Lantau Island Hiking

Lantau Island is surprising because of its size and large country parks. With low mountains that you can hike to the top of, good beaches, and long hiking paths, it is an enjoyable outdoors area. Country parkland covers most of the island. The hiking paths on Lantau are among Hong Kong's best.
· 3 country parks (north to south): Lantau North Extension, Lantau North, Lantau South
· Features: Hong Kong's second and third highest mountains, big natural beaches, rough hill hikes, free good campsites, small villages, and secluded places for walking off trail.
· Highlights: Lantau Peak, Sunset Peak, Pui O Beach, Cheungsha Beach, Lantau Trail, and Lantau South Country Park (22 square miles)
· Time needed: Hiking through the whole area would take days.
· Rigor: Moderate to difficult
Claim to fame: one of Hong Kong's most beautiful and interesting natural areas. The hiking paths are the best after the hiking paths in the eastern New Territories.
· Popular activities: Sightseeing, photography, solitude, camping, swimming, long distance walks, and visiting small villages
· Suited to: hikers, beach goers, or visitors who want to just see the scenery
Free park and trail maps and pamphlets: The Hong Kong Tourism Board Visitor Centers on Victoria Peak and at the Star Ferry in Tsim Sha Tsui has free pamphlets and maps that provide information about the various trails and country parks.
When to Go
In the autumn and until about the middle of December, Hong Kong has a relative dry season with sunny dry weather and nice hiking and camping temperatures. It is cooler and drier than the summer, and it is best for hiking and tourism in Lantau Island overall.
Lantau Peak Hike
Blue and green scenery along the Lantau Trail
· Features: Hong Kong's second tallest peak. Great all around scenic views from the top. Easy to get to the trail from Po Lin Monastery. Rough trail on top of peak.
· Time needed: depending on route, 1 hour (from Po Lin) to 2.5 hours (from Pak Kung Au)
· Rigor: Moderate to difficult
· Popular activities: Hiking, sightseeing, photography
Lantau Peak (934 meters, 3,060 feet) is the second-highest peak in Hong Kong. Tai Mo Shan north of Kowloon is the highest, but access to the top is barred there. A hike to the top of Lantau Peak is fun and satisfying. There is beautiful scenery, and climbing at the summit gets a little rugged.
The hike up from Po Lin is a steep stair climb mostly. However, the view is not very interesting, being mostly a view of a narrow valley, bushes, and tree limbs. The stairs are roughly hewn rocks, and these are slippery when they are wet. It may even be a dangerous climb if the rocks are slick because there is a possibility you could turn your ankle or slip and fall. At the top, the rocks are also loose.
Getting There
There are two main ways to access the peak. One is to go up the north side from Po Lin Monastery on Section 3 of the Lantau Trail (about an hour), and the other is to take the Lantau Trail Section 3 from Pak Kung Au from the east and go up from the southern side of the peak (2.5 hours).
Transport to the north side route: Bus 2 from Mui Wo to Ngong Ping. The bus takes you most of the way up the mountain so you'll get to the rocky stair climb. From the big bus station terminus, you can follow the signs that point to the hiking trail that is about a kilometer or a mile from the bus stop.
Transport to the south side route: from Mui Wo take Bus 3M or simply walk the 3 kilometers (2 miles) to the Lantau Trail at the Nam Shan campground. Alternatively, from Tung Chung by taxi to Nam Shan, show the taxi driver: 南山營地. The fare from Tung Chung will be a about 125 HKD.
Sunset Peak Hike
· Features: Hong Kong's third highest peak. Excellent scenery and beautiful views, woods, and grasslands.
· Time needed: depending on route, 2 hours from Pak Kung Au (Section 2 Lantau Trail) or 2.5 hours from South Lantau Road (Section 2 of Lantau Trail)
· Scenery: excellent scenery in natural parkland, variety of vegetation, grassland, woods, and jungle. Long views and sea scenery.
· Difficulty: moderate to semi-difficult
Sunset Peak is a more scenic hike area than Lantau Peak. It measures 869 meters or 2,851 feet high. It is known for its beautiful sunsets as the sun sets into the sea. The mountain is broader at top with a cluster of several peaks close together, and this provides a greater range for exploring and seeing the scenery in all directions. Lantau Peak in contrast is a single sharp peak.
A hike would take take about 5 hours. For more detailed description of the hike and transportation, see Hiking Sunset Mountain on Lantau Island.
Lantau Trail Hike
The southern branch of the Lantau trail is increasingly popular
This well-laid hiking path is a major highlight for Hong Kong hikers. There are 12 sections. Most of it is well prepared with dirt track or carved rock steps and stretches in a 70 kilometer circuit from Mui Wo to Tai O. It provides access to excellent hiking and camping areas like the two big peaks and campgrounds around Lantau Peak and Sunset Peak.
Features
· Time needed: two or three days for the whole route.
· Opened in 1984, it is a well-traveled trail with park posts marking every half kilometer.
· You'll find park benches, maps, bathrooms, fire pits, picnic tables, and tent camping areas for the use of hikers.
· Excellent scenery and beautiful views. Jungles, woods, and grasslands.
· Excellent beaches at Pui O and Changsha.
· Mui Wo and Tai O as old village attractions on either end of Lantau.
· Hong Kong's second and third highest peaks.
There are two Lantau Trail branches that start at Mui O because the whole Lantau Trail is a circuit. One branch starts from the Mui Wo pier and goes east and more northwards into the high hills towards Ngong Ping, Sunset Peak and Lantau Peak. The other starts from Mui Wo pier and branches south and goes along the coast on hillsides overlooking the shore.
The Southern Coastal Route
Tai O stilt house scenery
You can see some wonderf