Why you should book a Private Tour when you visit Hong Kong
Insider Tips to ensure you have the best time in Hong Kong
Me Jamie, your host, I am English and I have lived in Hong Kong for 52 years - I know the place.
I have personally completed 2,300+ Private Experiences (over 6,000+ guests) since April 2011 and I am considered one of the finest Private Tour Guides in Asia.
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Why you should book a Private Tour when you visit Hong Kong
I personally completed 2,324 private tours of Hong Kong from April 4th 2011 to January 31st 2020
If you are considering coming to Hong Kong you have choices if you want to book a tour (or not!)
You can choose to explore Hong Kong on your own, using your smart phone, apps and Wikipedia | Instagram | You Tube
You can choose to do a Hotel Coach Tour
You can choose to do a Big Bus Tour
You can choose to go on a Free Tour
You can choose to go on a Group Tour (Cultural or Foodie or both) with anywhere from 6 - 20 participants
You can choose to go on a proper Food Tour as opposed to a more Culture “based” tour
You can choose to go on a Private Tour
12 reasons to book a Private Tour of Hong Kong
You can choose to go on a PRIVATE Tour, just you, your family and | or friends
Itineraries customised to your personal specifications with unrivalled flexibility
Go at your own pace based on your personal dynamics and circumstances
You can choose the date and starting time and it can cost a lot less than you think!
Beat the crowds! you will absolutely maximise the time for actual sightseeing
You get a local resident | expert with an insiders knowledge of Hong Kong - the ultimate benefit
Flexibility on changing the itinerary during the tour if required
An opportunity to make amazing memories with family and friends
An in-depth learning and participation experience
You will get a great value for money experience and you will get the best guides
The undivided attention of your Private Tour Guide
Going from attractions A to B to C to D to E seemlessly and hassle free with an expert
You will absolutely have a lot more fun! (p.s. and someone to take your picture!)
Who books a Private Tour when they visit Hong Kong?
……and below is just a partial list of my private tour guests and their rather diverse occupations, I did 2,324 private tours of Hong Kong in just 9 years with almost 60% of them being 6 - 8 hours long.
.......and I have done private tours with 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.
Best Insider Tips for booking a Private Tour of Hong Kong
Book the tour directly through the Tour Companies website, you might find it to be much cheaper, companies like Viator, Klook, Tripadvisor, Get Your Guide, Tours by Locals and such generally charge the tour company a 25 - 30% commission for the privilege of listing on their site, on OTA sites (Online Travel Agencies) all tour companies are created equal, I find it amazing how they can make 1,000 private tours look exactly the same and they insist on extraneous twaddle like the tour itinerary with timing which is utterly nonsensical, if someone says you will spend 30 minutes at an attraction you can bet you will be there for an hour, timing does not respect reality!, it is also impossible to get a clear picture of who you are dealing with and their strengths and weaknesses, visiting the tour companies actual website will give you a much clearer picture of who you are dealing with. Personally I can see no good reason to book through an OTA, to me there is a complete lack of quality control with many companies with mediocre quality and reputations getting priority listings because they offer a bigger commission to the OTA and do not get me started on how companies can be listed at no. 1 in the rankings on Tripadvisor purely and simply because they have paid a large sum of money to do this.
I always like to say that you should try and book a private tour with the owner of the company, with J3 Private Tours, you got me, I had no guides on my payroll nor would I ever use freelance guides. Trust me, book the owner, it is normally quite clear on their website who that is.
Unless you are booking a food tour (where ideally you need to book the tour with a company with Hong Kong Chinese guides fluent in Cantonese and English) book a tour if possible with a guide where English is a native language and that they are a long term resident of Hong Kong, I do not speak Cantonese and that is not through lack of trying, my wife‛s first language is Cantonese but I am English and I have lived in Hong Kong for 52 years. Communication is so important on a tour and trust me, there are many levels of English fluency in Hong Kong and what you should be looking for primarily is a Native English Speaker if possible, if you are communicating with the company you can normally get a pretty good idea of English fluency. I have always been open and honest about my pathetic Cantonese language ability!
Due to Hong Kong Government inaction there are very few guides available who are native French, German, Spanish and Portuguese speakers but I am happy to make recommendations for quality tour companies | tour guides with special language skills.
