family friendly areas to live HK

[cdn123]

Hi,

We are moving to HK in the summer with 3 children aged 7, 9 and 11. Can anyone offer advice regarding the best areas for children of this age group to live.
Thank you

[Teabaglady]

have a look at Hong Lok Yuen - 35 mins from town, 10 mins to Shatin

houses not flats, a great international school (with its own field - rare in HK!), supermarket

fun community and great place to be with kids!

best of luck!

[Alby]

Ok ... I cut and pasted this from another thread and was originally posted by SKYHOOK. The reason is that these are some questions to help prioritize and further understand you family's needs.

• Are you commute phobic, or does anything longer than 30 minutes'do your head in ?
• Do you cook at home, or do you plan to eat out exclusively.
• Do you plan to have a maid/Amah/Domestic Helper ?
• Do you want to live in a high or low density area ?
• Do you want to live in a green/sea view location that won't be within 2 minutes walk to do shopping ? It might take you 10 minutes to taxi, drive or bus it to do your grocery shopping.
• Rule of thumb, further from shopping malls = no crowds around your place of residence.
• Do you want to be within easy access to other families in the same situation as you ?
• Are you looking for an apartment with a little private access to outside area's ie: spacious balcony, roof top or ground floor private garden for entertaining friends at home etc?
• Having 3 kids, are you likely to want an MPV ( Car ) to aid shopping and enhance instant commute convenience ?
• Are you looking for a quiet peaceful neighbourhood, or do you want to be immersed into the Hong Kong noisy hustle and bustle ambiance ?

Answer a few of these questions and it will make it pretty easy to narrow things down for you.


SKYHOOK's favourite area's of Hong Kong that are ideal for families, are:

• Hebe Haven ( Marina Cove especially ) Highly recommend
• Siu Lam between Pearl Island and the Bellagio Sham Tseng.
• Sai Kung within 8 minutes drive from either direction from Sai Kung town, any further and it's a drag.
• Clearwater Bay
• Shek O
• Tai Tam
• no car permitted Discovery Bay
• Pok Fu Lam especially in and around Bisney road

To see what these area's are like, use photo websites like PBase.com or Welcome to Flickr - Photo Sharing to get a better idea of landscape orientation and housing density.

[cdn123]

Thanks for your help.

We are looking for low rise and away from the the busier, noisier areas. Ideally with a bit of outside space, parks etc for the children to play.

Commuting will probably hinge on where we can get school places -
We are looking for an ESF school as we are moving from the UK. A distance to travel to shops, supermarkets would be fine.

Eating out won't be an everyday occurrence so choice of restaurants won't be a deciding factor.

Hope this clarifies a bit better.

Thanks

[Skyhook]

Ha Ha thanks Alby....

cdc123,

sounds to me that Sai kung and Clearwater Bay are going to be more to what you're used to.

Sai kung has a bit of a British pub scene/atmosphere going on, like the Duke of York pub in Fuk Man road Sai Kung. You'll feel right at home with the largely British and Australian expat crowd there with a sprinkling of Sth Africans. Seems to be the main Expat mix out there, and its a very down to earth urban surrounds loving crowd. It feels the most like home in a small microcosm kind of way.

Sporting facilities are pretty reasonable in the area, so if your kids enjoy being active in sports, the Sai Kung area has a jnr football and rugby team etc etc.

If you can afford it, take a good look at Marina Cove and up on the hill of Hebe Haven overlooking the bay. A very nice part of HK out there.

[Lips]

Yes Sai Kung sounds like the place for you and your family but it may be hard getting the kids into the Clearwater Bay ESF school, but now there is bus service to HLYIS

[cdn123]

Yes Sai Kung sounds like the place for you and your family but it may be hard getting the kids into the Clearwater Bay ESF school, but now there is bus service to HLYIS

Thanks to everyone for your advice - we just need to get school organised!!!!!!!!!!

[MommyTo3]

Skyhook, that was your original reply to me (which was very helpful)!

I was in Hong Kong the past few days and we found a 4-bedroom place in The Manhattan (Tai Tam) for half of June (I'll be joining my husband with the kids first weekend of August). We only looked on the island (my husband works in Central). We also liked Pokfulam, but Tai Tam was a little more quiet for me, we got a great value for money place in The Manhattan (HK standards) and I like that it's close to Stanley.

My oldest will go to one of the preschools in Tai Tam and when she turns 5 next year, we'll most likely transfer her (we'll be looking at Canadian International, ESF Quarry Bay and maybe HIS). I think in the end it comes down to commute time (your max) and then go from there, budget and schools. At least for us.

[Alby]

MommyTo3 .... hopefully you are feeling a bit more relaxed about your pending move to HK.

Hope to see your other half and yourself at a GEO event when you're settled.

[Skyhook]

Bonza work Mommyto3,

don't forget that you are also very close to Shek O Mommyto3, great immersive community down there, with its own recalcitrant anti property developer rhetoric going on. An excellent beach located at Big Wave Bay also, the kids will love it during the week. If you need any info, seek out Lu Lu, she is the lady in the know of what goes on, and good for a chat.