useful tool found for driving directions in HK

Hi, just an FYI for newbie drivers in HK- Google maps gives pretty good driving directions from point A to B in HK. The directions are in text and also via a map- you can drag and drop to change the route, the map shows which roads are one way, etc and gives a time and KM estimate. It's the best driving tool I've found so far.

But still best to have a map in the car such as the Hong Kong Drivers Guide (about $90 from convenience stores) with A-Z of streets, buildings, places and others.

cara, what if you would break it into two trips and print both...say kowloon to lam tim, then lam tin to happy vally...surely googling lam tin to hv would take your through the eastern tunnel...?

I had a dopod with mapking, which I would not recommend, as it cuts out just when you need it.

I therefore 'obtained' the tom tom map for HK from the internet and that works great although you have to get your head around the phonetically spelt chinese road names, but you can navigate around the map from point A to B to find what you want (if you know what you want) and then it will give you through map and voice from start to finish.

one word of warning though, it doesnt quite understand the HK roads, lane dividing system, so it sometimes tells you to change over to another lane when you are committed through white lines or other divides to stay in the lane you are in. In other words you still need to keep your brain engaged and look out for the road signage!

both map king and tom tom will allow you to select the route you wish to take if there are alternatives. tom tom even offers you an option to avoid tolls, although I have never tried to get to the island using this option!

Hi Cara,

I haven't tried that exact route, but there have been other routes that I've looked up and when the program wanted to put me on a road that I didn't like, I was able to find a little circle on the highlighted route and drag the highlighted route to a road that I prefer to drive on. Maybe this feature has been added since last time you tried? I'm still considering GPS though as the google map program isn't that foolproof- doesn't help much when trying to match its directions with actual HK road signs- I ended up in Ma On Shan trying to get to Telford Gardens from Clearwater Bay Road near Razor Hill (have since figured out the right route!). And yes, I still have the HK driving book in my car too!