A Private Hong Kong 1972 Coach Tour Redux for 2027
Victoria Peak, Central, Aberdeen, Repulse Bay and Stanley
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Me Jamie, your host, I am English and I have lived in Hong Kong since January 2nd 1972 - I know the place.
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A Private Hong Kong 1972 Coach Tour Redux for 2027
Foreword by Jamie
Victoria Peak, Central, Aberdeen, Repulse Bay and Stanley
This is essentially an origin story
In other words, had I not done this coach tour with my family I would probably never gotten into the Private Tour business, when I opened my consultancy business in 1980, one of the things I did (even at thet young age) would be to entertain my clients after the meetings where over and quite often that would be a coach tour similar to the one I did in 1972, it was a great way to see Hong Kong, in the 1990’s that morphed more into taking my clients to the Peak on the tram, up and down (it was not crowded back then) see Central and do a ride on the Star Ferry and in 2010 I took the leap into Private Tours after going on a coach tour and I was horrified,
I digress
I arrived in Hong Kong on 2nd January 1972. The tour we took a few days later courtest of the Hong Kong Telephone Company (my Dads employer) was a coach tour, and I am sure it was Winston Tours. I still have the leaflet. Tour 1 was Hong Kong Island. It left at 9.00 am or 2.00 pm, it was billed as 4 hours, and the fare on my copy has been changed by hand from HK$30 to HK$35 a person. About US$6 at the rate then. All coaches fully air conditioned, book it at the hotel reception. That was the visitor's Hong Kong.
For the record Winston Tours started in 1969 and closed down in 2012, so they had a good run.
It is this tour, still in operation more than 50 years on, that got me started. In 2010 the coach tour was quite similar. I went on it because I wanted to research it, not because I needed a day out. I came off it thinking I could do the same circuit properly, on foot and using public transport and it would be a private tour for 1 - 6 people. That is the year the private tours began. The Winston Travel itinerary was never the problem. It is a sound circuit. The 2027 tour is an upgrade of it, not a replacement for the sake of it.
What has not changed, and what has spoiled it
There is nothing wrong with the itinerary. Victoria Peak, Repulse Bay, Aberdeen, and the south coast road, are the right options. They were right in 1972, they were right when I rode the coach in 2010, and they are right in 2026. I have added Central because it is so interesting. A coach can barely stop there, so the old tour gave it one line and moved on. Deep Water Bay is not on my agenda. Repulse Bay is bigger and better, and there is no need to show people 2 beaches.
The problem in 2010, and the problem in 2026, is the way the coach tours are run. The guides in general are very poor. Many have limited English. They herd you about. They talk through a microphone. They use scripted jokes, and I mean that. The jokes are memorised. Then they take you to retail outlets for a spot of shopping, under the guise of it being a cultural experience. It has been said, more than once, that these shops are run by the same people who run the tours. I cannot prove the ownership from the coach seat. I can tell you the stop is not culture. It is a shop, and it eats the hour time visiting interesting attractions..
That is what I thought I could do better. Same places. No microphone. No memorised joke at the same bend in the road. No retail stop dressed up as heritage and most importantly NOT a group of 20 - 25 people
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A Private Hong Kong 1972 Coach Tour Redux for 2027
What the 1972 coach tour leaflet sold
Tour 1 is the Island tour. The points of interest, in the order printed, are Victoria Peak, Wanchai District, Tiger Balm Garden, Repulse Bay, Deep Water Bay and Aberdeen. The write up then adds the drive home. Dairy Farm Estate, Queen Mary Hospital, the University of Hong Kong, West Point, and the waterfront with the cargo lighters. Victoria City gets one line, the central district, the offices and the banks. The Peak Tram is offered as the way up, and the height is given as 1,305 feet.
Aberdeen is sold as a fishing village harbour, junks and sampans, famed for its floating restaurants. Repulse Bay is a seaside resort with a beautiful beach. Tiger Balm Garden is weirdly fascinating statues and Chinese popular legendaries, which is the leaflet's own phrase. It is a 4 hour coach, a hotel desk between you and the operator, Keystone House on Hankow Road. A proper company, with a map, a fare and a set route.
