The Advantages of Booking a Private Tour Guide

1. Save Time and Jump the Line

Hong Kong is tremendously crowded and busy. Our population tops 7 million.  The entire population of New Zealand only comes to around 5 million.  If you’re visiting top tourist attractions and want to ride the tram to Peak or the cable car to The Big Buddha on Lantau Island you can expect long queues.  Queuing is practically a national pastime here in Hong Kong.  People are prepared to wait and aren’t deterred by long queues.  It’s orderly and it’s fair, but it’s time consuming.  Time that you don’t want to waste.

By booking a Hong Kong private tour guide, your tickets are organised in advance.  Accompanied by your own private tour guide, you can save even more time and jump to the front of the queue for both the Peak Tram and the Ngong Ping 360 Cable Car.

Alternatively, we can arrange to visit many places by private vehicle.  This means travelling from one attraction to another is time efficient and comfortably air-conditioned.  In case you don’t know,  Hong Kong can be tremendously hot and humid during the summer months.  It can also rain a tremendous amount.  So as well as saving time, you can stay cool and dry whatever the weather.

2. Make Memories

Admit it, you’re not going to remember all the facts, figures and dates about places you visit on holiday.  You’re going to remember the experience and whether it was positive or not so positive.  Private tour guides know the most photogenic spots.  We live here, so we can share some cool insider tips and tricks and can give you the  scoop on what it’s really like to live in Hong Kong.

In 10 years time you won’t remember when the Peak tram was built or the key tenets of Buddhism, but you’ll have that great picture of you eating chickens feet, or holding a snake in the snake soup shop.  Your kids will remember being allowed to sound the bell on the tram or the secret echo chamber we showed them.  You also won’t remember the stress and frustration of getting lost or overpaying for a taxi, because you avoid it by booking a private tour guide.

We can also tell you plenty of things that won’t be in your guidebook.  For example, most visitors have no idea that there’s a fascinating story behind the ragged flags hanging in historic St John’s church or how significantly Feng Shui has influenced some of Hong Kong’s most iconic buildings.

3. Relax, you’re on holiday

Travel is supposed to be fun and you go on holiday to relax.  That’s hard to do if you’re nervous about trying new things. It’s uncomfortable to be in a position where you’re worried you might offend locals by going where you’re not supposed to be and doing what your not supposed to do.  We’re also sure you’ll agree that there’s nothing more frustrating than realising that you needn’t have queued in the rain for two hours or missed the best view point because you followed the catch-all guidebook instructions.

By booking a private tour guide, your trip should be as stress free and enjoyable as possible.  Let us take away the fear.  You don’t need to worry about which bakery sells the yummiest treats, where to find the nearest bathroom or getting lost.  With a private tour guide, you are in safe hands.

4. Enjoy a Customised Itinerary

Let us know in advance if you have any particular interests, whether it’s architecture, history, art or religion.  The routes on our private tours of Hong Kong are fluid and no two are the same.  Alongside some of Hong Kong’s main attractions, our guides want you to see what interests you.  For example, you could enquire about working Hong Kong’s Jewish Heritage into a tour.

5. Have Peace of Mind

You want to know that you’re in safe hands when you’re out and about in a new city.  By law, private tour guides in Hong Kong should be licensed.  At Hong Kong Greeters our guides are fully licensed, so don’t worry about heading out for the day with a rogue trader.  We have public liability insurance and as part of our training have to complete first aid certificate.

Why choose a Hong Kong Private Guide from Hong Kong Greeters?

We are Friendly

Here at HK Greeters we hand-pick our guides.  As well as being knowledgeable, our guides are approachable and friendly giving you the warmest of welcomes to Hong Kong. In addition to all the nuts and bolts facts and figures of your tour, please ask us what living in Hong Kong is really like. You might be surprised at the price of property, you should be impressed by the public transport system and we can tell you that there is absolutely no pineapple in a pineapple bun.

We are Family Friendly

We work hard to accommodate your needs.  Whether you have accessibility constraints or small children, we will help you get the best possible out of your tour. Regardless of whether your want to minimise walking or simply stay away from steep hills and lots of steps, we can take that into consideration when planning a route. If public transport will be a struggle for you with pushchairs or a wheel chair, please inquire about our private car tours.

We all know that children sometimes decide that they need to eat or go to the loo at the drop of a hat. That’s no problem. We know that children can be picky eaters and that even the best of us can suffer from dietary constraints. We will do our best to accommodate that. You can let us know in advance if you have request for any particular type of restaurant.

As an added bonus our city walking tours are free for under 16s, making the tours a little more pocket-friendly for families. Find out more about our family friendly private tours of Hong Kong here.

We speak your language

To make your trip even smoother our guides are all native or near native English speakers. Tours in other languages including Cantonese, Dutch, French, Portuguese or Spanish may be available on request. Please check with us.

Please get in touch if you’d like further information on any of our private tours in Hong Kong.  We also offer trips to neighbouring Macau and additionally offer group tours, like our Vegetarian Food and Cultural Tour of Hong Kong.  If you already have a tour in mind and are ready to book, click here.

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Family Outing, Peak to Piers

Join a Hong Kong Greeters group tour.  Hong Kong Island Peak to Piers is great for newbies.  We offer an overview of the Island, skip-the-line access at the Peak, a tour of the food markets with a small snack.  We also explore Old Town Central and Man Mo Temple.

Family Bicycle Fun

Active littlies will enjoy a trip to one of the many road safety bicycle training parks around town. Hire bikes in Sha Tin Park and pick from two parks – beginners will enjoy Sha Tin Bicycle Safety Park while advanced riders will love Shatin Adventure Cycling Arena. You can also hire bikes with child seats in Shatin Park.  If you’re interested in a cycling tour.  Please get in touch.

Hong Kong Beach Barbecue

Hit the water at Lower Cheung Sha beach.  There are changing facilities, shallow waters for petit paddlers and plenty of restaurants to choose from. We love the Lantau Grocer, who can prepare a BBQ on the beach for you.  Please note, advanced booking is required.

Hong Kong is blessed with a multitude of beaches.  Consider visiting one of Hong Kong’s outlying islands where there is beach life aplenty.

Camping and Adventure Park

For a full-day (and night) of adventure, set sail from Central Ferry Piers for Cheung Chau island. Sai Yuen Farm has camping and an adventure park.  We loved their tree- top canopy walk and their Segways.

Summerfest will be back in the Central Harbourfront event space for sports and family fun activities.  We are hoping for the inflatable waterside again in 2019.

Hong Kong Family Outings For Nature and Ocean Explorers

The World Wildlife Fund in Hong Kong is running summer educational courses for children aged six to nine in a number of their venues. To find out more about their upcoming events, click here.

Mix culture and craft with a visit to Lai Chi Kok Park (Mei Foo MTR) for its Chinese gardens.  Don’t forget paper and crayons for the brass rubbings.

  As featured in July’s edition of Expat Parent Magazine

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