Hotels in Jordan and Yau Ma Tei

For most travellers, the best place to book a hotel in Jordan and Yau Ma Tei is close to Nathan Road, between Austin Road and Waterloo Road, where Jordan and Yau Ma Tei stations sit one and two MTR stops north of Tsim Sha Tsui. Light sleepers should ask for a room at the back, night market regulars should look around Temple Street, and rail travellers bound for the mainland should look at the Austin side.

Hotel searches tend to treat the two names as one area, so the same list mixes a tower on Nathan Road, a guesthouse floor above a market street and an address on the West Kowloon side: three different stays, sorted here by street and by station. The wider case for the district, from the night market to what a day costs, is made in our budget guide to Jordan and Yau Ma Tei.

Where do Jordan and Yau Ma Tei begin and end?

Yau Ma Tei, in the broad sense, runs from Austin Road north to Dundas Street, where Mong Kok begins, between the West Kowloon reclamation and the slopes of Ho Man Tin, in the Yau Tsim Mong District. Jordan, named after Jordan Road, is its southern part: roughly one square kilometre between Austin Road and Kansu Street, from Ferry Street to Cox's Road, its western streets officially called Kwun Chung.

Three MTR stations serve the area. Jordan, at the corner of Nathan Road and Jordan Road, is on the Tsuen Wan line only. Yau Ma Tei, which opened in 1979 under the name Waterloo, is an interchange between the Tsuen Wan line and the Kwun Tong line. Austin, on the Tuen Ma line, sits on the western edge, beside the West Kowloon developments.

Which part of the area should you book?

Along Nathan Road

The towers that line Nathan Road between Austin Road and Waterloo Road hold many of the mid-sized hotels of the area, with lifts, a front desk and rooms stacked well above the traffic. Their advantage is access: Jordan and Yau Ma Tei stations are underneath, and the A21 airport bus runs down the same road. Their drawback is the same road, a bus corridor that stays busy late, so ask for a room at the back or high up.

The market grid west of Nathan Road

Parkes Street, Temple Street, Woosung Street and Shanghai Street form the older grid, where guesthouse floors and small hotels share buildings with shops, workshops and flats. The Temple Street night market runs through it, between Jordan and Yau Ma Tei stations, so the evenings are lively and the pavements full. It suits travellers who want dinner at a stall and a short walk home, and it is where a listing deserves the closest reading, because the buildings are older and room sizes vary widely.

Yau Ma Tei, around the temple

North of Kansu Street, the blocks around Public Square Street, Pitt Street and Waterloo Road hold the oldest landmarks of the area: the Tin Hau temple, recorded since the 1860s and on Public Square Street since the 1870s, the jade market on Kansu Street, and the wholesale fruit market by Waterloo Road, more than a century old and busiest in the early hours. Yau Ma Tei station is the advantage here: the Kwun Tong line reaches Whampoa and East Kowloon, and the Tsuen Wan line runs south to Tsim Sha Tsui and Central.

The west side, toward Austin

Fewer hotels stand on this side than along Nathan Road, but the streets around Austin Road West face a different city: the high-speed rail terminus at West Kowloon and the West Kowloon Cultural District, whose Xiqu Centre, the Cantonese opera house, stands a few minutes' walk from Austin station. Austin is one stop from East Tsim Sha Tsui, and Kowloon station, where the Airport Express stops, is roughly a kilometre away on foot. This side suits an early train or a museum day; it is a longer walk from the stalls.

How close is it to Tsim Sha Tsui?

Close enough that many travellers looking for hotels near Tsim Sha Tsui end up here. Jordan station is one stop from Tsim Sha Tsui on the Tsuen Wan line, Yau Ma Tei is two, and Austin is one stop from East Tsim Sha Tsui on the Tuen Ma line. On foot, Nathan Road runs straight from Jordan Road to the harbour past Kowloon Park, roughly twenty minutes at an easy pace to the Star Ferry pier. Our district comparison puts typical rooms here ten to fifteen percent below the Tsim Sha Tsui average for the same category, paid for in those minutes. For a trip built around the harbour and Hong Kong Island, the extra stop costs a little time each day; for one built around markets and the rest of Kowloon, this is the more central base.

What kind of hotel will you actually get?

Three kinds of stay share the area: hotels with a lobby and lifts of their own, guesthouses on one or a few floors of a commercial or mixed building, and hostels selling dorm beds, usually from upper floors. All of them need a licence: under the Hotel and Guesthouse Accommodation Ordinance (Cap. 349), premises that offer paid sleeping accommodation for periods of less than 28 consecutive days must be licensed by the Office of the Licensing Authority of the Home Affairs Department.

Hong Kong has no official star rating. The Hong Kong Tourism Board sorts hotels into tariff classes, such as High Tariff A, High Tariff B and Medium Tariff, for its statistics, and the stars on booking platforms are the platforms' own labels. A licence, by contrast, can be checked. The Office of the Licensing Authority publishes a search of licensed hotels and guesthouses and a free mobile app, Hong Kong Licensed Hotels and Guesthouses, and since September 2009 licensed guesthouses must display the authority's logo at their main entrance and on the door of every guest room. The remaining checks, from the room number to the payment terms, are in our guesthouse booking checklist.

Noise, lifts and the hours of the market

The faults of the district are predictable. Street-facing rooms on low floors of Nathan Road are the noisiest beds in the area. The market streets fill in the evening and empty late, which suits a traveller back from dinner and annoys one trying to sleep early. Older buildings mean small lifts shared with offices and flats, and a queue at checkout time. Ask which side of the building and which floor the room is on, and whether the lift serves the hotel floors directly.

How do you get there from the airport?

The A21 airport bus runs from the airport down Nathan Road through Mong Kok, Yau Ma Tei and Jordan before reaching Tsim Sha Tsui, so most hotels on the spine and in the market grid are a short walk from a stop, as our A21 airport bus guide shows stop by stop. On the west side, the Airport Express to Kowloon station and a short taxi ride is the alternative. Hotels near Austin also suit the high-speed train to the mainland, whose West Kowloon terminus stands beside the station.

Three quick answers

Which station is best for a hotel in Jordan or Yau Ma Tei?

It depends on where the days go. Jordan, on the Tsuen Wan line, is one stop from Tsim Sha Tsui and serves Nathan Road and the market grid. Yau Ma Tei adds the Kwun Tong line, direct to Whampoa and East Kowloon. Austin, on the Tuen Ma line, suits an early high-speed train from West Kowloon or a museum day on the west side.

Are there quiet hotels near Temple Street?

Quiet rooms, more than quiet streets. The market streets around Temple Street fill in the evening and empty late, and the low street-facing floors of Nathan Road are the noisiest beds in the area. Ask for a room at the back of the building or on a high floor, and check before booking which side the room faces and whether the lift serves the hotel floors directly.

How do I check that a hotel in Yau Ma Tei is licensed?

Search its name or address on the website of the Office of the Licensing Authority, or in its free app, Hong Kong Licensed Hotels and Guesthouses. A licensed guesthouse must also display the authority's logo at its main entrance and on every guest room door.