If you’re staying on the Kowloon side in Hong Kong (the side where Mongkok is), I highly recommend taking the airport bus to get from Hong Kong International Airport to your hotel.

This is an economical and convenient mode of transportation to get to between the airport and the city, with buses running every 8-15 minutes during the daytime.

Here’s a full guide with pictures, taking you through the entire journey after you pass customs and are ready to leave the airport!

When to take Airport Express train vs. bus

Depending on where your hotel is, taking the Airport Express may be quicker. However, if your hotel is not near the stations where the Airport Express goes to (refer to this page for more information about the Airport Express), you will need to transfer to the local MTR.

Transferring and riding the local MTR with luggage can be quite difficult, as the MTR can get busy with locals and is difficult to walk around with luggage. It may not be worth the time savings, as you will need to account extra time for transferring and finding your way in the crowded stations.

Specifically, I stayed at the Hilton Garden Inn in Mongkok, so I took the A21 bus to get from the airport to Nathan Road. If I had taken the Airport Express train, I would still need to transfer to the metro (which would be difficult with all my luggage), and walk the same distance from Nathan Road to my hotel. Taking the airport bus was easier as I didn’t have to transfer.

Not to mention, the Airport Express train is nearly 2-3x the price of the airport bus (not even including the MTR fare if you transfer).

Bus Routes

The easiest way to find which bus you should take is to get directions on Google Maps between HKIA and your hotel. Make sure you set the time to approximately when you expect to leave the airport (passing through immigration and collecting your checked bags should not take more than 45 minutes-1 hour). There will be different buses if you arrive in the middle of the night.

You can refer to this link from the HKIA website that lists the operation hours for each route, as well as the latest fare. For my route, A21, the fare was $34.60 HKD (~$4.50 USD) in December 2024 for an adult fare.

Payment Methods

You will pay your fare upon boarding the bus. You can pay via Octopus Card, exact cash (no change will be given if you don’t have exact fare), or by credit card (however, the credit card reader appeared to be faulty/the passenger before me seemed to have trouble tapping their credit card).

Getting an Octopus Card

Octopus Card is a stored value card that you can use on all of Hong Kong’s public transportation system (MTR, buses, Airport bus), as well as vendors that accept Octopus cards (some restaurants, taxis, convenience stores). If you plan to take Hong Kong public transit, I recommend buying an Octopus card when you arrive at the airport as you can start using it on the airport bus.

If you don’t have an Octopus Card, you can buy one after passing through customs (while still in the secured area), or outside of immigration (public area).

There is a desk with “Train tickets to the city” right after you pass through the doors after going through customs. You can buy an Octopus card here.

Alternatively, you can buy an Octopus card at the other service desks once after you exit to the non-secured Arrivals hall area.

Please note that you must pay for your Octopus card in cash, and the minimum price is $200 HKD (for an adult). This includes a $50 refundable deposit and $150 of useable value. You must get 1 Octopus card per passenger.

Getting to the bus stop

All bus stops for all routes can be found at the same area.

Upon exiting to Arrivals, head in the direction of “To city”.

Keep following the signs for “To city”.

You will then arrive at the station for the Airport Express train. Now, follow the signs for “Bus”.

Walk down the long hallway to the Bus Terminus, and follow the signs to go either left or right to find your bus stop.

Go to the side where your bus route is listed.

Find the sign for your bus route and wait for the next bus.

On the bus

The bus ride itself is comfortable. The bus was clean and the seats were in good condition, with seatbelts provided.

The route from HKIA to Mongkok in the afternoon on a Friday morning was not busy, so I did not have a problem finding space for both my large checked sized luggage and my carry on.

The stops were listed on the tiny screen (the one above the mirror in the picture below) and announced in both Cantonese and English.

Press the STOP button when your stop is announced.

The bus ride itself took about 45 minutes to get to my stop (Bank Centre on Nathan Road).

Luggage

Half of the bus’s bottom floor is dedicated to luggage racks. On the route leaving the airport, you should have no trouble finding a seat or finding space for your luggage. I brought on a large size checked luggage and a carry-on sized luggage.

However, my ride from Mongkok back to the airport in the morning was super packed! There was no more space in the luggage racks, so I had to stand and hold my luggage. Be prepared for this upon heading back to the airport if you are not at the beginning of the route.

Catching the bus back to the airport from city

You can use Google Maps to locate the stop you should take to get back to the airport from the city.

🌟TIP: I recommend walking the route the night before so you can familiarize yourself with the route. If you have luggage, you do not want to get lost / walk extra!

The bus stops should be marked with signage to let you know you’re at the right bus stop that heads back to the airport.

As mentioned in the above section, the bus heading back to the airport in the morning was packed. In this case, you may need to stand and hold your luggage on the bus.

Take this into account if you’re on a popular route in the morning, as you may consider taking a taxi if you don’t want to stand with your luggage.