Hong Kong Greeters - Private Tours of Hong Kong 2026 and 2027
Amy Overy and Her Private Tours of Hong Kong That Still Feel Like Meeting a Friend
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The UK Mum Who Built One of Hong Kong’s Most Trusted Private Tour Companies
Foreword by Jamie
Amy Overy and the Private Tours That Still Feel Like Meeting a Friend
I first wrote about Amy and Hong Kong Greeters a few yearr ago, and then again last spring, and both of those posts have started to look a bit dusty. That is not a criticism of Amy. It is a criticism of me.
The company has kept moving. The guide team has grown. The tour menu has thickened out. The reviews have kept landing at 5 stars with a regularity that would make most operators jealous. My two earlier pieces did not keep pace, and if I am going to recommend a fellow operator I would rather do it with the facts as they stand in September 2026 going into 2027, not with a snapshot from 2024 and earlier that still talks as if Angel and Amy were the whole guide team.
I have known Amy since 2012, which is the year she founded Hong Kong Greeters. I had started my own private tour company in 2010 and did my first tour in April 2011, so we have been doing private tours more or less for the same length of time. We have had working lunches. She has collected me in the car and we have gone poking around corners of Hong Kong that neither of us had used on a tour yet. That is the sort of friendship that survives in this trade. You can tell within 20 minutes whether someone actually likes guests, or merely likes the idea of guests. Amy likes guests, a lot.
One observation I have made over the last decade and a half, and I will put it plainly because it keeps proving itself: almost every genuinely good private tour company in Hong Kong is run by a woman. Amy at Hong Kong Greeters. Laura at Hello Hong Kong. Sabrina at Hong Kong Trails and Tours. Alexandra at Hong Kong A La Carte. Cecilia at Hong Kong Foodie Tours. Ashley at Ashley M Private Tours. And so on. There are some pretty sharp and decent men in the business, I am one of them, but the companies that last, that hire well, that answer the email at 10pm because a cruise has changed berth, tend to have a woman in charge. Draw your own conclusions. I have drawn mine.
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Amy and the smile that launched a thousand tours
Who Amy is, and why the company works
Amy Overy is British, a mum of two, both children born in Hong Kong, and she still describes her Cantonese as a work in progress, which is honest and rather endearing. She does not pretend to be a local in the passport sense. She pretends nothing. What she has built instead is a deep working knowledge of how this city actually behaves, and a gift for making a first time visitor feel looked after without being herded like cattle
On her own guide page she calls herself the queen of the amiable chat, born in the year of the Rooster. That is very Amy. The amiable chat is not small talk for its own sake. It is how she finds out whether you would rather stand in a temple for 20 minutes or get back in the car and go to the Tai O Fishing Village on Lantau Island. She listens, and then she changes the day. That sounds obvious. It is not. Most operators sell a route and then defend the route. Amy sells a day and then defends the guest.
She founded the company in 2012 and has now been building custom itineraries for fourteen years. Hong Kong Greeters has been into the Tripadvisor Hall of Fame twice and took the Certificate of Excellence six years running. The listing still sits at 5.0 from roughly 500 reviews and hovers around 14th out of more than 500 tours and activities in the city. Rankings move. The tone of the reviews does not. People write that they felt they were with a family friend. That sentence keeps coming back, year after year, and it is not an accident.
The part I want to underline, because a lot of visitors miss it when they skim a website, is that Amy still does the work herself. She is not a logo who hired a Guide Team and then retreated to a laptop. She guides. She drives. She is a licensed driver guide, which matters more than people think. A layover guest with two suitcases does not want a walking tour that starts at an MTR exit. They want someone who can collect them, keep the bags in the boot, and still talk properly about what they are looking at. Amy does that. Lantau car days, Hong Kong and Kowloon car days, shore excursions off the ship, the VIP day with the helicopter and the junk. She is on those. That is why the company has a pulse.
If you land on the Hong Kong Greeters homepage you will see the photograph of Amy that I have been calling, for years, the face that launched a thousand tours. It is a lot more than a thousand by now, and the reason the picture works is simple. It looks like the person who will actually meet you. In a trade full of stock smiles and borrowed skylines, that still counts.
A multicultural Guide Team, not a one woman band
If you only read my older posts you would think Hong Kong Greeters was Amy and Angel and a couple of extras. That was already unfair then, and it is nonsense now. The published Guide Team is a proper roster, and the mix is the point. Amy has always hired for character first and accent second, which is how you end up with a Guide Team that can actually talk to the people who book.
As of late August 2026 the published team includes:
Amy. Founder. UK origin. Mum of two. Driver guide. Fourteen years of custom itineraries. She still loves doing the tours herself.
Angel. The Instagram force behind Explore Hong Kong, now doing the work in real life rather than only on a screen. The collaboration was a shrewd piece of casting and it has lasted.
Andy. Londoner, more than 15 years in Hong Kong, a Master's in Hong Kong history, and he drives as well as guides.
Agnes. Docent. Cultural heritage, marine conservation, education. The quieter, specialist end of the list.
Aubrey. Macau specialist and driver. Came back to Macau with his wife after 20 years in Canada. If the booking is across the delta, this is who you want.
Heloisa. Brazilian born, lived in Italy, Spain and Dubai before Asia. Spanish, Portuguese and English. More than 50 countries under her belt.
Jameson. American born Hong Konger, former New York guide, stand up comedian, and the man behind the Sin City night tour.
Laura. Stories, food, communities, and a specialist Jewish Heritage tour that almost nobody else in this city bothers to offer properly.
Nadia. Storytelling and the good finds. An early addition to the Greeters team that guests still ask for.
Nicole. Vancouver born, photographer, professional nanny, and the phrase on her page is that she speaks fluent kid. Families notice.
Stephen. Grew up on Cheung Chau Island in Hong Kong. British mother, Hong Kong father. Photographer and videographer as well as guide.
Tony. A welcome in four languages and the sort of host face you want at a hotel lobby at 8am.
William. Grass roots Hong Konger, licensed heritage docent, food and traditional Chinese medicine.
That is UK, Hong Kong, London, Macau, Brazil, Canada, Vancouver, Cheung Chau, New York and more, standing on the same booking calendar. When a Spanish speaking family, a Jewish heritage request, a family with two children under 10, or a Macau day lands in the inbox, Amy does not have to pretend one person can do all of it. She can pick the right fit.
Guests will meet the wider Guide Team. They will also notice, if they do more than one day, that certain names keep coming back. Amy, Angel, Stephen and Nadia are the ones who appear again and again in the recent reviews, which is how a company of this size actually runs. A published roster is a genuine advantage. It is also honest to say that Amy still likes the work on the ground, and that is still the best reason to write to her.
What Hong Kong Greeters actually sell
A standard note before the figures. All published prices need to be checked and confirmed by Hong Kong Greeters, who will always send an official quote if and when required. Rates move. Vehicles change. Festival days and cruise calls are priced as they come. Treat the numbers below as a guide to the shape of the menu, then let Amy put the real quote in writing.
The spine of the business is still the private custom day. Peak to Piers is the workhorse walking and mixed itinerary, 4 to 8 hours, from HK$2,490 (US$320) for a single guest on the short end, group size 1 to 8. Children 16 and under travel free when they are with a paying adult, which is one of the few pricing policies in this city that is both generous and commercially sane. Families remember it.
Then the cars, which is where Amy's own working day often lives.
Car tour of Hong Kong and Kowloon. 4 to 8 hours. From about HK$5,485 (US$705) on the published tour card, with the January 2025 rate card putting a 4 hour Executive Toyota Alphard at HK$6,070 (US$780) and a Mercedes V Class at HK$6,850 (US$880). Maximum 5 or 6 passengers depending on the vehicle.
Big Buddha and Tai O private Lantau car tour. 6 to 8 hours. From HK$6,480 (US$830) for the Alphard at 6 hours. They are one of the operators who can take a permitted vehicle into the restricted Lantau zone, which is the difference between a real Tai O day and a day spent transferring onto buses.
Lantau Island full day. 5 to 8 hours. From HK$4,450 (US$570). 1 to 8 people.
New Territories. 8 hours. From HK$4,670 (US$600). 1 to 7 people. Amy will still build a morning around old military Hong Kong if that is what the guest actually lived.
Macau by private car. 6 hours. From HK$5,445 (US$700). 1 to 6 people.
Shore excursions off the ship. 5 to 8 hours. From HK$4,680 (US$600). 1 to 7 people. Door to door at the terminal, bags considered, no nonsense about meeting at a statue.
The VIP Hong Kong Experience. 8 hours. From HK$14,200 (US$1,820) and it can run a long way north of that, up to around HK$37,000 (US$4,745) depending on the build. Helicopter over the south side, private car, Wong Tai Sin, dim sum at Tin Lung Heen on level 102 of the Ritz Carlton, traditional junk. 1 to 4 people. This is the one I flagged years ago and it is still the one people write home about.
Walking and neighbourhood days sit underneath that. Night tour of Hong Kong, 3 hours from HK$2,490 (US$320). Private food tour, 3 hours from HK$2,500 (US$320). Vegetarian food tour in Kowloon, 2 to 2.5 hours at HK$458 (US$59) for the small group version. Jewish Heritage, 5 to 6 hours. Aberdeen sampan plus public housing estate. Sham Shui Po. Airport transfers from HK$848 (US$110). They will also just hire you a driver if that is all you need.
Seasonal and festival work has become a second engine. Lunar New Year preparation days with Angel and the Explore Hong Kong calendar. Villain hitting in Causeway Bay. Mid Autumn food walks. Tai Hang Fire Dragon with a teacake masterclass. Tai O Hau Wong festival with opera and a look for the pink dolphins. Dragon Boat front row at Aberdeen. Halloween in Wan Chai. A New Year celebration cruise for under 45 people from HK$2,300 (US$295) a head with free flow drinks. An all inclusive junk for 25 to 38 people from HK$1,100 (US$140). None of that was on the menu in any serious way when I first wrote about them. It is how a private tour company stays alive in a city that now runs on festivals, cruise calls and short stays as much as it runs on the old 8 hour highlight day.
How the days actually feel, according to the people who took them
I do not need to invent praise. The reviews do the work if you sit with them for half an hour. A family of 8 who could not get anyone else to split Lantau and Hong Kong Island in one day. Amy put a permitted minivan on Lantau and finished the hours on the island. A woman who had lived at Shek Kong as an army child and wanted the old Married Quarters and the British Army Children's School. Amy built the morning, then threw in Kowloon Peak and the old Kai Tak Airport runway because the guest still had time. An aunt who felt ill mid tour and was taken back to the hotel without the rest of the day collapsing. Seniors who noticed that the guide was actually listening to their stories rather than talking over them. Repeat local guests bringing visiting family for the fourth time.
The pattern is not scenery. Hong Kong has scenery. The pattern is adjustment. The guide changes the day because a child is tired, because a relative is unwell, because the guest suddenly wants military history rather than another shopping street. That is the difference between a script and a host. Hong Kong Greeters hire hosts.
Charisma, and why founders still matter
Every great tour company in this city is still, at bottom, a personality with a smile. The websites get prettier. The booking engines get slicker. The thing a guest is buying is still the person who walks out of the hotel lobby at 8.30am and decides, in the first ten minutes, whether this is going to be a good day. Amy has that quality. So does Angel. So do all of the names on that list. You cannot franchise it and you cannot AI it, though plenty of people are trying.
Amy has also been willing to stand in front of a camera, which not every operator enjoys. This Morning in the UK. TVB Pearl Magazine talking about post Covid tourism, changing visitor tastes, training, and Kai Tak. Magazine pieces. Radio. A following that is large enough to matter and still small enough that she answers the email. The public face and the woman who will drive you to The Tai O Fishing Village are the same person. Guests notice the difference.
