Part 4 of #ExcitingHongKong: Dragon’s Back Hike
Although mostly famous for its skyscrapers and high-density living, Hong Kong, surprisingly, has quite an amazing natural heritage too.
Recognised as Asia’s best urban hike trail, ‘Dragon’s Back’ is an easy hiking trail that offers stunning views of the skyscrapers, white sandy beaches and the South China Sea. It is a popular escape from the hustle and bustle of the city and entwines visitors with its scenic beauty and goodness of nature.
On our 3rd day in Hong Kong, we spent half a day exploring the famous Dragon’s Back. A short MTR ride from the city and a bus ride from the MTR station brought us to one of the few starting points of the trail.
Many blogs have written about this “easy” hike so i would not go into too much details of the actual hike. True enough the first part of the hike is less challenging or perhaps the adrenaline was still high at the start.
It took us about 30 minutes to reach the first scenic stop of the trail.
At this point, hikers can conveniently backtrack towards the starting point and jump into the bus. However we decided to continue on to the next stop, completing the Dragon’s Back loop with the aim of reaching the trail that is connected to the beach.
Can you spot the Dragon’s Back shape?
The hiker, the beach, the golf-course and some luxury sea-side bungalows.
About 30 minutes later, we reached Shek O Peak.
I can imagine this trail is much more enjoyable during the colder seasons.
The other side of the view.
The hard part. For the next 2-3 hours, we pushed on to reach the beach which is on the right side of this photo.
Not so much of a challenge in terms of hiking but perhaps the less-sexy scenery and the body start to feel tired. Note that there are no water stations throughout the hike so carry lots of water.
It is an urban hike for a reason; the city is just “next door”.
The point that we made a mistake. We should have just head towards Tai Tam Gap bus stop but instead we continued for another hour to reach the Big Wave Bay by foot. Little did we know that the rain was coming.
The last 30 minutes was just a series of steep steps that we were both can’t wait to get it over and done with.
And finally, the finishing point.
Finally shops selling drinks. Water, isotonic drinks, Coke… I had all three!
Ahhhh… this sounds more of like a holiday than spending 3 hours hiking. I remember someone said that 😛
The good thing about this Dragon’s Back hike is that it is possible to hike one way and hop into a mini-bus straight to the MTR to get back to the city.
The best urban-hike in Asia and ranked No.12 on TripAdvisor among 789 attractions in Hong Kong, the Dragon’s Back hike is something you should try if you have a few hours to spare. Customize your route to match your schedule as well as fitness ability. This hike can easily be an hour’s hike or can be as challenging as a full-day hike depending where your start and end. Happy hiking!