Hire a Private Guide for the perfect Hong Kong Tour

My Favourite Hong Kong 8 hour Tour Itinerary

This 8 hour tour covers Hong Kong Island and Kowloon

• Victoria Peak - Lugard Road Lookout

• The Peak Tram one way only

• Statue Square Central

• HSBC Lions Central

• Star Ferry across Victoria Harbour

• TST Promenade for the view of Hong Kong Island across Victoria Harbour

• The Clock Tower on TST Promenade

• The Peninsula Hotel in TST Kowloon

• Chung King Mansions in TST Kowloon

• Chi Lin Nunnery

• Nan Lian Garden

• Sik Sik Yuen Wong Tai Sin Temple

• Mong Kok Street Markets

• Optional Dim Sum Lunch

This to me really is the perfect introduction to Hong Kong and this was always my core 8 hour tour which I could modify on the run, I often made detours and added in stuff if time allowed - I completed 2,324 Private Tours of Hong Kong between 2011 - 2020 (9 years) before Covid led to the closure of Hong Kong to tourists for basically 3 years.

30% of my tours were 8 hours and appealed to guests who had a limited amount of time in Hong Kong.

I would also like to point out that many tourists who visit Hong Kong are often underwhelmed by their visit to Victoria Peak in Hong Kong and claim (and in many cases quite correctly) that it is a tourist trap - it gets anything north of 7 million visitors a year.

It is a tourist trap but all the great private tour guides know exactly how to avoid the main viewing platforms (The Peak Tower 428 Sky Terrace and the Lions Pavilion) and will take you to the Lugard Road Lookout for the worlds most amazing panoramic city view, I have written a number of articles about this - I should know I have visited the Peak over 6,000 times since 1972 and have been on the Peak Tram many thousands of times.

Go to my menu link you will see a link called J3 How to get to guides | have a read of these articles which will greatly enhance your experience of visiting Victoria Peak in Hong Kong

I should point out that whilst you can of course choose to do this tour on your own, take into account that you have to know how to get around, getting from A to B to C is not as easy as you think in Hong Kong, I always have to laugh at people who suggest you should use the subway and | or the public buses (which even local residents have trouble mastering), apps and Google Maps to do this - good luck with that.

Your tour experience is totally dependant on the quality of the Guide

This is one of my mantra’s - a lot of mediocre tour guides work to memorised scripts (with facts and figures hopelessly out of date) and believe it or not, on the rather pointless Government Tour Guide Courses they instruct you on how to tell jokes to foreign tourists ! there is none of that nonsense if you go on a tour with my friends.

Other than seamlessly visiting all the sites, a private tour guides sole aim is to fill in the blanks, visiting an “attraction” to me anyway is meaningless without knowing the background information and “stories” and I have a collection of over 50 Hong Kong Guide Books which are all pretty useless at giving you information and statistics and such which change all the time, a relevant fact in 2023 may well be outdated in 2024

For the great, passionate tour guides, keeping relevant and up to date on Hong Kong facts and figures is a no brainer, the Hong Kong Government keeps statistics on just about everything - I recently did a tour with a local Hong Kong Tour Company with a friend and we were fact checking as we went along, it was awful, for some reason a lot of guides think that the Hong Kong population is 7 million people, for a number of years now, officially it varies between 7.4 to 7.5 million residents. I concluded that they memorise information relevant to the Tour Guide Course (which they may have taken years ago) and simply never bother to update their knowledge base.

Another aspect of the issue is that most “local” tour guides (ie Hong Kong Chinese) who probably constitute more than 99% of the 5,500 ish registered guides in Hong Kong have been trained to do tours with Mainland Chinese Tourists on coaches, doing a Private Tour with a foreign tourist is a different kettle of fish.

Fortunately my friends have a nose for hunting down great local guides (so to speak) and hiring them, a lot of them are just amazing.

Please also note that you will not get this itinerary on a free tour or a coach tour, this sort of tour is handled by top notch, expert Private Tour Companies and is in my humble opinion a fabulous introduction to Hong Kong.

Below is just a partial list of my private tour guests and their rather diverse occupations, I completed 2,324 Private Tours of Hong Kong in just 9 years with almost 60% of these private tours being 6 - 8 hours long and the ability to talk to so many wonderful people from all walks of life is a gift I acquired, I had over 6,000 guests, not bad for one person!

