Hong Kong

Description

Hong Kong Island from Star Ferry

Hong Kong was a British colony for many years. No surprise, hiking trails have been established here over the decades. And the Hong Kong citizens themselves do enjoy walking, so the tradition lives on. Good news for us!

If your image of Hong Kong is one of skyscrapers only, you're biased. The fact is that, among the densely populated financial centers of Asia, Hong Kong stands out in nature. Main asset of Hong Kong, from our point of view of course, are the Country Parks. These safe havens for nature were established in the seventies by Murray MacLehose, the governor who fought corruption and obstructed democracy. Four main trails, and more smaller trails, explore these Country Parks.

You are never faraway from the large population areas, and still, nature will present itself from the wild side: “hills” up till 1000 meter, beautiful coast line with sea inlets and quiet beaches, forests and shrub lands. Attractive also are the exotic small villages (yes, not far from towering skyscrapers) where you often can find a place to sleep. Hong Kong partially consists of islands, the best known is Hong Kong Island itself, and the largest of them is Lantau.

The four main trails are the Hong Kong Trail (50 km), the MacLehose Trail (100 km), the Wilson Trail (78 km) and the Lantau Trail (70 km). Often, it is possible to divide your trail in neat portions return to your hotel and the bustling city life at night, have a good sleep, and turn back, tidy and well fed, to your last evening's trailhead by public transport. Alternatively, you might enjoy camping in the outdoor. Most villages offer some kind of overnight staying, including temples.

There are many more smaller trails, indicated on the maps. Check out Roz's website (see links section below), if you want to find out more.

Hiking is possible year round, but during the hot season - June till September - you will sweat your bones out, if not washed away already in one of those plunge sessions. Dry weather or pouring rain, do carry lots of water on your hike.

We can recommend Pete Spurrier's guide to the four main trails: “The Serious Hiker's Guide to Hong Kong”, available in the English bookshops. Maps can be purchased from the Map Publication Centers. Best are the excellent Countryside Series, showing the main trails and smaller trails. In the field, the waymarking is up to date.

So, unpack at the airport, jump on the Star Ferry, and take a break halfway your business trip. And if you liked it, pray for the survival of the Country Parks.

