Travel tips: planning pays off when touring Asia

Andrew Unsworth answers your travel queries

Q. We are due to visit Hong Kong in October and after a week there would like to visit Tokyo.

What is the best area to stay in Hong Kong? I hear the Island is great, English-speaking and with English signage etcetera, but don't know if it's too far from the tourist spots.

The flights to and from Hong Kong and Tokyo don't seem to be user-friendly, departing and arriving at somewhat odd hours, and with the airports an hour outside the city centre.

What is the best area to stay in Tokyo? We are told that very little signage is in English and it is not commonly spoken.

We're not as young as we used to be, thus we want an easy, stress-free vacation. Are we choosing the wrong places ? - Gaynor and Paul Hocking

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A. To answer your last question first, a stress-free holiday is best found at the beach, in the bush or on a cruise. Cities, especially the large, crowded ones you have in mind, offer a very different experience - a stimulating one that need not be stressful but which does require organisation, planning and effort.

Because Hong Kong has such an excellent public-transport system, it does not really matter where you stay, but as a first-time visitor go for the Island district of Central, the financial core of Hong Kong, which is busy by day but quieter at night. It is near the two most popular places in the city, Lan Kwai Fong, which is a popular dining and drinking area for ex-pats, and Victoria Peak, which offers the best views of the city. The Man Mo Temple and the Central-Mid-Levels Escalators are also nearby.

Other popular areas are Sheung Wan, one MTR (Hong Kong subway) stop west of Central with many budget hotels, or the Causeway Bay neighbourhood, which may give a better insight into Hong Kong lifestyle, day and night.

There are a number of tours you can take around Hong Kong. For a good listing go to expedia.com/things-to-do/hong kong.

Jetway Express Limited offer a half-day City Tour of four hours. It includes the scenic 360° views from the top of Victoria Peak, a walk along the lively Repulse Bay with its white sand beaches, the historic temples of Tin Hau and Kwum Yam, and the native Tanka fishing villages.

If you prefer to explore by yourself, buy a 24-hour day pass on the Hop-On Hop-Off Bus Tour of Hong Kong by Big Bus Tours. From an open-air double-decker bus, you can enjoy panoramic views of Kowloon Bay, explore charming markets, and pass colonial sites and traditional temples - or hop off to visit them. On the tours you get a headset with commentary in English.

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There are many airlines flying between Hong Kong and Tokyo, at all times of the day and night. Tokyo's Narita International Airport is located further from central Tokyo than Haneda International Airport, but almost all international flights land at this airport. There are many options to reach central Tokyo, the best and fastest being the JR Narita Express, while the Narita Line Rapid Train is much cheaper but slower.

Tokyo is a huge city with more than 20 districts, and language will be a bigger problem here than in Hong Kong. The best area for tourists to stay is Shinjuku, which epitomises the Tokyo we imagine: busy streets, neon lights, modern skyscrapers, shopping malls and public parks. It has a good variety of mid-priced tourist hotels, a bustling nightlife and many restaurants and 100-yen shops.

Unless you plan to see better ones, the Shinjuku Gyoen Park is worth a visit, especially during cherry blossom time or for autumn foliage, and, if you don't actually go to the mountain, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building Free Observatory lets you see Mount Fuji on a very clear day.

Shinjuku is conveniently placed for both Tokyo sightseeing and day trips and there are day trips to Hakone and the Mount Fuji area via public bus or Odakyu train. There are also tours to Mount Fuji from the major hotels in Shinjuku.

Make sure you stay near the JR Yamanote train line or any subway line to make it easier to get around as taxis are very expensive. The Yamanote line is the main circular train line in Tokyo and it stops in all the major tourist districts - Shinjuku, Shibuya, Ginza, Tokyo Station, Akihabara, and Ueno.

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