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Tsim Sha Tsui StayThe budget stay guide to Kowloon, Hong Kong

Ward 03 · Neighbourhoods

Kowloon neighbourhoods for budget stays

Tsim Sha Tsui East and West, Jordan, Yau Ma Tei, Mong Kok: which side of Kowloon suits your budget, your sleep and your pace.

Morning street corner in Kowloon with a red minibus, a tram of shoppers and laundry hanging over the market stalls

Kowloon is a string of neighbourhoods along the MTR Tsuen Wan line, and the two hundred dollars you save by sleeping one or two stops north of the waterfront buys a different Hong Kong altogether. This ward walks the districts that matter to a budget traveller: the guesthouse canyons around Chungking Mansions, the quieter terraces of Tsim Sha Tsui East, the mid-century pace of Jordan, the markets of Yau Ma Tei and the neon of Mong Kok.

Each guide names the streets, the stations and the walk times, because in Kowloon the difference between a good and a mediocre location is three blocks, not three kilometres.

In this ward

  1. Tree lined promenade of Tsim Sha Tsui East with a breeze block hotel facade, office towers and the harbour wall on the right

    Tsim Sha Tsui East or West

    Tsim Sha Tsui is really two neighbourhoods divided by Chatham Road: the quiet hotel terraces of the East and the guesthouse canyons of the West. Choosing between them is the first decision of a Kowloon stay.

  2. Temple Street at dusk with gas heaters of cooked food stalls, red lanterns, folding tables of diners and shopfront lights along the pavement

    Jordan and Yau Ma Tei on a budget

    Jordan and Yau Ma Tei are what Tsim Sha Tsui was before the tourists: the same Kowloon grid, older buildings, better street food and a night market at the door, for measurably less money.

  3. Crowded Sai Yeung Choi Street in Mong Kok at night with dense neon shop signs above the pedestrians and market stalls along the pavement

    Tsim Sha Tsui or Mong Kok

    Two MTR stops and two different trips: Tsim Sha Tsui points at the harbour, Mong Kok points at the street. This comparison settles which side of Kowloon deserves your nights.

The prices quoted across these guides add up in our daily budget in Hong Kong dollars, and two neighbouring wards extend this one: Where to Stay and From the Airport.