Your journey starts here

Depart 28 January 2023

Return 4 February 2023

Economy

Business

What 10915 DialAFlight clients thought of Asia

Very helpful all the way through

Ash, who helped me with everything, was an excellent travel agent - our 4 week holiday to Thailand was perfect

All went well thank you.

All worked really well. Special thanks to Calvin Ali who dd a great job!

Everything went very smoothly. Communication excellent at all times. Thanks to Russell Harrison for all his help. Would definitely use DialAFlight again.

Jerry Bushnell and team always go the extra mile and are ever helpful. Always there to reassure and help. BRILLIANT

So good to be able to talk plans through with a real person! Would definitely recommend

Great assistance whilst away travelling

Everything went like clockwork. Many thanks for everything!

Great service. Many thanks

KLM has too many delays - in the Philippines it was a two hour delay and same in Amsterdam on the way back to Scotland

Always a great service from Cody...been using them for over 20 years

Tony was brilliant as always with a “personal touch” you will struggle to get with other tour operators

All went according to plan. No fuss, no problems. Great job.

Excellent service from start to finish. Expert advice with excellent communication and updates.

Tara never fails in doing everything she can to help with a booking. I have used her many times and recommended her to others. She is professional, extremely helpful, knowledgeable and friendly

Brilliant service from DialAFlight

Very helpful when I booked my flight First class service

I have used DialAFlight for many years, Connie being my main point of contact and she is very good.

Extremely helpful - could not be happier with the service you provide. 10 out of 10

Vinnie is always helpful

All went like clockwork and my questions were answered promptly and were informative.

Ewan and his team are the best! We have worked with DialAFlight for close to two decades. Keep up the good work and customer focus.

I always use DialAFlight and find them very competitive and responsive

I have experience booking my own world travel but was recommended your company by a friend. Staff were polite, very helpful and efficient. The updates and tips on visas etc. for my flights were also very useful and could not be happier with the service I received

The accommodation at Centara Villas Samui was nice but not ideal for older people because it has lots of steps down to restaurants and the beach. But could not fault the food.

Great communication with Declan

All flights were as booked and I felt comfortable while travelling that Tammy was only a phone call away should any problem arise.

I dealt with Declan as I have done on many occasions, and as usual his advice and guidance was excellent. Plus the follow up phone call gives the service a personal touch.

Spencer was great from booking right through to contact when we ran into a problem. I would definitely recommend him for future holidays.

Ever changing Hong Kong

China may be in charge but this city shines brightly, as Max Hastings discovers

The first time I saw the blazing lights and towers of Hong Kong island it seemed the most exotic place in the world. As a fiercely acquisitive 24-year-old, I hurled myself into bargain shopping like a child given a week of Christmases.

Today, the prospect of bargain shopping is long gone. Prices can be above even London's, and vanished too are the Union Flag and Governor's Rolls-Royce. Indeed, the former colony becomes undeniably ever more Chinese in character, coldly clasped in Beijing's embrace.

MY BEST TRIP YET

Yet in a week-long family visit, I had a better time as a Hong Kong tourist than in 20 previous trips. The weather was perfect. And I had forgotten that hiking is a local passion, with a surprising number of wild routes.

Climb or take a taxi to the Peak, then the tram down. Scale the steps to the Big Buddha on Lantau island. Take the ferry from Stanley to the traditional fishing village of Po Toi and eat at one of its seafood restaurants.

Hong Kong's Flower Market is a jungle of exotic blooms and scents

Stroll through the Bird and Flower Markets and, of course, take the Star Ferry back and forth between Hong Kong Island and Kowloon.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

If you should visit between December and April, go strawberry picking at the Rainbow organic farm at Fan Ling in the New Territories.

Enjoy Stanley street market, though I'll eat my socks if you see any object a self-respecting British citizen would want in their own living-room.

If you seek an unusual hotel experience, stay in the old Tai O police station on Lantau island.

For the MTR underground railway, buy an Octopus card on arrival, then for a hairy shopping experience, ride to the end of the line towards Shenzhen, the vast new metropolis just over the border in mainland China.

Shenzhen is a global capital of fakes – Gucci bags, Valentino shoes and a cornucopia of other stuff including customised art copying. Some of it is rubbish, but some is nevertheless wonderfully seductive.

Sunset over Hong Kong's breathtaking Victoria Harbour

EATING OUT

The peak of my culinary experience was dinner at Hutong, looking down from a 20th floor window on the night panorama of Hong Kong harbour amid the best Chinese food I have ever eaten. And don't expect such a meal to be a bargain either - although I suppose it could come into that category if you put a high value on such a memorable experience.

But we did drink hot rice wine, which I love, rather than French vintages at stratospheric prices.

Hong Kong is home to some of the world's most exciting street food

It is possible to eat more cheaply, but if you have bought tickets across the world it seems silly to opt for bargain-basement dining.

MORE MUST SEES

I have a few more suggestions for quirky outings. Jason Wordie's guided historical walks are raved about by everyone who has signed up for one. And my daughter, who lives in Hong Kong, highly recommends the fabric and ribbon market in Sham Shui Po, and a stroll in the Botanical Gardens.
And, of course, no visit to Hong Kong would be the same without experiencing the Symphony of Lights- one of the world’s most spectacular light shows that has set the harbour ablaze every night since 2004.

Visit Ping Pong in happening Sai Ying Pun for urban interiors and delicious cocktails

Although there is so much to see, a first-timer to the city can do a great deal in a four-day visit, which can be a suitable duration for an introduction. And this is not particularly a child-friendly city.

Most Chinese today display no great sentimentality towards the British, the former colonial tenants, and why should they? Hong Kong's residents of all nationalities have had only one purpose for the past two centuries: to make money – and that continues today.

The old colony is utterly different from when I first saw it in 1970. But how could it not be, when empire is long gone? What's more, plenty has changed for the better and it is fascinating seeing this evolution take place.

First published in the Mail Online - May 2018

More articles below...

For more inspiration, read what travel writers have to say...