I am no spring chicken at 63 (as of 2024) but I am always disappointed to see young kids leading tours, for me the optimum age range for a Private Tour Guide should be 30 - 70 with the best of us between 35 - 65 | Why this age range? Well you have to know Hong Kong like the back of your hand and more importantly you have life experience by the bucketful and when you doing Private Tours you are doing tours with very diverse people in terms of occupations and ages, I was 50 when I started my new life as a Private Tour Guide, married for a long time with 3 adult sons, in other words I am an adult not a kid! it would be very tough for young person of 20 - 25 to deal with a CEO of a Fortune 500 Company or a real Princess (yes I did a tour with a famous and very wealthy Princess) I know of a couple of exceptions but they where trained as flight attendants and that training was invaluable and for the record, the very best private tour guides are in my experience female (I was a notable exception!)
Please bear in mind these are my personal opinions, others may have a different point of view
The Peak Tram Hong Kong where insider knowledge is critical
The Peak Tram in Hong Kong, one of my favourite subjects for all of the wrong reasons but if you follow my advice then you will have a much better experience. Despite upgrading the Terminals and the Trams (which now have a capacity of 210 people) the Peak Tram is still plagued with issues simply because it is one of the most popular attractions in Hong Kong.
I have been on the Tram thousands of times since 1972 but since 2003 it has had an issue with huge crowds and in 2019 even if you where with a Tour Guide you could easily wait 1 - 2 hours for an 8 minute ride and the pushing and shoving to get onto the tram to get a seat, well that was and is just awful. Post Covid and the new terminals and trams have not resolved the issue, it has also become very expensive and it is going to get much worse by the end of 2024
My advice - do NOT go up to Victoria Peak on the Peak Tram, take a taxi, a bus or Uber but come down on the Tram, you really only need to do the Tram ride one way and going down is a lot more fun and a lot less crowded, you do need to read my blog post about the 16 myths of Victoria Peak, it will enable you to have a much better experience.
You must absolutely read the Tripadvisor reviews of any company you are considering, they can be very revealing and beware of certain tour companies who get hundreds of reviews where the reviewer has done precisely one review and they are always glowing 5 star reviews, one company in particular was famous for free tours and they have now morphed into paid tours as well, as a Free Tour Company they were appalling but now all they get is 5 star reviews! I have seen this review manipulation many times since I first listed on Tripadvisor in 2011.
I am still a top drawer advisor | consultant in the Tour business and the big mistake people make is booking the cheapest option, if ever there was a business that exemplified the old saying “you get what you pay for” it is the Private Tour Business and in Hong Kong for any type of Tour business, for the 9 years in which I completed 2,324 Private Tours I had the highest prices but I delivered a top quality tour.
For some reason in Hong Kong a lot of Private Tour Companies in Hong Kong will not accept a booking more than 6 months in advance, I have never understood this, particularly as people on Cruises who are looking for a shore excursion like to book a year in advance, you need to check this as chances are if you wait to long to book your preferred company may already be booked.
If you are booking a private tour then generally you make contact with the company by email, it is not a good idea to send a one line enquiry and one that suggests you are talking with other tour companies as well, the more personal and detailed the enquiry, the faster the response will be.
Some of my amazing Private Tour Guests enjoying Hong Kong
Now it is time to get serious about the Private Tour and Tour Business in Hong Kong, these are simply my personal opinions, bear in mind :-
I have lived in Hong Kong for 52 years
I personally completed 2,324 private tours of Hong Kong from April 4th 2011 to January 31st 2020
I remain as a consultant | advisor in the Tour Industry
I hate the term “hidden gems” “secret spots” “travel like a local” horrible tourist cliches which in today’s social media world have no relevance!
Why you should NOT book these types of tours when you come to Hong Kong and avoid trying to see Hong Kong on your own with a smart phone, apps and Wikipedia
You can choose to explore Hong Kong on your own, using your smart phone and apps
A Group of 10 ladies NOT on any sort of TOUR, Private or Group using IPhones | IPads | apps for information on visiting sites and such in Hong Kong (I answered a few questions they had)
This simply does not work, whether you are a solo traveller, a couple or a small group of friends trying to see Hong Kong on your own, it is a waste of your time and using Wikipedia as a guide, well……. I have also come across groups of friends who are following the advice of travel bloggers and Social Media Influencers and that is the worst possible thing you can do, let’s just say that they have no interest in verifying any facts or figures and accuracy is sadly missing.
I appreciate that seasoned travellers probably like doing things on their own but if time is limited then you absolutely need a great Private Tour Guide.
Hong Kong is huge - 430sq miles, population of 7.5 million people with an amazing public transport system and so much to see and do, you need a local expert to maximise your time and give you a great tour experience.
You can choose to do a Hotel Coach Tour
Group of 16 - 30 tourists on a typical Hotel COACH Tour which have operating since the late 1960’s
I have written quite a few blog posts about these so called Hotel Coach Tours - when we arrived in Hong Kong on January 2nd 1972 we took one of these tours and 52 years later, they basically have not changed the itinerary nor how they treat their guests.
