Outdoor sights in Hong Kong
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Mai Po Nature Reserve
The 270-hectare nature reserve includes the Mai Po Visitor Centre(2471 8272) at the northeastern end, where you must register; the Mai Po Education Centre (2482 0369) to the south, with displays on the history and ecology of the wetland and Deep Bay; floating boardwalks and trails through the mangroves and mud flats; and a dozen hides (towers or huts from where you can watch birds up close without being observed). Disconcertingly, the cityscape of Shenzhen looms to the north. Visitors are advised to bring binoculars (they may be available for rent at the visitor centre for $20) and cameras, and to wear comfortable walking shoes or boots but not bright clothing. It is best…
reviewed
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Beaches
Tung Wan beach, Cheung Chau’s longest and most popular beach (though not its prettiest), lies at the end of Tung Wan Rd, due east of the ferry pier. The best part of Tung Wan is the far southern end, which is a great area for windsurfing. Just south of Tung Wan beach, Kwun Yam Wan beach is known to English speakers as AfternoonBeach and is a great spot for windsurfing. Windsurfing has always been an extremely popular pastime on Cheung Chau, and Hong Kong’s only Olympic gold-medal winner to date, Lee Lai-shan, who took the top prize in windsurfing at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, grew up here. At the northern end of Afternoon Beach, the Cheung Chau Windsurfing Water Sp…
reviewed
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Mui Wo
Mui Wo (Plum Nest), Lantau’s main settlement ‘capital’, is on Silvermine Bay, which is named for the silver mines that were once worked to the northwest along the Silver River. In fact, many foreign residents refer to Mui Wo as Silvermine Bay. About a third of Lantau’s population lives in the township of Mui Wo and its surrounding hamlets. There are several decent places to stay here and, though the options for eating and drinking are few, they are fine. Silvermine Bay beach, to the northwest of Mui Wo, has been cleaned up and rebuilt in recent years and is now an attractive place, with scenic views and opportunities for walking in the hills above. There’s a compl…
reviewed
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Hong Kong Wetland Park
The space and serenity of this 60-hectare ecological park make it a wonderful place to while away half a day. Its nature trails, bird hides and viewing platforms are windows on the wetland ecosystems and biodiversity of the northwest New Territories. The futuristic grass-covered headquarters houses interesting galleries (including one on tropical swamps), a film theatre, a large cafe and a viewing gallery. It’s oddly pleasing to watch in silence as a kingfisher dives and then turn 180 degrees to be faced with a bank of high-rise apartment blocks. If you have binoculars then bring them; otherwise be prepared to wait to use the fixed points in the viewing galleries and hide…
reviewed
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Tai Po Kau Nature Reserve
The Tai Po Kau Nature Reserve is a thickly forested 460-hectare ‘special area’ and is Hong Kong’s most extensive woodlands. It is home to many species of butterflies, amphibians, birds, dragonflies and trees, and is a superb place in which to enjoy a quiet walk. The reserve is crisscrossed with four main tracks ranging in length from 3km (red trail) to 10km (yellow trail), plus a short nature trail of less than 1km. If possible, avoid the reserve on Sunday and public holidays, when the crowds descend upon the place. The reserve is supposed to emphasise conservation and education rather than recreation, and about 1km northwest of the reserve entrance and down steep Hung La…
reviewed
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Ng Tung Chai Waterfall & Kadoorie Farm & Botanic Garden
The scenic area around the Ng Tung Chai Waterfall is worth a detour. It is near the village of Ng Tung Chai, which is several kilometres north of Tai Mo Shan and just south of Lam Kam Rd. Reach the series of streams and waterfalls by taking the path leading to Ng Tung Chai and the Lam Kam Rd from the radio station on the summit of Tai Mo Shan. Kadoorie Farm & Botanic Garden, southwest of Ng Tung Chai, is primarily a conservation and teaching centre, but the gardens are especially lovely, with many indigenous birds, animals, insects and plants in residence. You can reach Kadoorie Farm most easily on bus 64K, which runs between Yuen Long MTR West Rail station and Tai Po Mar…
reviewed
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Ma Wan Park
Ma Wan was once famous as the gateway to Kowloon, where foreign ships would drop anchor before entering Chinese waters. If you want to get away from it all Ma Wan, a flat, rapidly developing island between the northeastern tip of Lantau and the New Territories, is hardly the place to go. It has a couple of temples devoted to Tin Hau, a long beach on the east coast at Tung Wan and a massive, high-end residential community called Park Island. Basically you’re here to view some startling engineering feats (the Lantau Link) and perhaps to visit Ma Wan Park, an appealing park and open space that also serves as an education centre focusing on nature, energy use and the enviro…
reviewed
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Plover Cove Reservoir
Plover Cove Reservoir was completed in 1968 and holds 230 million cubic metres of water; before then Hong Kong suffered from critical water shortages and rationing was not uncommon. Even after the reservoir opened, water sometimes had to be rationed; taps were turned on for only eight hours a day through the dry winter of 1980–81. The reservoir was built in a very unusual way. Rather than build a dam across a river, of which Hong Kong has very few, a barrier was erected across the mouth of a great bay. The sea water was siphoned out and fresh water – mostly piped in from the mainland – was pumped in.
reviewed
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Sai Kung
Apart from the Outlying Islands, the Sai Kung Peninsula is one of the last havens left in Hong Kong for hikers, swimmers and boaters, and most of it is one huge 7500-hectare country park. A short journey to any of the islands off Sai Kung town is rewarding. Hidden away are some excellent beaches that can be visited by kaido (small boats), which depart from the waterfront. The MacLehose Trail, a 100km route across the New Territories, begins at Pak Tam Chung on the Sai Kung Peninsula.
On top of this Sai Kung town boasts some excellent bars and restaurants, especially along the attractive waterfront.
reviewed
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Lions Nature Education Centre
Ideal for children, this 34-hectare attraction, located 2km northwest of Hebe Haven and just off Hiram’s Hwy, is Hong Kong’s first nature education centre and comprises everything from an arboretum, a medicinal plants garden and an insect-arium to a mineral and rocks corner and a shell house. We love the Dragonfly Pond, which attracts up to a quarter of the more than 100 dragonfly species found in Hong Kong. You can reach the centre on bus 92 from Diamond Hill MTR and Choi Hung, bus 96R on Sunday and holidays from Diamond Hill to Wong Shek Pier, and green minibus 1A from Choi Hung.
reviewed
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Chi Ma Wan
Chi Ma Wan, the large peninsula south of Mui Wo that can be reached via the inter-island ferry, is a relatively remote part of Lantau and an excellent area for hiking; just be sure to get a map as the trails are not always clearly defined or well marked. The Chi Ma Wan ferry pier is on the northeast coast; the large complex just south of the pier is not a hostel but the Chi Ma Wan Correctional Institution. There’s a decent beach to the south at Tai Long Wan.
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