Getting the right apps makes your Hong Kong trip nicer in every way: transport, food, accommodation, weather forecast to social, discount tickets and deals – better check it all out here!
Transport:
1. Citymapper
Small though the city is, the public transport can get confusing and complicated to foreigners without the “Citymapper”. Once you set a destination, routes with transportation options will pop up, with estimated travel time and route shown on a map.
Coupled with this, you can also check the schedule for the next transport if you are doing a multi-legged journey, so you will never miss the next bus/MTR.
See the screen-cap demonstration to get a sense of the app:
1. First, set your starting point and destination
2. Then the route would be shown on a map
3. Several suggested ways with comparison in prices and travel time.
2. Uber
We all know what it is. The fee is slightly higher than taxi but we just can’t deny it’s worth it. As popular as it is in Hong Kong, Uber is not legal in the city due to the lack of “appropriate” insurance (whatever it means). So take this into consideration when you order an Uber in Hong Kong.
Uber Eat is a food delivery service, which at times offers discounts on some restaurants. Look it up and you might get some tasty good deals.
Pinpoint your destination, then a driver may pick you up within a few minutes. (Or come send you food.)
3. Hong Kong Taxi Cards
Language barrier can sometimes stop you while you are on the go- imagine telling a taxi driver where to go but he speaks or understand no English at all. To save the awkwardness, Hong Kong Taxi Cards is what you need!
More than a translation app, it’s specifically designed for foreigner to enjoy taxi service worry-free. There are over 9,000 addresses you could search, covering a wide range of locations such as hotels, shopping malls and tourist attractions. After choosing the desired destination, the app will generate a card in Chinese which you can show the taxi driver.
1. The chosen address would be translated to Chinese.
2. Breakthrough the language barrier when riding a taxi.
4. Octopus
Octopus card as an electronic payment tool is widely used by the MTR, buses of different companies, ferries, and thousands of restaurants and groceries stores in the city. We highly recommend a tourist to get one even you visit Hong Kong for only a few days (Article link here).
With the App, you can check your card balance. You can also top up your Octopus card value with your credit card using the app.
1. It offers in-app top up functions.
2. You can check the balance anytime anywhere.
Food:
1. Openrice
Where to find the right restaurant that you will actually like in the food paradise of Hong Kong? On Openrice! With a search engine designed to search for local restaurants, you can easily turn your inspiration into a destination, by choosing style, district, and price range.
Not only basic info such as address, phone number, and operating hours of a restaurant is provided, its price level, menu, rating and customer comments with photos are also available for your best reference.
A special mention is the foodie account “hker2019”. This account bookmarks many “yellow-labelled shops” (link to be open with app), which have been supporting Hong Kong’s fight for democracy. Have a look if you would like to support the city’s democratic movement.
1. To take a glance at yellow-labelled shops, first open the apps and click the icon at the right bottom corner.
2. Then click “QR code scanner”
3. Scan the above code and have a look at the pro-democracy restaurants.
2. The GULU
It is not uncommon to have to queue for a good whole hour before getting a table at your favorite restaurant. Sometimes the restaurant may ask you to install GULU to get your ticket. You can also check which restaurant has the shortest line. The app also provides coupons or vouchers for free snacks at some restaurants.
Weather
Observatory
Heavy rain is common in Hong Kong summer. So you will need MyObservatory, a very useful App that helps you plan your day with the most accurate local weather forecast.
Apart from the usual nine-day forecast, temperature/humidity, you can also check the radar image of rain cloud movement in the past two hours (updated every 6 minutes). With this, you can adjust timely your itinerary according to the actual weather!
The front page displays basic weather info that you would want to know.
Radar image tells you exactly where the rain clouds are (blue is light rain and yellow is heavy rain)
Not only do they provide nine-day forecast, you can also find out the sun rise and sunset time to plan your visit to one of the many rooftop bars in Hong Kong
Social:
1. Whatsapp
While WeChat dominants mainland China and Line has been (unofficially) the national messenger in Taiwan, Whatsapp is the communication-social app that every Hong Konger with a smart phone uses.
Many local businesses (like Hong Kong Free Tours) and, in some cases, government services use WhatsApp for efficient communication too.
2. Meetup
Meetup is a fairly popular App in Hong Kong for meeting up like minded people. Whatever you’re looking for: sport-mates, haunted house explorers, gourmets or language exchange buddies, you can always find people who share your hobby and interest.
Every day, there are many events like beer tasting for example hosted by the users that you can find the one you like to add to your Hong Kong experience. While you are free to browse through by event nature or date, event suggestion by the system is also available to help you get a nice meetup easily.
While there are free events as well as paid ones, it is certain that you will meet new friends here in Hong Kong.
Countless activities are running right now. Find your buddies and have fun!
Deals:
1. Holimood
Most tourists stay in the city and rarely anyone stays in an outlying island. There is a world of difference between island and city life in Hong Kong. Believe it or not, some islands in Hong Kong will make you think you are in Capri, Italy or even better – a little smaller with no cars!
Holimood is the App that helps you find alternative accommodation in Hong Kong including those not listed in Booking.com, Airbnb, or Expedia. Some of these that come to mind are caravan, camping, hostel or houseboat, which are mostly situated in rural areas. You definitely have to make a booking if you are a nature lover.
There are also tours for more unique experience of Hong Kong.
2. Klook
KLOOK is a travel service platform very similar to TripAdvisor. Specialized in ticketing for theme parks, major attractions and transportation, they offer discounts (sometimes huge discounts) and good deals, some of which might be just what you need.
As a local online travel agent, they also have local tours which gives you interesting experience in Hong Kong.
A special mention is their Airport Express Ticket which are usually the best deal in town. Their second most popular product is the “peak tram skip the line tour” (although it does not always work)
Hundreds of thousands of local tours are taking place.
Countless of discounts on the app, including Disneyland ticket deals
#apps #website #discoverhongkong #explorehongkong #visithongkong #hongkongtravel #ilovehk #foodiegram #naturephoto #visualhongkong #hongkongphotography #hkinsta #lifehacks #salehk #discounthk #hkshopping