Winston already sold a private version. Tour 4 on the same leaflet is a special private tour by arrangement, HK$150 a tour, 5 hours, lunch included. The idea was not new in 2010. Doing it without the script was, the coach tour companies soon realised that the money was in packing as many people onto the coach as possible, do hotel pick up (which they still do today which when you are picking up from 5 hotels can create a serious time issue). and making it sound that a stop at a jewellery outlet was standard and that everyone did it.
What I have kept, and what I have dropped
Victoria Peak stays. Repulse Bay stays, and it is the only beach. Aberdeen stays, without the floating restaurants, because they are gone. Central is the addition, because the streets, the banks and the old city are worth the time the coach never gave them. Stanley is the other addition. It was not on Tour 1.
Tiger Balm Garden does not feature. The garden has gone. Deep Water Bay does not feature either.(but we pass through it on the way to Repulse Bay) One beach is enough, and Repulse Bay is the one. Dairy Farm as a sight has gone. The cargo lighters are not the sight they were. The harbour is still worth a look. It is not a cargo tour.
The New Territories coach on that leaflet is a different product. I am not folding it into this page. The night tour, 4 and a half hours, a dinner on a sampan and then Victoria Peak after dark, is not this tour either. I do not run it.
The numbers
Winston Tour 1: 4 hours, 9.00 am or 2.00 pm, HK$35 a person on this copy, about US$6 then. A HK$30 fare is struck through.
Printed Island stops included Deep Water Bay and Tiger Balm Garden. Neither is on the 2027 tour. Repulse Bay is the beach.
Central is the addition, because it is interesting. Stanley was not on Tour 1 either but it is absolutely worth your time
In 2010 the coach tour was similar. I rode it to research it. That ride is what started the private tours.
A 2026 seat in coach often starts near US$94, about HK$735, for 4 to 5 hours. Private half days from about US$249, about HK$1,940.
This upgrade is 8 hours, bus and taxi, no shop, no microphone. The live price is on Prices | Book Now.
How the upgrade runs
Mine is 8 hours, not 4. The stops are stops. There is no shopping stop and no cultural visit that turns out to be a shop. There is no microphone. If we eat, it is because you want a meal, and we decide that in the morning. Public transport is covered. The inclusions and the exclusions sit on the FAQ page. The only current price list is on Prices | Book Now page.
We use the bus and the taxi. The number 6 still does the south coast the old coaches used. A taxi is there when the hill, the heat, or the time of day says the bus is the wrong tool. You are not herded off a coach while 20 people find their bags. A 4 hour coach can tick the names. It cannot stay where you actually want to stay.
I have done many separate posts on Victoria Peak, Central, Aberdeen, Repulse Bay and Stanley. This page is the circuit that joins them.
Victoria Peak is still the place
In 1972 the Peak Tram was already the tourist way up, and the leaflet says so. The view was the point. There was no Peak Tower, and no paid viewing platform sold as the only view. Most visitors in 2027 still think the tram both ways, then a ticket, is the visit. It is not.
On this tour you choose the viewing platform. Lugard Road Lookout is the panoramic view, and it is free, and it is a walk with no shelters. Peak Galleria roof is free, easier, and quicker. Lions Pavilion Lookout is free and looks at the same slice as the paid platform which is the Peak Tower 428 Sky Terrace. I have taken fewer than 5 guests onto the paid platform in 15+ years. Three of the four views cost nothing. We go up by road or by tram one way, usually the tram coming down if the queue is kind, front seats if we can get them. If the cloud is on the hill we do the south coast first. A coach tour simple cannot stray from the itinerary which is set in stone.
Historic Central District
This is the stop I added, because it is so, so interesting. The 1972 leaflet called it Victoria City and gave it one line, the offices and the banks. That was all a coach could manage. It is not enough. Central is the working city, then and now. Statue Square, Chater Garden, the historic buildings and the HSBC lions. The Star Ferry if we start from Kowloon, and the place where the old Praya and the Macau ferry berths used to sit. Two short stops on foot. The rest from the bus.
The city did not begin with a skyline. The skyline is the latest coat of paint. That is the sort of thing a guide with a microphone script never gets to.
