Must-Do Hikes in Hong Kong: Four Trails That Define the City

Hong Kong's best-kept secret is that three quarters of it isn't city at all. Beyond the towers there are 263 islands, four long-distance trails, and country parks that start where the MTR ends. You can be on a ridgeline above the South China Sea forty minutes after finishing your morning dim sum.

These are the four hikes worth building your trip around — each one reachable by public transport, each one a completely different version of Hong Kong.

Dragon's Back: The Classic Ridgeline

If you only have time for one hike, it's this one. Dragon's Back is the final section of the Hong Kong Trail — an undulating ridge (hence the name) with the surf beaches of Shek O on one side and the high-rises of Chai Wan on the other. It is regularly named among the best urban hikes in the world, and unlike most things with that kind of billing, it delivers.

Distance: 8.5 km
Time: 2.5–3 hrs
Difficulty: Easy–moderate
Start: Bus 9, To Tei Wan

Take the MTR to Shau Kei Wan, then bus 9 from the bus terminus — the To Tei Wan stop drops you at the trailhead. The climb to Shek O Peak (284 m) takes about forty minutes, and the ridge section after it is the reason you came: open grassland, paragliders overhead on weekends, and the sea on both sides.

Hikers descending a coastal path toward the sea on a Hong Kong trail — The descent toward Big Wave Bay — the reward at the end of the ridge.

Finish at Big Wave Bay, where surfers queue for the break and a cluster of village stores sells cold drinks and fish balls. From there it's a short minibus ride back to Shau Kei Wan MTR.

Lion Rock: The City From Above

Lion Rock is Hong Kong's most symbolic summit — the granite outcrop that gave Kowloon its "nine dragons" mythology and lent its name to the city's whole post-war work ethic ("Lion Rock spirit"). The view from the lion's head is the most dramatic in the territory: a sheer cliff dropping straight onto the housing estates of Kowloon, with the harbour and Hong Kong Island stacked up behind.

Distance: 5 km loop
Time: 2.5–3 hrs
Difficulty: Moderate–hard
Start: Wong Tai Sin MTR

From Wong Tai Sin MTR, walk up through the temple back streets to the Lion Rock Park entrance and follow signs for the MacLehose Trail Section 5 junction. The final climb to the head is steep, stepped, and sweaty — budget an hour up from the ridge junction.

Silhouettes of hikers on Lion Rock summit at sunset with the city below — Sunset from the summit — bring a headlamp for the way down.

The pro move is to time your summit for the last hour of light, watch the city switch its lights on beneath you, and descend carefully with a headlamp. It's the best free show in Hong Kong.

Lantau Peak: The Sunrise Pilgrimage

At 934 m, Lantau Peak (Fung Wong Shan — "Phoenix Mountain") is Hong Kong's second-highest summit and its most rewarding sufferfest. The classic version is a pre-dawn start: climb in the dark, watch the sun rise over the South China Sea, then descend to Ngong Ping for breakfast beside the Big Buddha before the tour groups arrive.

Distance: 4.5 km
Time: 2.5–3.5 hrs
Difficulty: Hard
Start: Pak Kung Au, Bus 3M

Start at the Pak Kung Au pass between Tung Chung and Mui Wo (bus 3M or 11 from Tung Chung). The route is brutally direct — roughly 600 m of ascent on stone steps with almost no flat ground — but the trail is impossible to lose, even by torchlight.

A narrow dirt trail winding along a green ridgeline on Lantau Island — Lantau's ridgelines feel like a different country — and they're 40 minutes from Central.

From the summit, descend the western side to Ngong Ping, climb the 268 steps to the Tian Tan Buddha while your legs still hate you, then take the Ngong Ping 360 cable car down to Tung Chung — riding it downhill means you skip the morning queues entirely.

MacLehose Trail Section 2: Beaches You Earn

This is the wild one. Section 2 of the MacLehose Trail runs through the Sai Kung peninsula past Tai Long Wan — "Big Wave Bay" (the other one) — a chain of white-sand beaches with turquoise water that most visitors never learn exists. There are no roads in. You walk, or you don't see it.

Distance: 13.5 km
Time: 4–5 hrs
Difficulty: Moderate
Start: Sai Wan Pavilion

A turquoise cove with an empty sand beach surrounded by green hills in Sai Kung — Sai Kung's coves — no roads, no towers, no crowds. Just the walk in.

Take a taxi or the village bus from Sai Kung town to Sai Wan Pavilion, walk in to Sai Wan beach (about 45 minutes), and continue over the headland to Ham Tin, where a beach shack serves fried noodles and cold beer to people who have earned both. Strong hikers continue over Tai Long Au to Pak Tam Au; everyone else turns back at Ham Tin with zero regrets.

When to Go and What to Pack

October to March is hiking season — clear skies, low humidity, temperatures in the high teens to low twenties. April and May are hazy but workable. June to September is genuinely dangerous for the harder routes: 34°C with 90% humidity has put plenty of fit tourists in the back of an ambulance. If you must hike in summer, start at dawn and pick Dragon's Back, not Lantau Peak.

The kit list is short: two litres of water minimum (three in summer), electrolytes, a hat, sunscreen, a headlamp if there's any chance of dusk, and trail shoes with grip — Hong Kong's stone steps are polished glass when wet. Phone signal is excellent on almost every trail, which is reassuring, and slightly surreal when you're taking a call on a ridgeline above the sea.