Hong Kong with Virgin Upper Class
We visited in late February and travelled in style by treating ourselves to seats in the Virgin Atlantic Upper Class Cabin. I love the Virgin Upper experience. I think the pre flight experience is one of the best airline offerings. From the luxury car that collects you from home, the swift whizz through private check in, to what is undoubtedly the greatest airport lounge I’ve ever visited. We were early so had 3 hours in the lounge and filled this time with a manicure and facial in the spa, a 3 course dinner in the restaurant and a cocktail at the bar. By the time we boarded the flight I was refreshed, relaxed and ready for a film and a good nights sleep which is exactly what I got.
The Upper Class cabin itself has the benefit of a fully flat bed and a herringbone seat formation for ultimate privacy. Personally I really like this but it’s perhaps not the best choice if you want to chat to your partner throughout the flight as you’ll have a screen dividing you. I also like the bars on Virgin flights, not only as they give you an opportunity to stretch your legs and break up the flight by moving to a different area, but also for the flexibility they give you during a night flight – you can go at anytime and grab yourself a snack and a drink.
Back to the main event, Hong Kong itself! After a long flight we chose to get a taxi to our hotel, but the trains are super efficient and very cheap in HK so this would have been a great option too.
We chose to stay at Hotel Icon, a 5* hotel in Kowloon with fantastic views of Hong Kong Harbour. This was a great choice; the hotel is owned by the local university and is a teaching hotel for the hospitality students. As a result, the service at Icon is outstanding. Hotel Icon has a gorgeous pool high up amongst the sky scrapers, a top floor fine dining restaurant and a couple of other more casual dining options. It’s a very modern property with some lovely and unexpected extras such as a free mini bar in every room and a complimentary mobile phone which you can use to make all your calls (even international) and take out and about with you to either use for maps etc or tether it to your own mobile for free roaming.
After a pick me up cocktail we chose to dine at one of Hong Kong’s finest restaurants, conveniently located in the hotel – Above & Beyond. I’d emailed the concierge at the hotel a few days before to ask for a table with a view and they didn’t let me down. We barely spoke to each other throughout the meal as we were so awestruck but the sensational views across the harbour!
The next morning, we were up and out early and straight on to the Hong Kong bus tour. I love a hop on hop off bus tour, I find it quickly helps me find my bearings around a city and it’s a great way of ticking off all the major sites. We also rode the famous Star Ferry (super cheap) across to Hong Kong island, went up to Victoria Peak on the great peak tram and did a spot of shopping in the Central shopping area. We squeezedin a delicious lunch at Din Tai Fung, a chain of Taiwanese dim sum restaurants, highly recommended for a quick and tasty meal.
After a couple of relaxing hours at the hotel pool we headed out to see the famous light show from the fantastic cocktail bar at the Intercontinental hotel and then went on to Temple Street night market and grabbed some street food for dinner.
We decided to spend our final day mooching around the streets of Hong Kong Island but couldn’t resist another fantastic boat ride around the harbour, this time opting to do a harbour cruise and learning about the history and evolution of Hong Kong. For lunch we went to Maxim Palace at City Hall. Wow! This place had been recommended by a friend and I am so glad we went. It’s a traditional Hong Kong dim sum restaurant, a huge and grand hall with ladies pushing around a series of carts serving the most delicious dim sum I’ve ever had. Just see what takes your fancy as the carts pass by. A must do!
Our final night was spent at Happy Valley Racecourse, not at all something that I’d normally choose to do but it was so much fun!! Only a couple of pounds to get in, no need to pre book and situated in the middle of the city. Racenight is every Wednesday and the atmosphere was electric. We had no idea what we were doing with regards to betting so just picked out the names we liked and managed to double our money! You’ll find a really good mix of locals and ex pats here which made for a fun atmosphere and there are plenty of stalls serving a mix of cuisines and everything from beer to the finest champagne. If you happen to be in Hong Kong on a Wednesday night this is one not to miss.
The next day it was an early start to catch our flight to Malaysia. I loved our short trip to Hong Kong and would definitely go back as a stop over destination. If you’d like some more recommendations on hotels and activities please give me a call.