Berlin

Berlin's Couch Situation

Berlin is a major Couchsurfing city where there are CS events happening almost every day. XX

XX

The Berlin last minute couch request group is in:

Last Minute Couchsearch Group

Berlin Hostels and Guesthouses

Hostels cost in the range of Euro XX to XX within the city.

The major backpacker's hostel area in Berlin are:

These hostels come highly recommend by CS travellers:

XX
YLoft XX
XX
XX
XX (single rooms here are for a higher budget than the ones listed above)
XX (also slightly higher budget than the ones listed above)

Mid-range and Higher end Accommodation

These are another option for budget travellers if your couchsearch doesn't work out and hostel reservations are hard to make. Team up with other CSers and you can share costs.

Lonely Planet's list of mid-range hotel options
XX $420(single)-$720(triple)/night, $7,500-$11,700/month
XX $600-$1,100/night
Top 10 budget hotels in XX Prices are listed in Euros.

Short/Long term stay

Some websites that our CS-ers recommend, if you're looking for flatshare/renting a flat in Hong Kong:

Gumtree

Craigslist

Or try our "Apartment/Flat-Share Hunting" subgroup under the CS Berlin group.

Getting Around

Public transportation generally goes almost everywhere in the city. XX

From Airport to City

Express Train is the fastest way to get to the airport from XX. Express trains run every XX minutes from around XX a.m. to XX a.m. Journeys from the airport to XX take approximately XX minutes and a round-trip ticket costs XX.

Bus to/from the airport from/to various parts of the city

Airport Bus Routes (Day + Night services)

Transfer to MTR Buses S1 or S56 take you from the airport to the nearest MTR station (Tung Chung Station).

Taxi

to XX - at least Euro XX
to XX - at least Euro XX

Subway

File:MTR train.JPG

The Subway is efficient and reliable and covers the major areas of the city. It can also be taken across the border to XX. Note that you'll need a visa to enter XX.

Route and Fare map

Subway Card

File:OctopusCard.jpg

Octopus Card

XX

Buses

Buses in Berlin are plentiful.

The routes are split between several companies and they go to places all over the territory.

XX
XX
XX

Taxi

Taxis are expensive. XX.

One thing to watch out for

Red taxis legally must take you anywhere in Kowloon or on Hong Kong Island but sometimes they have a preferred destination at shift change times. They usually use a piece of cardboard to cover/uncover their flag light on the dashboard as a signal. Cardboard on means the driver is looking for Kowloon passengers. No cardboard means they're looking for Hong Kong passengers. This isn't much of an issue when you can find the taxis going your way around the corner. It however does become a problem when you have something heavy to carry or you can't find a taxi going your way. Beware that some drivers will refuse to take you or 'get lost' if you insist. If you're in a tight spot, we we suggest you explain to the driver and bug him 'til he sees the light and then keep an eye out to prevent 'getting lost'.

Tram

One of our earliest forms of public transit is still going strong. For HK$2.30 per adult, $1.20 for children under 12 and $1 for seniors 65+, you can ride along the north side of Hong Kong Island from Shau Kei Wan to Kennedy Town. Just get on at the back and pay at the front as you alight. Octopus cards are accepted.

Ferries

Outlying Island ferries - There are several companies which operate ferries to XX Island. For schedules and fares, check the links.

New World First Ferry HK Island/ Kowloon, outlying islands and Macau

Hong Kong and Kowloon Ferry Holdings Ltd. Hong Kong, Lamma and Peng Chau

Discovery Bay Transportation Services 24 hour service between Central and Discovery Bay

Tung Lung Island Ferry

XX ferries

Nightlife, Dining and Entertainment

Main Nightlife Areas

Central - Lan Kwai Fong and Soho / Wan Chai - Lockhart Road / Tsim Sha Tsui - Knutsford Terrace

Magazines and Event listings

The following websites can help bring you up to speed on the local club scene, nightlife, concerts, festivals and shows.

HK Magazine Free print copies available around town.
Timeout HK Print copies available at bookstores and some clubs.
Hong Kong Ticketing Be sure to scroll down the yellow column on the right hand side to see all the listed shows.

Bars

Some favourite local haunts include: (Central, Soho and Wanchai.)

Le Jardin bar, weekly meetup venue
Yumla bar, dancing, house music
Club 71 bar, al fresco, chilled
Makumba African bar, dancing, World music/French influence
Mes Amis bar, dancing, pop music

The Underground

File:ElectricEelShock2006.JPG

Electric Eel Shock in HK 2006

Events, venues and organizations

Comedy

Takeout Comedy - live standup and improv shows, local and international performers, most shows in English, Cantonese shows on Mondays and Thursday
Free Open Mic Night Every Wednesday in Central

Restaurants

Vegetarian Restaurants:

Vegan Restaurants:

Vegan restaurant listing
Holistic Asia For listings of holistic/alternative/complementary health and healing events.

Karaoke

CNNGo's take on the 5 best karaokes in HK (Mar 2010)

Sports, Activities and the Great Outdoors

Clear Water Bay

File:Hong Kong waterfall.jpg

A waterfall in one of Hong Kong's country parks

Hiking

Hiking in Hong Kong trail index

Be sure to check these boards for regular hiking activities

Running and Hiking events

Swimming and Beaches

HK Outdoors Beaches guide

Camping

List of Hong Kong campgrounds

Wakeboarding and Waterskiing

The List

Windsurfing and Kayaking

Cheung Chau windsurfing and kayaking

Sai Kung Windsurfing Centre

Diving

Rock Climbing

English guide to outdoor climbing in HK

Para-gliding

Hong Kong Paragliding Association

Snowboarding

Slope Infinity Indoor snowless snowboarding

Language Exchange

There are lots of language exchange options available in Hong Kong from one on one meetups to clubs that meet regularly in person to social networks available online at your convenience. Mandarin/Cantonese for English seems to be the most popular combination wanted here but there are also many other languages on offer from Japanese to Russian. Here are some of your options:

For one on one exchange:

Groups that meet regularly:

Language exchange social networks:

Livemocha.com is an online social network for language exchangers

Hong Kong CS language groups

Paid language courses

HKU Space has a variety of language courses available including French, German, Italian, Spanish and Russian.