Aberdeen Harbour, Island South
We lived there for quite a few years in the 1980’s and these days it is a shadow of it’s former self but the right guide knows how to make it interesting and it is still one of the few places left where you can take a ride around the harbour in a Sampan, I still lament the loss of the Jumbo Floating Restaurant in 2022.
The leaflet is clear. A fishing village harbour, junks and sampans, famed for its floating restaurants. The floating restaurants are gone. I will say so once, and we will not spend the stop mourning a boat. The typhoon shelter is still there. The sampans are fewer. The promenade is the honest stop. A sampan if the boats are running and you want it, not as an extra announced on a microphone.
The contrast is still true. Fishing boats, then residential towers up the hill. It does not need a memorised joke.
Oh, if you remember the TV Mini Series Noble House you get a kick out of a trip to Aberdeen
Repulse Bay, Island South
Repulse Bay was a proper stop in 1972, a seaside resort with a beautiful beach, and it is the beach on this tour. Deep Water Bay was the next name on the leaflet. It is not on mine. Repulse Bay is bigger and better, and two beaches in one tour is a coach habit, not a need. The hotel that stood here came down in 1982. The postcard view people remember is the hotel and the bay together. We stand there long enough for that and trust me there are still some epic photo opportunities in Repulse Bay
Stanley, Island South
Stanley was not on the Winston Tour 1 list. It earns its place because the south coast town is a better finish than a second beach. Murray House was not here in 1972. It was in Central. The market is fine for twenty minutes. It is a poor way to spend an hour unless you came to buy. The town, the bay, and the old military edge of the place are the better use of the time and for the record, I have always liked Stanley, a lot and at the weekend it has a real buzz.
I should also mention that Stanley has a very decent temple with one artifact that will make you pause!
Who it suits, and who it does not
It suits a couple, a family, or a small party who want the classic Island circuit and do not want to share it with a coach. It suits someone who did the coach tour and came off it tired of the microphone. It suits an older guest who wants the names they remember from a first visit, without the stairs and the rush. We use the taxi when a walk is the wrong idea.
It does not suit a guest who wants a fast march. It does not suit a shopping tour. It is not the New Territories coach, and it is not a night tour. The Island product was always a daylight tour. So is this
I have always taken my guests to these locations just not on the same tour, this 2027 redux. changes that.
What the other company blurbs leave out
Most companies still sell the names, and then slice them. A seat in coach on an OTA (such as Viator) often starts near US$94, about HK$735, for 4 to 5 hours. Shared shore versions sit near US$168, about HK$1,310, for 6 or 7 hours. Private half days are advertised from about US$249 a person, about HK$1,940. Several pages that say private still cap the party at 20. A jewellery stop is still printed on some departures, often as a workshop or a cultural visit. Repulse Bay is often a pass by which translate to lookoing out of the window of a bus for 20 seconds. Central District is often missing from the itinerary
The 1972 and 2010 itinerary was always good enough. The delivery was not. If you want the circuit, Central included, one beach, the stops actually stopped at, and no microphone, contact me. The calendar and the price list are on Prices | Book Now. The rules are on the FAQ page.
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A great guide, an old VW Coach | Van and a small group of 6 - 10 people, wow
What my version of a coach tour would be in 2027
Have a look at this awesome image of the Peninsula Hotel coach outside the Hotel, a VW and this was an 8 or 10 seater, a small group on an iconic coach (6 - 10 people) would be an instant hit if done properly, a great guide could make it work!
It was known as the Microbus or combu and configured from 6 to 9 seats with a 10 seater option
The modern VW tour coach is this model as show below, configured for 9 seats, that would be awesome
A last word
I did the coach tour in 1972, and I did it again in 2010 to see if it had evolved. It had not. The same circuit is still on sale today. The guides are still poor, the jokes are still memorised, and the shop is still called an experience. The places themselves do not deserve that. In 2027 the difference is 8 hours, a bus, a taxi, Central District added, and one person talking to you rather than 20+ people sat on the same coach.
So there you go.
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© Copyright Acknowledged | All rights reserved | images taken by Jamie
