At a glance
- 562 rooms and suites, including long-stay rooms
- Casual all-day dining restaurant, upscale Chinese restaurant, bar with live music, club lounge
- Gym, spa, outdoor pool, saunas, hot tub, kids pool, kids club
- Fabulous views of Tolo Harbour
- Close to cycling paths and hikes
- A 30-minute train journey from downtown Hong Kong
Sha Tin? Where or what is Sha Tin?
Glad you asked. It’s one of Hong Kong’s self-contained satellite towns – well, a mini city, really – about 25 minutes’ drive from Central in good traffic. It’s separated from the main urban area by the Kowloon mountain range, and lies in a valley that was still farmland 50 years ago. These days, Sha Tin is home to 660,000 people, a couple of museums, a sprawling science park, and a university.
Now that you mention it, the name rings a bell. Is it famous for something?
Most people who have heard of Sha Tin know it for its racecourse – the larger of the two courses operated by the Hong Kong Jockey Club. As much as HK$1.76 billion (about US$225 million) can be bet here on the track’s busiest days.
However, the real star of Sha Tin – and it’s something of a best-kept secret – is Tolo Harbour. For our money, it’s Hong Kong’s prettiest body of water. Everyone knows Victoria Harbour, with its flashy, statement skyline. Tolo Harbour is something else altogether. Think smooth blue water, green islets, tranquil little bays plied by leisure craft and small ferries, ringed by lush hills. Some of the latter are quite dramatic, like the 700-metre twin peaks of Ma On Shan (“Saddle Mountain”).
How gorgeous. And where can I enjoy the best views of Tolo Harbour?
The Hyatt Regency Sha Tin, of course.
Ha, I should have guessed. Alright, who stays there?
You’re not going to encounter many business travellers, unless they have meetings at the science park – a five-minute drive away – or at the Chinese University, which the hotel overlooks. Instead, this is a firm favourite with locals on staycay, or with out-of-towners who already know the city quite well and are looking for something different. If you’ve been to Hong Kong three times already and are hankering after a new experience, you’ll love it here.
I’m one of those people. Tell me more.
For a start, the rooms. They’re generously sized by the standards of overcrowded Hong Kong, but it’s with the enormous and affordable suites that the Hyatt Sha Tin really comes into its own. We stayed in a tastefully decorated Regency King Suite. It sprawled over 63 square metres, had two bathrooms, an enormous writing desk, a dining table that seated four, and a kitchenette. The cost at the time of our stay – and we were there during a busy holiday – was a mere HK$1,600 a night (about US$200), which is astonishingly good value for a property bearing the Hyatt marque. A suite at Hyatt’s downtown property costs vastly more and is a lot smaller, at 49 square metres.
Then there’s the resort vibe. The Hyatt Regency Sha Tin has an enormous pool, a spa, a spacious gym, a kids’ club, two decent restaurants and a bar. There are plenty of hikes and walks nearby as well as 20 kilometres of cycle paths that take you along the Tolo Harbour shoreline as far as rural Tai Mei Tuk village. (Bicycles can be easily rented from local bike shops.) If you’re heading into the centre of Sha Tin, you’ll find the Hong Kong Heritage Museum, the enormous New Town Plaza mall, heaps of dining options and a couple of temples worth checking out.
University Station is right next to the hotel when you need to make a trip into the big city. The journey time is about 30 minutes.
What are service levels like?
This is a four-star property, not a five-star one, so there’s not a lot of fawning and forelock tugging going on, but everyone who dealt with us was perfectly professional and friendly. Full marks to the front desk team who processed a long check-in queue with lightning speed and were a model of smiling efficiency.
This is sounding good, actually. How was the food at the hotel?
The all-day dining restaurant ticks all the right boxes: gleaming show kitchens, a global à la carte menu, and lavish buffets that change according to the time of day. But the hotel’s Chinese restaurant, Sha Tin 18, was a real revelation. It’s fantastic, with a great vegetarian menu for all of us plant-based people – and imaginative desserts. Don’t miss the red date madeleines with Grand Marnier custard, and save room for the oolong tea and coconut taro ice-creams.
The hotel dabbles with locavorism, too. Visit the patisserie for honey cake and apple pie made with the produce of a local apiary.
Gosh. I’m starting to look at Sha Tin with different eyes. Your parting plug?
Hong Kong doesn’t have to be about shoebox hotel rooms, gridlocked streets and crowded pavements. Head up to Tolo Harbour, drop your bags and breathe.