The Hong Kong YMCA also has courses in Mandarin and Cantonese for non-Chinese speakers.

Sightseeing

Hong Kong is extremely easy to get around by subway, taxi, bus, minibus, walking etc. You can easily design your own itinerary picking the places that you want to visit from below. Most people do not need a tour guide for Hong Kong. For an overview, here are two fun timelapse videos of Hong Kong featuring many of the city's famous landmarks:

Hong Kong: Funky Time Lapse on youtube.
timelapse Hong Kong on Vimeo.

Cultural Heritage and Building architecture

Sample itinerary and walk tour - Central area with a very useful map
Temples and historic villages

Markets

Stanley Market Stanley is famous for its relaxed ambience, sea environs and bargain buys in the main street market. Stanley Market is open daily, 10:30 a.m. to 6.30 p.m..
Temple Street Night Market Temple Street night market opens at 4 pm, but really comes alive after sunset. It offers an amazing range of inexpensive items, especially for men. There are also fortune-tellers and impromptu Chinese opera performances.
Jade Market and Jade Street The Jade Market, located in Yau Ma Tei at the junction of Kansu and Battery Street, features 400 stalls selling jade of all types, shades, sizes and prices. Open daily, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.. Nearby is Jade Street, located on Canton Road between Kansu Street and Jordan Road, with shops open 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Jade and gemstone testing is available at Jade Plaza.
Ladies Market The Ladies Market in Tung Choi Street is the place for bags, accessories and inexpensive women's clothing. Men's and children's clothing and toys are also on sale. Open daily from noon to 11:30 p.m.
Bird garden/ flower market/ goldfish market The charming Chinese-style garden on Yuen Po Street includes some 70 songbird stalls as well as courtyards and moon gates. Look and listen but it’s wise to avoid contact with the birds. The Bird Garden is open from 7am to 8pm, daily. The colourful Flower Market sells everything from Dutch tulips to exotic orchids, open daily from 7am to 7pm. The Goldfish market on nearby Tung Choi Street sells aquariums, corals and exotic fish, open daily from 10:30am to 10pm.
Western Market This Edwardian-style building features arts and crafts, fabric shops, alfresco dining, and ballroom dancing.
Local neighbourhood street markets discussion

Temples, Monasteries, Nunneries

Man Mo Temple One of Hong Kong's oldest temples, dedicated to two deities, the ‘civil’ (Man) and the ‘military’ (Mo).
Chi Lin Nunnery The serene 1930s Chi Lin Nunnery (rebuilt in 1998) is spread across 3.2 hectares and is China’s largest group of hand-crafted timber buildings incorporating traditional Tang dynasty (618-907AD) construction techniques.
Po Lin Monastery, Giant Buddha and Wisdom Path Located on Lantau, this is one of Hong Kong's largest temples and monasteries, housing the world's tallest outdoor bronze seated Buddha, at 34 m (111ft.) high.

Parks

Hong Kong Park Overlooked by the towers of Pacific Place and Admiralty on one side and Central on the other, the park features a hot house, a Tai Chi garden, a waterfall and the Museum of Tea Ware.
Kowloon Park An oasis in the heart of Kowloon next to the Kowloon Mosque. Enjoy a walk among the trees, a bird sanctuary, fountains and a swimming pool.
Hong Kong Zoological and Botanical Gardens Looking down on the old Government House, the Gardens date back to 1864. Look out for the gibbons and orangutans.

Theme Parks

Ocean Park [1]
Hong Kong Disneyland [2]

Other references

For more ideas check the Hong Kong Sightseeing Wiki
For a very long alphabetical listing of HK areas and sights to see check here [3]
For Lonely Planet's list of things to do in Hong Kong (based on a recent survey of Lonely Planet readers), see [4]
For a blogger's list of ten things to do in HK check here [5]
You can check out some panoramic photos of popular spots at 360cities.net
For more tips about what to see/do in Hong Kong, see [6]
For more tourist info about Hong Kong, see I Love Hong Kong
For a blogger's tips and other HK info, see Journey to Hong Kong
Welcome to Hong Kong - a guide for visitors and expats [7]

Crossing the border

Planes: multiple daily flights leave from Hong Kong International Airport (Chek Lap Kok) to airports in mainland China.
Trains: The subway of Hong Kong and Shenzhen connect to each other (you'll need to get off the train for transit and custom office crossing)

The MTR East rail line goes Lo Wu and Lok Ma Chau where you disembark to cross the border into Shenzhen.
Intercity trains to Dongguan, Foshan, Guangzhou East rail station and Zhaoqing leave from Hung Hom station daily.

Fares, schedules and online ticketing Note that once you are in China, rail tickets for any destination cannot be purchased online. They must be purchased at the rail station itself.
Ferries: Ferry services run from Hong Kong to the province of Guangdong in mainland China, departing from both the city centre and the Airport. See the Ferry section above for more information.[8]
Buses: These private companies operate bus services to many locations in Guangdong, Guangxi and Fujian Province: