Hotels in Tsim Sha Tsui and Central: harbour views, colonial grand dames, and boutique stays

💡 The Short Version: Tsim Sha Tsui puts you on the Kowloon waterfront by the Star Ferry; Central puts you at the Airport Express terminus, Hong Kong Station. The Peninsula, Regent and Rosewood are on Salisbury Road in Tsim Sha Tsui; Mandarin Oriental and The Murray are in Central. The Airport Express is HK$130 to Hong Kong Station and HK$115 to Kowloon Station for a single ticket (MTR). A 3% hotel accommodation tax applies to room charges (Inland Revenue Department). Hotels link to Hotels.com; the other districts are in where to stay.

The hotels at a glance

Fares from the MTR’s fare data and the Transport Department’s bus fare data; the A21 takes 84 minutes end to end. See airport to city for the full comparison.

Tsim Sha Tsui

The entrance of The Peninsula on Salisbury Road. Photo: Ank Kumar, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Salisbury Road runs along the Tsim Sha Tsui waterfront. Both Star Ferry piers run from 06:30 to 23:30, and the crossing to Central or Wan Chai costs HK$5 on the upper deck on weekdays and HK$6.50 at weekends and public holidays; the lower deck is HK$4 and HK$5.60, and a four-day tourist pass is HK$50 (Star Ferry). The MTR from Tsim Sha Tsui to Central is HK$10.60 with an Octopus card and HK$12.50 for a single ticket (MTR fare data).

• The Peninsula Hong Kongad opened on 11 December 1928, at the junction of Nathan Road and Salisbury Road, and was expanded in 1994. It keeps a fleet of Rolls-Royces painted “Peninsula green” (Wikipedia).

• Regent Hong Kongad is at 18 Salisbury Road (hotel), directly on the waterfront, with 497 rooms. It opened in 1980 as The Regent, traded as the InterContinental Hong Kong from 2001, closed in April 2020 for a three-year renovation and reopened as Regent on 8 November 2023 (Wikipedia).

• Rosewood Hong Kong is at Victoria Dockside, 18 Salisbury Road (hotel). It opened on 17 March 2019 in a 65-storey tower designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox, and Wikipedia records it as number 1 in the World’s 50 Best Hotels list in 2025 and again in 2026 (Wikipedia).

• The Salisbury - YMCA of Hong Kongad is at 41 Salisbury Road, next door to The Peninsula. The building dates from 1924 and was rebuilt in July 1989 as a 16-storey block; Wikipedia gives it 303 rooms and 62 suites, and it has a swimming pool (Wikipedia).

On the MTR, Tsim Sha Tsui station sits under Nathan Road and East Tsim Sha Tsui station is linked to it by the Mody Road and Middle Road subways. The East Tsim Sha Tsui exits are the useful ones for these hotels: L3 for The Peninsula, J for Victoria Dockside and the Hong Kong Museum of Art, and L6 for Salisbury Road and the Hong Kong Cultural Centre. The two stations have separate fare gates, so a single-journey ticket holder moving between them buys a second ticket, while an Octopus user changing within 30 minutes does not pay twice (Wikipedia).

The waterfront stretch takes in the Clock Tower, the Avenue of Stars and the Hong Kong Museum of Art, which is free except for special exhibitions and closes on Thursdays (not public holidays); see the Tsim Sha Tsui to West Kowloon walk. Kowloon Park is free from 05:00 to midnight (LCSD). The Symphony of Lights runs nightly at 8pm for about ten minutes (see Victoria Harbour cruises).

Central

Central from Victoria Harbour, with the IFC tower at right. Photo: Daniel Case, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.

Central has the Airport Express terminus, Hong Kong Station, connected underground to Central MTR station; the Hong Kong Tourism Board says Hong Kong and Kowloon stations offer in-town check-in for specified airlines. Trams charge adults a flat HK$3.30 (Hong Kong Tramways). Central to Sheung Wan or Wan Chai is HK$4.90 with an Octopus card and Central to Causeway Bay HK$5.90 (MTR fare data).

• Mandarin Oriental, Hong Kongad is at 5 Connaught Road Central, and the hotel says it has direct access to the Star Ferry (hotel). It opened on 1 September 1963 and at 26 storeys was then the tallest building in Hong Kong; it has 501 rooms (Wikipedia).
• The Mercerad is at 29 Jervois Street, Sheung Wan, one MTR stop west of Central (HK$4.90 with an Octopus card) (hotel).
• The Murray, Hong Kongad is at 22 Cotton Tree Drive. The building was a 27-storey government office block completed in 1969, and the hotel opened in 2018 (Wikipedia). Hong Kong Park is next to Cotton Tree Drive and the Peak Tram lower terminus is on Garden Road (Wikipedia: Hong Kong Park, Peak Tram).

Hong Kong Station sits under the International Finance Centre and opened on 22 June 1998; the pedestrian subway to Central station has moving walkways and takes three to six minutes to walk, and the station runs free shuttle buses to most major hotels in Central and Wan Chai (Wikipedia). The Airport Express and the Tung Chung line use different concourses, so changing between them means leaving the paid area and re-entering.

On foot from Central: the Tai Kwun compound is open 08:00 to 23:00 and PMQ’s studios and shops open at 12:00 (see Tai Kwun and PMQ), and the Central to Mid-Levels escalator is covered in the Central to Sheung Wan walk.

Choosing between them

• Harbour and ferry first: Tsim Sha Tsui. The Star Ferry crosses in about nine minutes and costs less than the MTR.
• Airport Express and the Island’s offices and walks: Central. Hong Kong Station is the terminus and the fare is HK$130 single (HK$120 with Octopus).
• Budget: a 3% accommodation tax is added to room charges in both areas, so compare quoted rates on that basis (Inland Revenue Department).

Where next

For the other districts, read where to stay in Hong Kong. For the journey from the airport, see airport to city, and for getting around, public transport and the Octopus card guide.