Moving to HK with 1 year old baby

A

AngelaLuch

New member
Hi there,
We are a Canadian family, who will be moving to Hong Kong with our 1 year old son in September 2013.

I would love advice on neighborhoods/buildings.
- we have a budget of 30 - 40K HKD a month for rent
- looking for a 3 bedroom, as we need a home office
- my husband has to travel to China from the China Ferry Terminal weekly for day trips or 1 night trips
- I will most likely be staying home with my son (previously I was working full time in marketing) , so I would love to be on a place where it is easy to meet other moms and their little ones
- our son is very active and loves the water - so facilties especially a pool is a plus
- we currently live downtown in a major city and love having groceries/shoppingrestaurants/entertainment nearby - we enjoy walking
- we are concerned about the pollution in core areas such as central and causeway bay
I hope this is all the info you need to help guide us in the right direction :)
Thanks in advance
 
Where is your husbands office? That may dictate where you stay.

Pretty much every where is accessible in Hong Kong ( may be at times some more than others ).

Here's a good starting point which will help you with the main factors - number of bedrooms and budgets.

Lots of popular areas ... Discovery Bay, Pok Fu Lam and a few others may be of interest to you.

Take a look at ??????|????|????|???? to get an idea of what is available in your budget.

Most expats will end up moving into a serviced apartment for the first month or so while they look around for a suitable area / apartment to stay.
 
I would suggest Taikoo Shing and nearby Sai Wan Ho - there are a couple of nice developments like Grand Promenade and Les Saisons with good facilities. I love that area, good access to buses, trams and MTR (unlike Discovery Bay and Pok Fu Lam), only about 30 min to Central, close to what I think is the best public park on HK island (Quarry Bay Park), and also close to Cityplaza mall. I am partial to this side of town though (I live in North Point and my budget is a bit less than yours - if I had your budget, that's where I'd move!) I agree with Rani, if you can stay in a serviced apartment for a month, you'll be able to check it out for yourself and find what works for your family.
 
Thanks Shri and Nicolejoy. The grand promenade looks really nice. We will definitely stay in a temporary apartment for the first month.
Shri my husband will have a home office, so that makes it easier - his commute will be to the China ferry terminal early in the am or home late at night. We looked at Disco Bay, but are a bit concerned that there are no taxis and with the late night travel it could tack an hour onto my husbands commute if he just misses a ferry :). Also the address you put in just comes up as ????????

Thanks for your advice ladies
 
Angela - did you click on the link that looked like ????? It was a website called gohome . com . hk (remove the spaces to go there) which is good for looking up real-estate.

Another option if your husband will work from home is that you could possibly live a little further away from HK island if you are willing to do so, in places like Tseung Kwan O, Shatin, Hung Hom, Ma On Shan and even Tung Chung, you can get larger places for the same amount of money - but your travel times will be longer. All of the above are accessible by MTR and taxi so are convenient, even if the travel time is longer. Some have express buses too and from Central if you prefer that option as well. Ultimately it's up to you, it's all a trade-off - you pay more for convenience and closeness to Central...
 
...and I just realised that China ferry terminal is in TST rather than on HK island which would make staying on the Kowloon side possibly even more convenient for your family...
 
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