Book the website, not the marketplace
Like every serious operator I know, Amy would far rather you booked on hkgreeters.com than through Viator, Get Your Guide, Klook or the Tripadvisor checkout. I will keep saying this until I am bored of hearing myself. The OTA takes a slice that would otherwise pay a better guide, fund a better vehicle, or simply keep a small company solvent when a typhoon wipes a weekend. The OTA also sits between you and the person who is actually going to collect you, which is how itineraries get flattened into whatever the marketplace photograph promised.
Write to info@hkgreeters.com. Use the form on the site. If you already have dates and a ship or a hotel, put them in the first message. You will get a human, often Amy, and the day will be built around what you asked for rather than around what a product manager in another country thinks Hong Kong looks like.
Full contact details
Hong Kong Greeters Limited
Website: www.hkgreeters.com
Email: info@hkgreeters.com
Telephone and WhatsApp: +852 9015 5307
Instagram: @hongkong_greeters
Facebook: Hong Kong Greeters
Travel Agents Licence: 354203
HATA member. Head office on record at Kingsfield Centre, 18 Shell Street, North Point, Children 16 and under free when accompanied by an adult. Tours in English plus a Guide Team that can work in Cantonese, Mandarin, Spanish, Portuguese, French and German depending on who is rostered.
A few thoughts from the side of the road
If I were booking a first timer with one day and no particular hobby, I would send them to Peak to Piers with whoever Amy puts on the job, and I would tell them to eat when the guide says eat. If I were booking a family with luggage and a cruise clock, I would insist on a car day and I would ask whether Amy herself is free, because the driver guide model is the one that saves a short stay. If I were booking someone who has already done the postcard version, I would look at Laura's Jewish Heritage day, William on food and medicine, Agnes on marine and heritage, Jameson's night tour, or a New Territories morning built around a real address from the guest's own past.
Left field, and I mean it kindly. The year of the Rooster line on Amy's page is better marketing than half the slogans in this industry, because it sounds like a person. The photograph on the homepage, the face that launched a thousand tours, still does more work than a paragraph of adjectives. The free children policy is a quiet commercial strength. The VIP day is expensive because helicopters and Tin Lung Heen are expensive, not because the company is being clever, and guests who hesitate should be offered the Lantau car day instead rather than talked upwards. And the women who run the great companies in this city should occasionally say it out loud. They already do the work.
I have always got on very well with Amy. She has been successful, and a large part of that success is the people she has chosen to stand next to her. If you want a private day in Hong Kong that still feels like being met by a friend, write to her directly and start there.
So there you go
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Go here for the Hong Kong Michelin Restaurant Guide which includes the Bib Gourmand Category
I do not do Food Tours in Hong Kong but I know people that do!
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The information above can be shown to restaurant managers in Hong Kong if you are intolerant to gluten and nuts,
I do not do food tours as mentioned above, I have very specific reasons and part of it is that I do not speak Cantonese or write Chinese, I am from Yorkshire in England and I lack the language gene and it is not through lack of trying and yes a lot of restaurants do not have English menu’s or staff who speak conversational English.
.. and yet I have eaten at close to 1,400 restaurants in Hong Kong since January 2nd 1972, my wife was born in Hong Kong and we have been together over 40 years and her first language is Cantonese and a lot of her family are Chinese or half Chinese so I have never had much of an issue!
This does not translate to doing food tours though, yes, I could do them, no problem there but they would never ever be as good as the food tours done by my friends (see the 3 links above) most of their awesome guides are locally born Hong Kong Chinese and obviously food culture is part of their DNA, it is impossible for me to compete with that!
So please feel free to contact them for food tours
I do not do Hiking Tours in Hong Kong but I know someone that does!
I do not do Hiking Tours, never have and never will even though I used to go Hiking a lot when I was a lot younger, The Hong Kong Government is promoting hiking tours so I urge you to contact my friend Sabrina at Hong Kong Trails and Tours, she is a long time Hong Kong resident and and a very experienced hiker with close to 700 Hikes in 15+ years under her belt, please click on the link below
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© Copyright Acknowledged | All rights reserved | images taken by Jamie
