Hong Kong Detours: 5 Day Itinerary
Five days is our 4-day itinerary plus a full Hong Kong Disneyland day, the first paid theme park in this family and the first day worth booking a specific date for rather than just showing up. Everything before it stays the same: Macau by bus, two islands, Tai O’s stilt village. Our 6-day itinerary adds Ocean Park on top of this exact plan.
Book these before you go:
- Your Central or Tsim Sha Tsui hotel : rooms fill fast in the October-December window
- A Macau day trip on GetYourGuide : worth locking in for a weekend crossing
- A dated Hong Kong Disneyland ticket on Viator : the price tier moves by day, book the date you actually want
| Day | Focus | Travel time from HK |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Macau: the HZMB Golden Bus, the old town, the Cotai Strip | 45 min bus each way, plus immigration |
| 2 | Cheung Chau: car-free lanes, the Mini Great Wall trail | 35-55 min ferry each way |
| 3 | Lamma Island: the coastal hike, a seafood lunch | 20-30 min ferry each way |
| 4 | Tai O: stilt houses, a dolphin-watching boat | 45-60 min bus from Tung Chung |
| 5 | Hong Kong Disneyland | 30-40 min rail via Sunny Bay |
Day 1: Macau on the HK$65 bus, not the HK$194 ferry
Skip the TurboJet and Cotai Water Jet ferries, both HK$192-242 and about an hour, for the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge shuttle, the Golden Bus, HK$65 in regular hours or HK$70 overnight, roughly 45 minutes plus immigration. Macau’s own currency, the pataca, and its own border control (per macaotourism.gov.mo ) make it a genuinely separate SAR, not a Hong Kong district. Spend the day on the Ruins of St. Paul’s, Senado Square and a Portuguese egg tart, then the Cotai Strip by taxi for the casinos, before the bus back.
Day 2: Cheung Chau’s car-free lanes and a coastal trail
From Central Pier 5, the ordinary ferry to Cheung Chau runs HK$16.70 weekday or HK$24.80 weekend, the faster boat HK$32.90 or HK$47.60, 35 to 55 minutes. No cars, just bicycle rental, a fishing-village layout, and the Mini Great Wall trail to Cheung Po Tsai Cave.
Day 3: Lamma’s coastal hike and a seafood harbourfront
From Central Pier 4, the Lamma ferry runs roughly HK$25 and 20 to 30 minutes. Walk the coastal trail between Yung Shue Wan and Sok Kwu Wan, then eat at a harbourfront seafood restaurant before the return sailing.
Day 4: Tai O’s stilt houses and the maybe-dolphins
Take the MTR to Tung Chung, then a bus to Tai O, 45 to 60 minutes, into a fishing village built on stilts over tidal flats. Boat operators run dolphin-spotting trips, but the local population has genuinely declined, treat a sighting as a bonus rather than a promise. Go at low tide for the clearest view of the stilt houses.
Day 5: A full day at Hong Kong Disneyland
Ride the dedicated Disneyland Resort Line, transferring at Sunny Bay, 30 to 40 minutes from central Hong Kong. One-day adult tickets run a four-tier system, HK$669 on the cheapest days up to HK$939 on the busiest; check the current tier for your date on hongkongdisneyland.com before buying, since the calendar moves by day, not by season. It’s smaller than the US or Japan parks, so set ride-count expectations accordingly, and a Non-stop 2-Day Fun Ticket adds only about HK$100 if you want a second consecutive day instead.
Is one Disneyland day enough, or should it be two?
One full day covers the park at a reasonable pace for most visitors, since it’s genuinely smaller than the US and Japan versions. Add the Non-stop 2-Day option only if a slower pace or repeat rides on a specific attraction matter more to you than covering everything else in this itinerary.
For Ocean Park and the Shenzhen border, both left off this trip, see our Hong Kong day-trip guide and its own 6-day itinerary . For the city itself, none of it covered here on purpose, read our Hong Kong guide or its 5-day itinerary . One concrete tip: check the ticket tier calendar before picking your Disneyland date, shifting by a day or two can save real money.