I have done private tours with so many wonderful people who have the following diverse occupations:-

A REAL Princess, Very close relatives of a US President!, One Star Admiral of the US 7th Fleet, Nuclear Missile Operations Officer (Missileer) for the USAF, Plumbers, Postman, Supplier of ALL frozen burger pattie’s to McDonalds, Nuclear Sub Commanders, Farmers, Chip Shop Owner, Teachers, Pulitzer Prize Award Winning Journalists, Photocopier Repair Guys, Lawyers, Rocket Scientists, Movie Producers, Consul Generals, Police Officers, Homicide Detectives, Travel Agents, House Keepers, Linguists, Retired and Serving CIA Officers, Fighter Pilots, Army and Navy Guys, Socialites, Students, Judges, Journalists, Software Geeks, Nuclear Power Plant Inspectors, Surgeons, Doctors, Forensic Pathologists, Nurses, Coroners, Venture Capitalists, Hospice Directors, Town Planners, Accountants, Psychiatrists, Nuclear Physicists, Professional Athletes, Ferry Captains, Commercial Pilots, Airline Crew, Social Workers, Veterinarians, Musicians, Theme Park Executives, Professional Photographers, College Professors, Gaming Geeks, Inland Revenue Tax Officials, American Airforce B 52 Bomber Pilot, Senior Engineer / Ballistic Missiles, Bodyguards, Beer Salesmen, Park Rangers, Scuba Diving Instructors, Popcorn Machines Makers, Coastguard Officers, Firemen, Structural Geologists, Veterinarians, Architects, Surveyors, Hooters Waitress, Dentists, Ski Instructors, Civil Engineers, Air Traffic Controllers, Electricians, Top Law Professor's at major US Universities, Librarians, Steel Guys, Economists, Homemakers, Novelists, Book Publishers, Currency Traders, Carpenters, a Rabbi, Boiler Maker, Strawberry Farmers, Food Bloggers, Morticians, Financial Advisers, Corporate Video Makers, Private Investigators, Bounty Hunters, Chiropractors, Air Traffic Controllers, Builders, Stonemasons, Botanists, Dog Sitters, Spy, Geneticists, Interpol Agents, Prison Food Suppliers, Radio Announcers, Military Cryptologists, Forklift Drivers, Locksmiths, Icecream maker, Pastry Chef, Baker, Zoo Keepers, Explosives Experts, DEA Agents, Coffee Traders, Diamond Buyers, Wedding Photographers, Google Guru's, Geologists, Professor of Medieval History, Navy Chef's, Camp Site Operators, Animal Embalmers, Telecomms Engineers, Helicopter Pilots, Oil Industry Divers, Navy Seals, Editor for USA Today, Landscape Gardeners, Mary Kay Super Agents, Hotel Owners, TV Actors, Optometrists, Gourmet Chef's, Acclaimed Plastic Surgeons, Barristers, Travel Bloggers, Politicians, Funeral Home Directors, Former Gang Member, Anthropologist, Children's Book Author,  Geophysicist, Chicken Artist, Priest, Movie Makeup Artist, Expert Witness, Bail Bondsman, Opera Singer, Master Brewer, Child Prodigy, Debt Collector, Victoria Secrets Store Manager, Head of a major Charity, Celebrity TV Talking Heads (!), Fortune 500 CEO's, Corporate Trainer, Futures Trader, Waitress (quite a few) General Manager of a Worm Bait Company, Owner of a RV Dealership, Convenience Store Owner, Owner of an Amusement Game Manufacturer, Elephant Conservationists, Chemist, High School Students, Crematorium Operator, Concert Pianist, Vet from Honduras, Hair Stylist for a Funeral Home, Calendar Maker, Pedicab Operator, Poets, F16 Fighter Pilot USAF, Steve Jobs Doctor, Major US Democratic Politician, Big cheese Executives from HBO and CBS, Famous journalist and a Journalism Professor, former Secret Service Agent, Famous Rare Coin and Stamp Collector, Major Charitable Foundation Owner ... and some really, really senior people from J. P. Morgan, Starbucks, United Airlines, Boeing, Google and Microsoft.

J3 Group Hong Kong

J3 Consultants Hong Kong | J3 Private Tours Hong Kong

J3 Consultants Private Hong Kong Experiences are tailored for individuals who prefer to explore Hong Kong independently but would like a Hong Kong Expert to tell them about Hong Kong

This unique experience offers an authentic insight into the real Hong Kong, providing a deeper understanding of the city's culture, history, and local way of life.

Led by Jamie, a dedicated Hong Kong specialist and resident for 52 years, the experience covers many aspects of Hong Kong's identity, spanning its time under both British and Chinese rule.

Cultural Tourism at it’s very best

J3 Private Hong Kong Experiences

You want to learn about the REAL Hong Kong from a local host

How local do you want to get?

You have come to the right place.

Jamie, your friend in Hong Kong

52 years living in Hong Kong, our family arrived on January 2nd 1972

I have lived here for 25 years under British Rule, 27 years under Chinese Rule

I have 45 years of Business Consultancy experience in Hong Kong

My wife is a local & has lived her entire life in Hong Kong, her first language is Cantonese

We have 3 Adult sons all born in Hong Kong, 2 still live here and 1 in the UK

I pioneered the Private Tour Industry in Hong Kong in 2010

2,324 completed award winning Private Tours of Hong Kong from 2011 - 2020

……and yes, I am a bit of an expert on the Hong Kong car culture!

© Jamie Lloyd | J3 Consultants Hong Kong | J3 Private Tours Hong Kong | | 2011 - 2024.

All rights reserved.

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