OK, I'm moving to Hong Kong for 3 months mid August to mid November. Been there twice before for a week each time so I am MTR savvy.
I need to go regularly to 3 MTR stations: Central, Kowloon Bay and Heng Fa Chuen, so I concluded Quarry Bay MTR was the place to be based. Also I workout every day at Fitness First, and they have one in PCCW building in Taikoo Place very close to Quarry Bay station (covered walkway)
It appears to me that the two options to stay in a good serviced apartment around there is Harbour Plaza (50 mtr walk to exit C Quarry Bay station) or Grand Plaza (directly above Taikoo Station).
Could anybody give me any advice about these 2 places? Are there any other places I could try??
This is what I've been able to glean so far from the net:
HARBOUR PLAZA
Pros
1. walk directly to Quarry Bay MTR therefore only 1 train change needed to get to Kowloon Bay
2. maybe get nice view over harbour
3. maybe I can walk all the way covered to PCCW building in Taikoo Place (avoiding heat, humidity and/or rain) if I can enter exit C of Quarry Bay MTR and depart exit A of same station (are you allowed to do this without getting charged??), then get covered walkway through Taikoo Place
Cons
1. mixed reviews on tripadvisor.com including some cleanliness issues
2. have to walk down long concourse C to get to MTR station
GRAND PLAZA
Pros
1. directly above Taikoo Station therefore in the train in 1 minute
2. maybe (??) looks a little nicer inside than harbour plaza
3. the one and only review on tripadvisor.com said it was great
Cons
1. have to change train twice to get to Kowloon Bay station including painful 5 minute change from island line to purple line at Quarry Bay although maybe can change lines at North Point which is straight across the platform but one extra train stop to the west
2. no view
3. Could be a bit of a pain walking to PCCW building and back each day through heat/humidity/rain as I don't think it is covered (I could be wrong though)
Any help or advice would be really greatly appreciated.