Should You Rent a Car for a Hong Kong Cruise?

The first two rows carry the weight — headcount and the driver only tip a close call.

The terminals sit on rail and bus lines, and a taxi covers the gaps. A car starts to matter once the plan leaves the city.

The one trip we priced by road is Disneyland.

Even for that day, weigh the right-hand seat before the saving — a driver new to the left is the real cost.

Disneyland sits in between — about 17.7 miles from Kai Tak by road, with no ticket price or parking rate we could read.

If that’s your only day out, price the public options before the car. The day-trip section has the distances.

The Transport Department says a visitor may drive for “the period of 12 months following the date of his last entry into Hong Kong” on either “a valid international driving permit” or “a domestic driving licence issued in a place outside Hong Kong”, for the class it covers and at or above the minimum age for that class.

The page names no convention, says nothing about a translation and says nothing about what a rental company will accept, and we read no brand’s own licence rule.

So the law offers a visitor two documents, and the rental counter may want more — ask the company before you fly which one it takes, and carry an International Driving Permit if it says so.

A US permit is a form and a photo at home, not an errand for the arrivals hall.

Under-age and over-age limits, credit-card rules and deposits aren’t on any page we could read. They belong on your quote, not in our guesses — so get the quote first.

Hong Kong keeps to the left, and its own government guide adds that “steering wheels are set on the right-hand sides of vehicles”. The Road Users’ Code says to “keep to the left except when traffic signs or road markings indicate you may do otherwise”.

The Code’s default is 50 km/h (31 mph) on every road unless signs show otherwise. Holding a phone, or wedging it between head and shoulder, while the car moves is prohibited.

The limit is 50 mg of alcohol per 100 ml of blood, 22 micrograms per 100 ml of breath or 67 mg per 100 ml of urine; the Transport Department lists a maximum fine of HK$25,000 and up to three years in prison. In US notation that’s 0.05%, our conversion, against the 0.08% most US states use.

From Nov 1, 2025 a child who is under 8 and shorter than 1.35 m must use a child restraint in a private car, front or rear seat; the fixed penalty is HK$230 and the court maximum HK$2,000, with no visitor exemption mentioned.

Traveling with a young child? Ask the rental company early what a seat costs — we found no brand that printed it.

Set the sat-nav to English in the car park, before the first roundabout.

The Kai Tak terminal’s page puts a taxi to the airport at about HK$310 plus baggage fees; Holland America says about HK$350 and about 45 minutes. At the ECB rate that’s about US$40 to US$45 for the whole cab, not per passenger.

Our meter arithmetic for the airport run is about HK$299 before tolls and bags. The airport page shows the working.

Drivers have had to accept at least two e-payment means since Apr 1, 2026, and one must be QR. The airport’s taxi station is near the left-hand ramp outside Arrivals, and a boot normally takes about three regular suitcases.

On ordinary call days the terminal runs free shuttles from the ship to nearby MTR stations; when a ship turns around, a paid shuttle runs instead, and the page gives no price or route.

The terminal warns that taxi supply is limited while a ship is debarking — a family that needs two cabs should book a transfer ahead.

We found no Transport Department wording on ride-hailing apps; reports say the government is planning private-hire permits, so we can’t say whether Uber works. Plan around the cab, not an app.

Kowloon Station to Kai Tak is 5.5 miles (8.9 km) by our routing, and Hung Hom to Kai Tak 3.3 miles (5.3 km). Treat both as short cab rides or a bus — going by the routing, not a timetable.

Set the car against the HK$105 train and the HK$310 cab before you decide.

Rent for the driving days only — and pick up near where those days start.

The hub page lists what we couldn’t verify about desks, and our review explains how Discover Cars handles deposits and coverage.

The ECB’s Oct 5, 2026 rate, about 12.7 US cents to the Hong Kong dollar, sits behind every dollar figure here; your card will use its own.