South Lantau Rd

Just under 5km southwest of Mui Wo, Pui O is the first of several coastal villages along South Lantau Rd. Pui O has a decent beach, but as it’s the closest one to Mui Wo it can get very crowded. The village has several restaurants, holiday flats galore and, in season, stalls renting bicycles. Cheung Sha (Long Sand), at over 3km Hong Kong’s longest beach, is divided into ‘upper’ and ‘lower’ sections; a trail over a hillock links the two. Upper Cheung Sha, with occasional good surf, is the prettier and longer stretch and boasts a modern complex with changing rooms, toilets, showers and a snack bar. Lower Cheung Sha villagehas a beachfront restaurant, Stoep Restaurant. Long Coast Seasports is a water-sports centre offering windsurfing, sea kayaking and wakeboarding. Beach umbrellas are also available. Some claim that the Venturi effect on the wind from Tung Chung makes this the best windsurfing in Hong Kong, especially from November to March. The beach at Tong Fuk, the next village over from Cheung Sha, is not as nice, but the village has holiday flats, several shops and a popular roadside barbecue restaurant called Gallery. To the northwest is the not-so-scenic sprawl of Ma Po Ping Prison. West of Tong Fuk, South Lantau Rd begins to climb the hills inland before crossing an enormous dam holding back the Shek Pik Reservoir, completed in 1963, which provides Lantau, Cheung Chau and parts of Hong Kong Island with drinking water. Just below the dam is the granddaddy of Lantau’s trio of jails, Shek Pik Prison. Below the dam to the south but before the prison is another Bronze Age rock carving, which is unusual in that it is so far from the coastline. The trail along the water-catchment area east of Shek Pik Reservoir, with picnic tables and barbecue pits, offers some of the easiest and most peaceful walking on Lantau. From here you can also pick up the switchback trail to Dog’s Tooth Peak (539m), from where another trail heads north to Lantau Peak.