views across Victoria Harbour. Typically, high-budget hotels like these show off with sumptuous guest bedrooms, flat screen televisions, satellite channels, WiFi, and luxury bathrooms. You don’t need to blow your life savings on Kowloon hotels though, because there's excellent discount pads to choose from. You might have to stay a little further away from the harbour if you want to pay less, but most budget hotels in Kowloon still offer a good standard of décor, and plenty of mod cons.

Where to stay

Multi-cultural Kowloon is the beating heart of Hong Kong’s mainland suburbs. Towering skyscrapers overlook pleasant parks, where tranquil green gardens offer a quiet retreat from the hectic streets. Down discreet lanes, market stalls and street vendors ply their trade during the day, but when night falls, innocuous doorways are flung open to reveal hidden nightclubs, and exclusive restaurants. The Tsim Sha Tsui district attracts visitors to its luxury shopping malls, and traditional markets, while the Central district is a magnet for corporate visitors doing high-value deals in towering skyscraper boardrooms.

How to get to Kowloon

Hong Kong International Airport, on its own island in the Tung Chung Bay, is the entry point for most international travelers to Kowloon. It sits 20 miles west of the city, and can be reached by road and bridge network, so onward travel is simple by car or bus. In Kowloon itself, you won’t have much need for traveling by vehicle, since everything is accessible by foot. If you want to travel outside the city, ferries, buses, and trains form part of the well-managed city network.