Berlin

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Berlin's Couch Situation

Berlin is a major Couchsurfing city where there are CS events happening almost every day. XX

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The Berlin last minute couch request group is in:

• Last Minute Couchsearch Group

Berlin Hostels and Guesthouses

Hostels cost in the range of Euro XX to XX within the city.

The major backpacker's hostel area in Berlin are:

These hostels come highly recommend by CS travellers:

• XX
• YLoft XX
• XX
• XX
• XX (single rooms here are for a higher budget than the ones listed above)
• XX (also slightly higher budget than the ones listed above)

Mid-range and Higher end Accommodation

These are another option for budget travellers if your couchsearch doesn't work out and hostel reservations are hard to make. Team up with other CSers and you can share costs.

• Lonely Planet's list of mid-range hotel options
• XX $420(single)-$720(triple)/night, $7,500-$11,700/month
• XX $600-$1,100/night
• Top 10 budget hotels in XX Prices are listed in Euros.

Short/Long term stay

Some websites that our CS-ers recommend, if you're looking for flatshare/renting a flat in Hong Kong:

• Gumtree

• Craigslist

Or try our "Apartment/Flat-Share Hunting" subgroup under the CS Berlin group.

Getting Around

Public transportation generally goes almost everywhere in the city. XX

From Airport to City

Express Train is the fastest way to get to the airport from XX. Express trains run every XX minutes from around XX a.m. to XX a.m. Journeys from the airport to XX take approximately XX minutes and a round-trip ticket costs XX.

• Timetable
• Fares

Bus to/from the airport from/to various parts of the city

• Airport Bus Routes (Day + Night services)

Transfer to MTR Buses S1 or S56 take you from the airport to the nearest MTR station (Tung Chung Station).

Taxi

• to XX - at least Euro XX
• to XX - at least Euro XX

Underground/ U-Bahn

The subway/underground in Berlin is called the U-Bahn.

The U-Bahn is efficient and reliable and it covers the major areas of the city. It can also be taken across the border to XX. Note that you'll need a visa to enter XX.

• Route Map

Buses

Buses in Berlin are plentiful.

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Taxi

Taxis are expensive. XX.

One thing to watch out for

Ferries

Outlying Island ferries - There are several companies which operate ferries to XX Island. For schedules and fares, check the links.

• New World First Ferry HK Island/ Kowloon, outlying islands and Macau

• Hong Kong and Kowloon Ferry Holdings Ltd. Hong Kong, Lamma and Peng Chau

XX ferries

• Turbojet
• New World First Ferry
• Cotai Jet
• Macau Dragon
• Chu Kong

Nightlife, Dining and Entertainment

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Main Nightlife Areas

Central - Lan Kwai Fong and Soho / Wan Chai - Lockhart Road / Tsim Sha Tsui - Knutsford Terrace

Magazines and Event listings

The following websites can help bring you up to speed on the local club scene, nightlife, concerts, festivals and shows.

• HK Magazine Free print copies available around town.
• Timeout HK Print copies available at bookstores and some clubs.
• Hong Kong Ticketing Be sure to scroll down the yellow column on the right hand side to see all the listed shows.

Bars

Some favourite local haunts include: (Central, Soho and Wanchai.)

• Le Jardin bar, weekly meetup venue
• Yumla bar, dancing, house music
• Club 71 bar, al fresco, chilled
• Makumba African bar, dancing, World music/French influence
• Mes Amis bar, dancing, pop music

The Underground

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Events, venues and organizations

• The Fringe Club
• The Wanch
• The Warehouse, Aberdeen
• White Noise Records

Comedy

• Takeout Comedy - live standup and improv shows, local and international performers, most shows in English, Cantonese shows on Mondays and Thursday
• Free Open Mic Night Every Wednesday in Central

Restaurants

• Openrice HK restaurant search engine
• Frommers HK restaurant listings
• EatDrink HK restaurant listings

Vegetarian Restaurants:

• Vegetarian restaurant listings
• Another list of vegetarian restaurants
• A group discussion thread
• Website of our CS friend Dan F - who did a vegetarian food tour in HK
• HK Vegetarian blog

Vegan Restaurants:

• Vegan restaurant listing
• Holistic Asia For listings of holistic/alternative/complementary health and healing events.