Whilst the itinerary itself is not bad at all you are on a coach with a bunch of strangers and a tour guide who may or may not be fluent in English working to a prepared script with facts and figures hopelessly out of date (including awful jokes), these guides are not paid very much at all (which really upsets me) but the highlight of the tour is when they interrupt the tour with a stop at a Jewellery Factory (owned in general by the Tour Company) under the pretext of it being a cultural experience and you are for 30 minutes subject to high pressure sales tactics to buy overpriced jewellery, I find it amazing in this day and age that this is seen as an acceptable practice in Hong Kong (read the Tripadvisor reviews if you do not believe me)
In addition they have all manner of practices to try and gouge money from you (like sticking your face on a plate or keychain)
… and yes in the interests of research I have been on 3 of these tours
Frankly they should be ashamed of themselves but at least their clients do not have to navigate Hong Kong on public transport without a guide.
You can choose to do a Big Bus Tour
Group of tourists on a fairly typical BIG BUS Tour
I have written quite a few comments over the years about the Big Bus Tour Company and they would attest to my negative feelings about their offerings.
I have researched the company extensively (they operate in as of 2024, 26 cities around the world) and the problems they have well, it happens in all the cities they do tours.
Let me be clear, there is nothing wrong with the concept, with nice weather it is actually pretty good up top but they have issues which despite then being here for well over a decade they continue to ignore and yes, in Hong Kong regulations can be pretty stiff but not insurmountable and to me they could easily solve their issues.
if it is raining it is a dreadful experience and we have a lot of rainy days in Hong Kong, sitting on the open upper deck in a tacky yellow poncho does not stop you from getting soaked to the skin during a rain shower.
quite often the headsets for the tour audio itinerary commentary do not work or even worse, the headset works but not the audio and frequently the audio is not in sync with what you are seeing as you whizz by on the bus
the basic concept is you take the bus to predestined locations, get off and explore and then hop on the next bus to the next location, all well and good but at the moment and for a long time now, the next bus may take an hour to arrive, if they increased the frequency of the buses to 3 an hour it would have a massive effect on complaints (ie in a positive way)
most of the drivers do not speak more than basic English and can be quite rude if you disturb them (and are terrible drivers) again, easily solved by having an English speaking employee onboard the bus to answer questions and a bit more training for the drivers would help
and finally, they only have a couple of routes so what you can see is very much limited
… and I am not kidding, it can be quite expensive if there is 4 people!
… and yes, in the interests of research I have been on 2 of their tours.
I lot of people who write negative reviews about the Big Bus experience tend to state that it is a lot cheaper to take public transport and the Big Bus Company knows that for a lot of people this is simply not an option, Hong Kong has one of the best public transport systems in the world but a smart phone app does NOT make you an instant expert, it is easy for me, I have never owned a car and have been using public transport daily for 52 years.
You can choose to do a FREE Tour
A fairly typical group size for a FREE Tour in Hong Kong, the tour guide with microphone, headset and binder was for some reason 20 yards to the left, ignoring her guests
I have to be careful here as a friend of mine does FREE Tours in Hong Kong but I always give him great credit for bringing Hong Kong alive (of sorts) to large groups of people who would otherwise be trying to explore on their own.
I have no problem with the tour itself, there are plenty of itineraries on offer and some of them are extremely interesting ( I have been on 3 FREE Tours) what I have always had a problem with is that they are NOT free, at the start of the tour the guide will tell you of the “tip” he or she expects and whilst there is nothing to stop you walking off and not paying, the vast majority of people feel obligated to pay the tip, the point being is that the tour is NOT FREE and if you book online you have to pay a fee!
I totally understand that this is how the FREE Tour business segment operates but to me anyway, I speak plain English, they should call it “Tips” based or simply make sure that they emphasise that the tour is free with NO mention of a tip and let people choose what to pay.
Personally, I cannot think of anything worse than being on a tour with 20 - 30 other people being led by a mainly very young guides with very little experience, again basically working to a prepared script and any tour guide that keeps referring to a large binder or pad full of images and information needs to find another job.
I should point out that the companies offering FREE Tours also offer a huge selection of paid tours at quite high prices and the quality is there, some of the tours are excellent.! I am never quite sure how offering free tours alongside paid tours is good for your reputation?
You can choose to do a paid Group Tour
A fairly typical group size for a GROUP Tour in Hong Kong, the tour guide with microphone, headset and flag does try hard to keep his guests interested, some did wander off!
A paid group tour is basically a way for you to save money and depending on the itinerary you could be with anywhere from 4 - 30 people on the streets or on a coach with a flag waving tour guide….. and yes, they go to all of the famous and expected tourist attractions.