Trails

Books

Stanfords
United Kingdom
  • Insight Guides Explore Shanghai (Travel Guide with Free eBook)
  • INSIGHT GUIDES EXPLORE SHANGHAI Let us guide you on every step of your travels...Focused travel guides featuring the very best routes and itineraries, now with free eBook.Discover the best of Shanghai with this unique travel guide, packed full of insider information and stunning images. From making sure you don`t miss out on must-see, top... Read more
Stanfords
United Kingdom
  • The Monocle Travel Guide to Hong Kong (Updated Version)
  • A procession through Hong Kong`s outposts of good food, design, retail, and more, this definitive travel guide will make you feel like a local no matter where you are from. Vertigo-inducing skyscrapers that cling to mountainous slopes and busy fishing villages that proudly hold on to their cultural heritage: Hong Kong is more diverse than you`d... Read more
Stanfords
United Kingdom
  • Hong Kong Step by Step Insight Guide SUPERCEDED
  • Take a fresh approach to Hong Kong with this ”Step by Step” guide, part of a brand new, stylishly designed series from Insight Guides. Lavishly illustrated in full colour, this book features 18 irresistible self-guided walks and tours, written by a local expert and packed with great insider tips. Whether you are new to the city or a repeat... Read more
Stanfords
United Kingdom
  • Hong Kong Insight City Guide SUPERCEDED
  • This brand new edition Insight Guide to Hong Kong features a wealth of inspiring full-colour photography and detailed street atlases. Expert local writers ensure this guide is an inspiring background read, serves as an invaluable, on-the-spot companion and is a superb, visual souvenir of your visit. Hong Kong`s top attractions are identified to... Read more
Stanfords
United Kingdom
2018
  • The 25 Best Day Walks in Hong Kong
  • A new series of pocket-sized travel guides aimed at first-time travellers featuring an extended introduction to the natural history of the destination. In three parts, the first section describes the major highlights. The second section looks at the significant locations with information for each on plants and animals, cultural sites,... Read more
The Book Depository
United Kingdom
2014
The Book Depository
United Kingdom
2022
Stanfords
United Kingdom
  • Beijing Walks - Exploring the Heritage
  • Beijing Walks in the Odyssey Guides series; aimed at travellers particularly interested in the culture and history of their destination; the guides focus on the atmosphere, customs, and distinctive character of a country, region or city. As the only English language publisher based in China, Odyssey Guides specialize in Asian destinations,... Read more
  • Also available from:
  • The Book Depository, United Kingdom
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The Book Depository
United Kingdom
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The Book Depository
United Kingdom
  • Also available from:
  • Bol.com, Netherlands
  • Bol.com, Belgium
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Bol.com
Netherlands
  • Great Sedona Hikes Revised 4th Color Edition
  • This is the most up-to-date Sedona full color hiking guide available. The Sedona hiking trail system is constantly changing. Other Sedona full color hiking guides books are printed in China which can result in long delays in incorporating changes, we keep Great Sedona Hikes Revised 4th Color Edition up-to-date by constantly hiking the trails... Read more
Bol.com
Belgium
  • Great Sedona Hikes Revised 4th Color Edition
  • This is the most up-to-date Sedona full color hiking guide available. The Sedona hiking trail system is constantly changing. Other Sedona full color hiking guides books are printed in China which can result in long delays in incorporating changes, we keep Great Sedona Hikes Revised 4th Color Edition up-to-date by constantly hiking the trails... Read more
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Bol.com
Netherlands
  • Above the City - Hiking Hong Kong Island
  • Above the City: Hiking Hong Kong Island is a unique comprehensive guide to walks and hikes on Hong Kong Island. Many Hong Kong residents and visitors enjoy a few famous hikes, but then are at a loss to find more routes. Read more
  • Also available from:
  • Bol.com, Belgium
» Click to open
Bol.com
Belgium
  • Above the City - Hiking Hong Kong Island
  • Above the City: Hiking Hong Kong Island is a unique comprehensive guide to walks and hikes on Hong Kong Island. Many Hong Kong residents and visitors enjoy a few famous hikes, but then are at a loss to find more routes. Read more
» Click to close
Bol.com
Netherlands
  • Rory's Cuban Journal
  • This book documents the writer s trip to Havana and Trinidad in Cuba in 2009.It was a trip off the normal tourist trail around the backstreets of Havana and Trinidad and far from the commercialized and characterless mass tourism resorts.The writer had previously worked behind the Iron Curtain in the Soviet Union, China and Czechoslovakia and... Read more
  • Also available from:
  • Bol.com, Belgium
» Click to open
Bol.com
Belgium
  • Rory's Cuban Journal
  • This book documents the writer s trip to Havana and Trinidad in Cuba in 2009.It was a trip off the normal tourist trail around the backstreets of Havana and Trinidad and far from the commercialized and characterless mass tourism resorts.The writer had previously worked behind the Iron Curtain in the Soviet Union, China and Czechoslovakia and... Read more
» Click to close
Bol.com
Netherlands
2012
  • Xinjiang
  • The enormous area now known as China's Xinjiang Province came to prominence with the rise of the Silk Road two millennia ago. For centuries its nomadic peoples and city-states were subject to both religious and economic influences from India, Greece, Persia and of course China, resulting in a land rich with archaeological and cultural... Read more
  • Also available from:
  • Bol.com, Belgium
» Click to open
Bol.com
Belgium
2012
  • Xinjiang
  • The enormous area now known as China's Xinjiang Province came to prominence with the rise of the Silk Road two millennia ago. For centuries its nomadic peoples and city-states were subject to both religious and economic influences from India, Greece, Persia and of course China, resulting in a land rich with archaeological and cultural... Read more
» Click to close
Bol.com
Netherlands
  • Magic Carpet Seduction
  • Close encounters with Carpet Casanovas in Turkey. A quest to meet a wizard-like hermit in the Lebanese mountains. Political intrigue in a Chinese classroom. A marriage proposal on a Nicaraguan chicken bus. Vicariously experience these and other adventures when you travel with the author, Lisa Egle, to China, Latin America, Turkey and the Middle... Read more
  • Also available from:
  • Bol.com, Belgium
» Click to open
Bol.com
Belgium
  • Magic Carpet Seduction
  • Close encounters with Carpet Casanovas in Turkey. A quest to meet a wizard-like hermit in the Lebanese mountains. Political intrigue in a Chinese classroom. A marriage proposal on a Nicaraguan chicken bus. Vicariously experience these and other adventures when you travel with the author, Lisa Egle, to China, Latin America, Turkey and the Middle... Read more
» Click to close
Bol.com
Netherlands
  • Lost on Planet China
  • The bestselling author of The Sex Lives of Cannibals returns with a sharply observed, hilarious account of his adventures in China-a complex, fascinating country with enough dangers and delicacies to keep him, and readers, endlessly entertained. Maarten Troost has charmed legions of readers with his laugh-out-loud tales of wandering the remote... Read more
  • Also available from:
  • Bol.com, Belgium
» Click to open
Bol.com
Belgium
  • Lost on Planet China
  • The bestselling author of The Sex Lives of Cannibals returns with a sharply observed, hilarious account of his adventures in China-a complex, fascinating country with enough dangers and delicacies to keep him, and readers, endlessly entertained. Maarten Troost has charmed legions of readers with his laugh-out-loud tales of wandering the remote... Read more
» Click to close
Bol.com
Netherlands
  • Guide To Hiking China's Old Road To Shu
  • This is the first guidebook specifically written for people who speak no Chinese but would like to go hiking on their own in China off the beaten track. The hikes are through the beautiful Qinling and Daba Mountains in Sichuan and Shaanxi Province along the few remaining stretches of one of China's old imperial roads known as the Road to Shu.... Read more
  • Also available from:
  • Bol.com, Belgium
» Click to open
Bol.com
Belgium
  • Guide To Hiking China's Old Road To Shu
  • This is the first guidebook specifically written for people who speak no Chinese but would like to go hiking on their own in China off the beaten track. The hikes are through the beautiful Qinling and Daba Mountains in Sichuan and Shaanxi Province along the few remaining stretches of one of China's old imperial roads known as the Road to Shu.... Read more
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More books…

