Hong Kong hiking and islands: 7 days on the ridges and the water
The statistic that reframes Hong Kong: around three quarters of the territory is country park, catchment and undeveloped hillside. The city occupies the flat edges of a landscape that is mostly steep, green and empty, and the trail network across it is one of the best urban-adjacent walking systems
- Duration
- 7 days
- Pace
- Active
- Hotel changes
- 2
- Best months
- Nov, Dec, Jan, Feb, Mar
- From
- $1,960 per person
This is a walking and paddling week with a city attached, rather than a city week with a walk in it. Three substantial hikes, two days on the water, two nights out on the islands, and enough good eating that nobody feels short-changed.
It is built for the cool half of the year. From November to March the humidity drops out, the visibility from the ridges is long, and a five hour walk is a pleasure. From June to September the same walk is an endurance exercise and we will tell you so.
Who it suits: walkers, paddlers and anyone who has been told Hong Kong is only a city.
Your specialist: Asaf Zamshtein, who runs our China desk, with our Hong Kong partner team and licensed local hiking guides.
A note on who is on the ground. Our own offices are in Japan, Vietnam, India and the Philippines. Hong Kong is not one of them. We run this route through a Hong Kong partner team we have worked with for years, and we would rather name them than imply an office we do not have.
Day by day
Day 1: Arrive, island side. Private transfer, three nights in Sheung Wan or Kennedy Town, which is where the trailheads are closest and the eating is best. Nothing scheduled. Star Ferry at dusk to get your bearings.
Day 2: The Dragon’s Back and Shek O. The best short walk in Hong Kong and the one everybody has heard of, which means starting early. From To Tei Wan the ridge runs above the eastern coastline with the sea on both sides for most of it, about 5 miles (8 km) and three hours at a steady pace, with a stiff climb in the first twenty minutes and easy walking after that.
Down at Big Wave Bay for a swim if the season allows, then lunch in Shek O village. Afternoon free.
Day 3: Lantau Peak. The hard day. Lantau Peak is the second highest point in Hong Kong at 3,064 feet (934 m), and the ascent from the Ngong Ping plateau is short, steep and relentless: about two hours up on steps and rock, an hour and a half down, with a genuinely long view over the outer islands on a clear day.
We go up in the morning while it is cool, then drop to Po Lin monastery for vegetarian lunch and take the cable car back down. A guide comes with you on this day, because the descent to Tung Chung is longer and rougher than it looks on a map and people underestimate it.
Day 4: Move to Sai Kung. Tai Long Wan. Transfer east to Sai Kung, two nights, and the character of the trip changes completely. This is the coast most visitors never reach: headlands, sand and almost no road access.
Boat or taxi to Sai Wan Pavilion, then the classic walk in to the four beaches of Tai Long Wan, roughly 4 miles (6.5 km) of coastal path with swimming stops. Lunch is a village shop with plastic chairs and a very good bowl of noodles. Boat back to Sai Kung town in the late afternoon.
Day 5: Sea kayaking and the geopark. A guided paddling day out of Sai Kung: sea caves, the hexagonal volcanic rock columns that give the geopark its name, and a chain of empty islands. Around four hours on the water with beach stops, in stable sit-on-top kayaks, with no previous experience needed.
Evening at a Sai Kung seafood restaurant where you choose the fish from the tank and confirm the price by weight before it goes to the kitchen, which is the local practice and worth doing.
Day 6: Move to Lamma. The island walk. Ferry to Lamma, one night, no cars on the island. The family walk from Yung Shue Wan to Sok Kwu Wan is about 2.5 miles (4 km) of paved path over the spine of the island with a beach in the middle, and it takes about ninety minutes without hurrying.
The rest of the day is yours: a longer loop over Mount Stenhouse for the fit, or a beach and a book. Seafood dinner at the harbour in Sok Kwu Wan.
Day 7: Ferry in, departure. Morning ferry back to Central, about half an hour. Transfer to the airport.
What is included
Accommodation with breakfast in three properties, private transfers including all trailhead drops and pickups, licensed English-speaking hiking guides on the Lantau Peak and Tai Long Wan days, a guided sea kayaking day with all equipment, the Ngong Ping cable car, all ferry crossings, Octopus cards, a day-by-day document with route profiles, distances in miles and kilometres, water requirements and escape routes off every trail, and a WhatsApp group with your consultant and our Hong Kong partner team.
What we would change, and when
- Travelling May to September? We would rather move your dates. If we cannot, every walk starts at first light, Lantau Peak comes out entirely, and we replace it with a shaded reservoir walk and more time on the water. Heat exhaustion on a Hong Kong ridge in August is a real thing and we plan to avoid it.
- Stronger walkers? We extend day 4 onto stage 2 of the MacLehose Trail and add Sharp Peak, which is steep, loose and genuinely demanding.
- Nine or ten days? Add two nights on Cheung Chau and a day walking the Tai Mo Shan side of the New Territories.
- A typhoon signal in your dates? Every trail day has an indoor and a low-level alternative already written into your document, and our team moves the week around rather than cancelling it.
Honest notes
The trails are steep and largely unshaded. Hong Kong hills go straight up, often on concrete steps, and the sun is stronger than the latitude suggests. Carry more water than you think, at least two litres a person on the long days.
Very little of this network is remote in the mountaineering sense, and that is the point. You are rarely more than ninety minutes from a road, which makes it forgiving, not easy.
Hill fire warnings and, in the wet months, landslip closures do occasionally shut a trail at short notice. Our team checks the day before rather than the week before.
The seafood restaurants price by weight. Agree the weight and the price before the fish leaves the tank. This is normal and nobody will be offended.
Built by Asaf Zamshtein, who runs our China desk, and checked with our Hong Kong partner team before it goes out.
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