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 complex with toilets, showers and changing rooms open from April to October. If you have the time, consider hiking out to Silvermine Waterfall, the main feature of a picturesque garden near the old Silvermine Cave northwest of the town. The waterfall is quite a spectacle during the rainy season, when it swells and gushes; the cave was mined for silver in the latter half of the 19th century but has now been sealed off. En route to the waterfall you’ll pass the local Man Mo temple, originally built during the reign of Emperor Shen Zong (1573–1620) of the Ming dynasty and renovated a couple of times in the last century. You can reach the temple, cave and waterfall by walking west along Mui Wo Rural Committee Rd and then following the marked path north. The 3km walk should take about an hour. There are several old granite watchtowers in the area, including Luk Tei Tong Watchtower on the Silver River and Butterfly Hill Watchtower further north. They were built in the late 19th century as safe houses and as coastal defences against pirates.