Please note that these tours have a set in stone itinerary and timing is a real issue as everyone in the group has an opinion, some want to spend less time or more time at an attraction, you often see guides arguing with guests, gosh, not my cup of tea at all.
Call me a purist but I believe in very small groups, in general no more than 6 people and no competing sets of strangers and I never, ever did a tour where I had to use a headset or microphone, it is just plain wrong. I only ever did Private Tours, I never offered paid Group Tours where none of the guests knew each other.
This is where choosing the right tour company is critical - most of my friends offer group tours and a key point is this term does NOT refer to Private Tours - on these group tours you could have 5 or 6 small groups of people who do not know each other but you travel together as a group - the theory of course is that by doing a group tour you pay less but is that worth pretty much no one on one interaction between you and the guide? as he or she is too busy trying not to lose people and in my own experience the tour content can be very lacking quality wise.
Depending on the company you choose the guide quality and English fluency can vary dramatically, please do your research
You can choose to go on a FOOD Tour as opposed to a more CULTURE “based” tour
A fairly typical type of restaurant used by Tour Companies that offer Private and Group Food Tours
This is a bit of an odd piece of advice so bear with me.
Hong Kong has 3 official languages, Cantonese, Mandarin and English but for whatever reason providing English menu’s in local Chinese Restaurants just never really took hold.
I have lived in Hong Kong for 52 years and I have eaten at somewhere north of 1,250 local Chinese Restaurants, my wife is not Chinese but was born in Hong Kong and has lived here for longer than I have, she went to Chinese Schools and her native language is Cantonese.
My point being is that I know Hong Kong food and yet I always refused to do any sort of food tour and on my Private Tours if guests wanted a Chinese meal I would take them to my favourite restaurant, a restaurant in NO shape or form like the one in the image above.
Din Tai Fung, my favourite Chinese Restaurant in Hong Kong, top quality at moderate prices.
For some reason in Hong Kong, the Food Tour Industry has morphed over the past 14 years and it was decided by the tour companies that in order to know Hong Kong Chinese Food you would only go to old established traditional Chinese Family Restaurants carefully chosen by the owner of the Tour Company and NOT an English menu in sight and not a word of English spoken by the Restaurant staff and a typical group or private food tour would involve tastings at 6 locations.
In other words you need a local Hong Kong Chinese guide to do a food tour with you.
The Hong Kong food scene to me is rather unique, you can find fantastic food in really odd locations and in many cases it is great value for money.
I absolutely agree with this approach 100%, I have never had an issue in Chinese Restaurants here because my wife and her family are all native Cantonese speakers, I am not and with no English Menu’s and very few English speaking staff members I am completely out of my depth which means I was never able to offer an experience at my usual high quality level.
Some of my great and trusted tour guide friends speak Cantonese as a second language and get by doing private and group food tours but for me my suggestion of a local Hong Kong Chinese guide is probably the best option, my Chinese friends offer amazing food tours and some of them are social media celebrities and influencers.
Look, anyone can learn about Hong Kong food, the history, cultural significance, the dishes, the ingredients and preparation and such but that is meaningless in a Chinese Restaurant with no English, when it comes to NON food tours I absolutely believe that a Native English Speaker is your best option given that fluency in English is absolutely not what you think here, I have been on tours in Hong Kong (for research) and honestly it can be a horrible experience having a guide who does not really speak English fluently, my hats off to them of course for having the fortitude to give it a go, my Cantonese is so bad it is embarrassing.. but at the end of the day, you have to do right by the guest.
I should point out that the my friends that own Private Tour Companies all speak eloquent English as do many of their guides
The truly stunning and amazing panoramic day view from the Lugard Road Lookout at Victoria Peak
The truly stunning and amazing panoramic night view from the Lugard Road Lookout at Victoria Peak
Lugard Road Lookout at Victoria Peak
If I had any followers on Instagram who liked views rather than my car images then this would be a classic, Mum, Dad and 4 kids aged from 12 - 22 from England, perfect weather, the planets aligned as they do on most days at the Peak.
This rather sums up Jamie’s spot at the Peak.
Book Now
| Cultural Tourism At It’s Very Best |
J3 Premium Private Hong Kong Tours and Experiences
Jamie, Your Passionate Hong Kong Expert & Storyteller
Discover Hong Kong - Pearl of the Orient
Learn about the unbiased, real Hong Kong | forget what you read in the press!
© Jamie Lloyd | J3 Consultants Hong Kong | J3 Private Tours Hong Kong | | 2011 - 2024.
All rights reserved.
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