Karaoke

• Music Box
• Red Box/Green Box
• Karaoke listings on Open Rice

• CNNGo's take on the 5 best karaokes in HK (Mar 2010)

Sports, Activities and the Great Outdoors

Hiking

• Hiking in Hong Kong trail index

Be sure to check these boards for regular hiking activities

• Hong Kong CS Group
• Hiking in Hong Kong Subgroup

Running and Hiking events

• Oxfam Trailwalker
• English guide to hill races in HK
• Standard Chartered HK Marathon

Swimming and Beaches

• HK Outdoors Beaches guide

Camping

• List of Hong Kong campgrounds

Wakeboarding and Waterskiing

• The List

Windsurfing and Kayaking

• Cheung Chau windsurfing and kayaking

• Sai Kung Windsurfing Centre

Diving

• HK diving info
• South China Diving Club

Rock Climbing

• English guide to outdoor climbing in HK

Para-gliding

• Hong Kong Paragliding Association

Snowboarding

• Slope Infinity Indoor snowless snowboarding

Language Exchange

There are lots of language exchange options available in Hong Kong from one on one meetups to clubs that meet regularly in person to social networks available online at your convenience. Mandarin/Cantonese for English seems to be the most popular combination wanted here but there are also many other languages on offer from Japanese to Russian. Here are some of your options:

For one on one exchange:

• Asiaxpat Language Exchange notices
• mylanguageexchange.com

Groups that meet regularly:

• Meetup.com Mandarin English Language Exchange
• Hong Kong Language and Cultural Exchange Club (this group has social outings just for fun or for language/cultural exchange)

Language exchange social networks:

• Livemocha.com is an online social network for language exchangers

Hong Kong CS language groups

• HKCS Language Exchange sub-group
• Mandarin English Exchange Group Ruggers Bar

Paid language courses

HKU Space has a variety of language courses available including French, German, Italian, Spanish and Russian.

• Intensive Introductory Putonghua for non-Chinese speakers
• Intermediate Putonghua for non-Chinese speakers
• Cantonese level 1

The Hong Kong YMCA also has courses in Mandarin and Cantonese for non-Chinese speakers.

Sightseeing

Berlin is extremely easy to get around by subway, taxi, bus, minibus, walking etc. You can easily design your own itinerary picking the places that you want to visit from below. Most people do not need a tour guide for Berlin. For an overview, here are two fun timelapse videos of Berlin featuring many of the city's famous landmarks:

1. XX
2. XX

Cultural Heritage and Building architecture

1. Sample itinerary and walk tour - Central area with a very useful map
2. Temples and historic villages

Markets

1. Stanley Market Stanley is famous for its relaxed ambience, sea environs and bargain buys in the main street market. Stanley Market is open daily, 10:30 a.m. to 6.30 p.m..
2. Temple Street Night Market Temple Street night market opens at 4 pm, but really comes alive after sunset. It offers an amazing range of inexpensive items, especially for men. There are also fortune-tellers and impromptu Chinese opera performances.

Temples, Monasteries, Nunneries

1. Man Mo Temple One of Hong Kong's oldest temples, dedicated to two deities, the ‘civil’ (Man) and the ‘military’ (Mo).
2. Chi Lin Nunnery The serene 1930s Chi Lin Nunnery (rebuilt in 1998) is spread across 3.2 hectares and is China’s largest group of hand-crafted timber buildings incorporating traditional Tang dynasty (618-907AD) construction techniques.
3. Po Lin Monastery, Giant Buddha and Wisdom Path Located on Lantau, this is one of Hong Kong's largest temples and monasteries, housing the world's tallest outdoor bronze seated Buddha, at 34 m (111ft.) high.

Parks

1. Hong Kong Park Overlooked by the towers of Pacific Place and Admiralty on one side and Central on the other, the park features a hot house, a Tai Chi garden, a waterfall and the Museum of Tea Ware.
2. Kowloon Park An oasis in the heart of Kowloon next to the Kowloon Mosque. Enjoy a walk among the trees, a bird sanctuary, fountains and a swimming pool.
3. Hong Kong Zoological and Botanical Gardens Looking down on the old Government House, the Gardens date back to 1864. Look out for the gibbons and orangutans.

Theme Parks

1. Ocean Park [1]
2. Hong Kong Disneyland [2]

Other references

1. For more ideas check the Hong Kong Sightseeing Wiki
2. For a very long alphabetical listing of HK areas and sights to see check here [3]

Crossing the border

To France: XX To Austria: XX To Poland: XX XX

Visas

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Baggage Storage

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Cost of living

We've had some questions about the cost of living here. Here's a link to a thread on the topic to give you some idea.[4]

FAQs

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Group on the hospitality network

If you still can't find the answer you wanted, subscribe to the

• Hong Kong group

and ask the friendly folks there!