Hong Kong Budget Hotel - YWCA Garden View International House

Location: 1 MacDonnell Road, Mid Levels, Central, Hong Kong

The Garden View International House is actually a serviced apartment. However they do accept short term bookings. Please expect basic hotel services but not anything five star and they don’t provide room services.

Couple of Reasons You Should Stay at the Garden View International House

Excellent View of the Botanical Garden and Central Hong Kong

I recommend this hotel because of its super value of money in terms of its unique environment and location. In low seasons, its room rate can go down to as low as US$80 for a twin bed room with a view. Rooms facing MacDonnell Road are relatively cheaper, but it definitely worth it to pay a little more for a room with a view.

You’ll be completely impressed by the beautiful view of the Hong Kong Zoological & Botanical Garden. The beautiful Central Hong Kong skyscripers can be viewed from near distance. You can’t imagine how beautiful the night view is. Only high floors have partial sea view.
Easy and Comprehensive Transportation Network
- Three minutes taxi ride from Star Ferry or Airport Express. There are always taxis outside the main entrance waiting for you.
- Two minutes walk to The MacDonnell Road Peak Tram station.

At the Garden View International House, you would enjoy tranquility of living in a prestigious residential area while stay close to the busy Central of Hong Kong and at the same time with easy transportation connect to other major points of interest. Take bus 12A, you can go to Admiralty MTR station. From there, change to bus 629 and continue your way to the Ocean Park. The green mini van will take you to Star Ferry.

YWCA operates a number of hostels in Hong Kong, make sure to book the one at One MacDonnell Road. Also you don’t have to be a member of YWCA in order to make a booking.

Read Garden View International House reviews.

Hong Kong Budge Hotel - YWCA Garden View International House

Hong Kong Budget Hotel - YMCA Salisbury

Salisbury YMCA of Hong Kong

Next door to the prestigious Peninsula, same harbour view and nightly light show but much lower price. Make sure to ask for a harbour view room at upper floors when making a booking.

Location: Tsimshatsui, Kowloon

Despite of the hotel name, you don’t need to be a YMCA member. It’s just like a normal hotel. Many rank it as a four-star hotel, but comparing with the next door exclusive Peninsula, it is proved to be of great value for money.

Superior Location – A few reason you should stay at the YMCA Salisbury
- Opposite to Star Ferry
- Opposite to Hong Kong Cultural Centre. Nightly shows at the Grand Theatre and Concert Hall.
- Opposite to the Space Museum and the Museum of Art. If you are a museum fan, you can also walk or take a short taxi ride to the nearby Museum of History and Science Museum.
- Opposite to Star of Avenue, the best place to look at Hong Kong, especially at night.
- At the corner of Nathan Road, where major shopping areas are.
- Three-minute walk to MTR Tsimshatsui station.

Itinerary Suggestions – departing from YMCA Salisbury

Walk to Star Ferry, which is just opposite. Take a scenic ferry ride (HK$2.2 only) to Central, Hong Kong. Arriving Star Ferry in Central, you have two options:

Option 1 – continue to explore Central on covered footbridges
Option 2 – take bus 15C to change to Peak Tram to visit the Peak / or walk to Exchange Square bus terminus, take bus 15 to go the Peak directly.

Explore Central on Covered Footbridges
The pedestrians’ footbridges in Central Hong Kong is designed in such a great way that you don’t really need an umbrella on a rainy day even you had to walk for quite a considerable distance.

Once you get off the Star Ferry, go up at any entrance to the footbridge and you are immediately connected to the IFC Mall. You must be impressed by the prestigious shops and items here. Even you don’t plan to buy, you do enjoy exploring this world class shopping mall.

Continue your way north, you will pass by the Airport Express Hong Kong Station, Exchange Square. Further north (facing the hills and with harbour on your back, turn right if needed to turn), you are connected to the uphill escalators. Along the way, you can exit at Hollywood Road to explore the galleries and antique shops or the Man Mo Temple.

Further up, you can explore the Soho area where bars and restaurants of all kind are. Down the hill, you can find an MTR station in Central. Take only two stops (via Admiralty), get off at Tsaimshatsui, then after three minutes walk, you are back to your hotel.

Explore the Peak of Hong Kong
If you opt for the Peak tour, you can choose to go up by bus and down by Peak Tram. Connected by bus 15C back to Star Ferry and go back to your hotel. If you decided to go up by Peak Tram and down by bus, you can get off at Central and change to MTR to go back to your hotel.

See? It is extremely convenient to move around if you are staying at the YMCA Salisbury of Hong Kong.

Anna's note: Above itinerary suggestions will also work if you stay at the Peninsula or Sheraton. InterContinental will take a few more minutes to walk to the Star Ferry and/or MTR station.

Salisbury YMCA of Hong Kong Reviews


Hong Kong Travel - Budget Hotel - YMCA Salisbury

Budget Hotel at Tsimshatsui

Tsimshatsui is one of the most cosmopolitan areas of Hong Kong. Thousands of tourists like to spend time here for various interests and activities. It is also a transportation hub where many tourist groups meet and dismiss.

Right facing the Victoria Harbour, there are several luxury hotels such as The Peninsula and the InterContinental which I have introduced previously.

Today, let me introduce a budget hotel in Tsimshatsi which is right next to The Peninsula, having the same harbour view and prime location.

YMCA Salisbury
Let's take a look at the map below. At the harbour front, the YMCA and The Peninsula are standing side by side at the prime location of Tsimshatsui.

In my next post, I am going to talk about YMCA Salisbury in more details.

P: The Peninsula

Y: YMCA Salisbury

I: InterContinental

Hong Kong Travel - Budget Hotel - YMCA Salisbury