A City That Pretends Not to Have Beaches

Ask most people what Hong Kong is known for and they will tell you: skyscrapers, dim sum, shopping, the harbour. The beaches and islands are rarely in the conversation.

This is an oversight. Hong Kong has more than 200 outlying islands and a coastline that includes stretches of clean sand, clear water, and the kind of stillness that the city itself never quite delivers. From Central Pier you can be on a car-free island in 45 minutes. From Shau Kei Wan you can be at one of Hong Kong's best surf spots in 30 minutes by bus.

The beaches and islands work best between April and October, when the water is warm enough to swim in and the weather justifies the trip. Outside of those months, the islands and coastline are still worth visiting for the hiking, the seafood, and the complete change of pace.

Beaches on Hong Kong Island

Repulse Bay is the most accessible and most popular. A long crescent of sand on the south side of Hong Kong Island, reachable by bus from Central in about 30 minutes, it has lifeguards, facilities, and a backdrop of apartment towers and a temple. It is Hong Kong's version of a city beach - busy on weekends, more relaxed during the week, always with a backdrop that could only be here.

On the beach's eastern end, the Tin Hau Temple has a collection of large religious statues that spill out toward the water, including a goddess figure standing in the sea. It is unusual, colourful, and worth walking along to see.

Shek O Beach is smaller, more local in character, and has a slightly bohemian reputation. The beachside shacks serve Thai food and pizza, locals BBQ on the sandy areas, and the atmosphere on a summer weekend is relaxed in a way that the city never is. Reachable by bus 9 from Shau Kei Wan MTR.

Big Wave Bay, near Shek O, is Hong Kong's main surf beach - a small cove that catches better swell than its neighbours and has a board rental operation in season. The Dragon's Back hike ends just above here, so combining the two in one day is an efficient use of a morning.

Lamma Island

Lamma is the island with the most consistent draw for visitors and the one most worth making the effort for.

The ferry from Central Pier (around 25 minutes to Yung Shue Wan) delivers you to a village with no cars, independent shops and restaurants, and a pace of life that feels dislocated from the city entirely. The residents are a mix of long-term expat families, local fishing families, and young Hong Kongers who moved out when property prices on the main island became impossible.

The walk from Yung Shue Wan across the island to the fishing village of Sok Kwu Wan takes about an hour through hills with sea views. At Sok Kwu Wan, the seafood restaurants on the pier are the point: pick your fish from the tank, have it cooked to order, eat it at a table overlooking the water. Get a cold beer. Watch the ferries go past. This is the version of Hong Kong that most visitors do not know exists.

The ferry back to Aberdeen or Central runs in the early evening - time it right and you can be back in the city for dinner if you need another meal after the seafood, which most people do not.

Cheung Chau

A dumbbell-shaped island southwest of Hong Kong Island, Cheung Chau is famous for being almost entirely car-free (there are a handful of utility vehicles, but no private cars). People get around by bicycle or on foot, which tells you everything about the pace.

The village at the centre of the island has a waterfront promenade, a temple, small restaurants, and the kind of general shops that sustain a community of 25,000 people. Rent a bicycle and circle the island in an hour or two. The north-facing beaches are calm; the south faces the open sea and has more character.

Cheung Chau is famous for the Bun Festival in spring (usually April or May), when the island holds a parade and a competition to climb towers covered in buns. If your visit coincides with this, go.

Sai Kung and the Peninsula

The Sai Kung area in the New Territories is not an island but feels like a different territory from the city. The waterfront village of Sai Kung has seafood restaurants where you pick your meal live from tanks outside the door, and from the pier you can hire small boats - kai-to ferries - to take you to the beaches and islands of the peninsula.

Tai Long Wan (not to be confused with Big Wave Bay) on the Sai Kung peninsula is the destination serious beach people aim for: remote, only reachable by a 90-minute hike or by boat, with white sand and clear water that rarely feels busy. The effort filters most of the crowd.

Sharp Island has a tombolo - a sandbar that connects two sections of land at low tide - and good snorkelling water. The kai-to to Sharp Island from Sai Kung takes about 15 minutes.

A Word on Swimming Safety

Hong Kong beaches managed by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department have lifeguards during summer and shark prevention nets at the main beaches. Pay attention to the flag system:

  • Green flag: swimming conditions are safe
  • Amber flag: caution
  • Red flag: no swimming

Currents can be stronger than they look at some south-facing beaches. Follow the flags.