Auberge Discovery Bay Hotel, Hong Kong Review
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| Beautiful view from the room |
Beautiful seaview, amazing sunsets, mountains as your backdrop. NO HIGH SKYSCRAPERS. You'd never imagine those phrases are of this hidden gem tucked away from the hassle and bustle of city life in Hong Kong.
Address: Auberge Discovery Bay Hong Kong 88 Siena Avenue, Discovery Bay Lantau Island, Hong Kong
Tel: +(852) 2295 8288
Website:
http://www.aubergediscoverybay.com/
Email:
enquiry@aubergediscoverybay.com
Dates of stay: 18th - 19th May 2014
Category: Ocean Front Room
Description: All Ocean Front Rooms feature a sunken bath and floor-to-ceiling windows, allowing guests to immerse themselves in the quiet calm and enjoy the all-encompassing sea view.
Size: 355 square feet (33 square meters)
Price: S$257.82
Includes: Two-hour complimentary wireless internet access per stay, walk-in rain shower, pillow menu.
Everyone knows how busy and hectic Hong Kong can be. Never sleeping with late night steamboats, char chan ting, shopping; metropolitan city that is bursting with life and colour at every minute.
We found this treasure whilst on a search for Disneyland Hotels. Yes, I visited Disneyland and saw all my favourite princesses. But when I was at Auberge Discovery Bay, I became the princess instead.
We booked with an Online Travel Agent (because I had a voucher I wanted to use and spend on somewhere fancy). They had choices like mountain view, sea view, a suite with panorama sea view. So, we opted for just the regular room with a seaview.
The room is 3-4 times the size of the hotel room on mainland Hong Kong. It would have been the size of a really expensive suite back on Hong Kong. Not to mention the view.
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| Bed & separate sitting area |
The king bed is so large, G and I could sleep like a starfish and we'd both still have space. The interior design of blue and green suited the calm sea and greenery that surrounds Discovery Bay.
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| Large King Bed |
I also loved the fact that there's a reading light located above and on each side of the bed. I tend to write my travel musings while in bed and I didn't want to disturb G while he sleeps.
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| Sitting area |
The room also has a seperate sitting area for you to lounge and watch TV. But seriously, who would actually watch TV with that killer view!
If you've read my other posts, you know I'm a fanatic for beautiful hotel bathrooms. It's just my thing. I'd love the bathroom more than the bedroom itself.
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| His & Her sinks |
Because we've booked a seaview room, the bathroom actually comes with a sunken bath instead of a bathtub. When I found out before the trip, I was desperately trying to find pictures of sunken baths, because I had no idea what that was. Google gave me pictures of round tubs, jacuzzis, ancient Roman baths (hahaha, what the hell?). But nothing popped up like how Auberge's sunken bath is.
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| Sunken Bath!!!!!! |
It's basically the area where you shower, the square. But sunken. Literally a sunken.. Bath? You have to walk 2-3 steps down into the bath. It's much more spacious than a bathtub, fills up like a tub, but no sloshing of water onto the floor (like how a normal tub does) when you a splash around like a little girl... AND THE VIEW.
It was quite hilarious to see G amazed with the design (typical engineer) and contraptions of how the bath fills and drains.
Oh, the tiles in the bath are anti-slip, but still smooth enough so you don't get scratched. I love the attention to detail here.
We ordered breakfast to the room because we were just lazy and didn't want to leave the room. Come on, have you seen the view?
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| Best view for breakfast! |
We ordered only one set of American breakfast, asked for two sets of cutleries and 2 glasses of water. It came with three sets. Okay..
The night before, we ordered fries & some snacks, and when the server came, we asked for mayo which he left to get. I was just telling G that if he was an attentive server, he'd come back with my mayo, and another set of cutleries. Nope, he came back with just mayo.
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| View from the bathroom |
I must be very spoilt and expect servers to 'read my mind'. But that's what luxury is all about. Anticipation of guest's needs.
Not to worry though, it didn't ruin the stay, but other than the view, the service didn't blow me away.
The pool is located outdoors, and remember about the mountainous backdrop I was telling you about? Yes. Too beautiful.
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| Deck chairs by the pool |
Although we requested for a late check out when I was emailing the reservation team and they said they could check and see if they could accord me a late check out till 3pm. But when I reconfirmed with the front desk agent, they only gave me until 1pm. I'm not complaining though, I totally understand if the hotel is full (I'm a hotelier too) but it was a Monday, so I have my reservations about that.
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| Too bad we went at night |
So after we checked out, we headed to the pool to just chill and kill some time as our flight was only at 6pm. You could even borrow those noodle float thingy and just splash around like a kid. I was a very happy kid.
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| Swimming with such a beautiful view! |
After your swim, there's even a changing and shower room, decked with lockers for you to keep your valuables! Though there's only two shower cubicles, it was still quite early in the afternoon, and not to mention a weekday, so I didn't have anyone fighting to use the shower facilites with me.
I could even blow dry my hair in peace and not worry my mess is eating into other people's space.
If you take a look at the map of Hong Kong, you'd see that Discovery Bay is located on Lantau Island away from the mainland. Not too far from where Disneyland is located. This being said, Auberge is located where no private cars or taxis are allowed access. Only discovery bay public buses or hotel's transport are allowed. I guess they're trying to keep the exclusivity.
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| Maps of Hong Kong |
So, you can imagine how secluded it is. If you're thinking of going back into the city, think twice. Just getting to Sunny Bay MTR will be such a hassle, let alone the long journey back to town.
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| Bus stops to take public bus into Discovery Bay |
The hotel provides shuttle buses to and from Sunny Bay MTR, Disneyland and several major stops on Hong Kong Island (though timing is very limited), I guess in a way to be more accessible. On the last night after we had our fill of Disneyland, we were rushing to catch the shuttle bus, but we were not sure if it left early and we missed it, or it never showed up.
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| Sunny Bay MTR Station |
We took the public bus instead. Though it's a public bus, the bus fare was about twice the amount than normal. I guess you don't have a choice because that's the only way to get in and out of Discovery Bay.
There's a small cluster of shops, restaurants and a supermarket just next to Auberge if you don't feel like having hotel food. We managed to buy drinks, snacks and even bubble bath there. I can't quite remember what the supermarket is called, but the logo, colour scheme and how the supermarket is layed out, is very similar to Cold Storage in Singapore.
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| Cluster of shops beside Auberge |
After our swim on the last day, we went to this pizzeria next to the hotel. We were famished and decided to order a whole pizza and a plate of pasta. Biggest regret ever. The portion is humongous! After finishing the pasta, the pizza arrived and we just stared at each other. G and I wouldn't been able to have finished the pizza in that sitting, but we tried. After 1 slice each, we packed the pizza to go and brought it to the airport to have it as dinner.
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| LARGE PIZZA!! |
Despite the location being somewhat inaccessible, it is a good thing being away from the hustle and bustle of city life. You don't feel like you're even in Hong Kong! The air is fresh and crisp, the sea is spotless and endless, the mountains are beautiful and green.
There's even a beautiful chapel on the property for couples getting married.
If you're looking at to stay near Disneyland or near the airport and want somewhere luxurious, you have to stay at Auberge hotel.