Maps

Stanfords
United Kingdom
  • Admiralty Routeing Chart 5149(6) - South China Sea - June
  • Essential for use in passage planning for ocean voyages, Routeing Charts include routes and distances between major ports, ocean currents, ice limits, load lines and wind roses. They also contain expected meteorological and oceanographic conditions for each month of the year.Individual chart scales of 1:5,000,000, 1:10,000,000 and 1:20,000,000... Read more
Stanfords
United Kingdom
  • Admiralty Routeing Chart 5150(2) - East China Sea - February
  • Essential for use in passage planning for ocean voyages, Routeing Charts include routes and distances between major ports, ocean currents, ice limits, load lines and wind roses. They also contain expected meteorological and oceanographic conditions for each month of the year.Individual chart scales of 1:5,000,000, 1:10,000,000 and 1:20,000,000... Read more
Stanfords
United Kingdom
  • Admiralty Routeing Chart 5150(10) - East China Sea - October
  • Essential for use in passage planning for ocean voyages, Routeing Charts include routes and distances between major ports, ocean currents, ice limits, load lines and wind roses. They also contain expected meteorological and oceanographic conditions for each month of the year.Individual chart scales of 1:5,000,000, 1:10,000,000 and 1:20,000,000... Read more
Stanfords
United Kingdom
  • China West ITMB
  • Western China on a double-sided, indexed road map from ITMB at 1:3,000,000, with three insets providing a street plan of central Lhasa, a wider coverage of the city and a plan of the Norbulingka complex. The map divides the region north/south and coverage extends east to approx. 106° (Lanzhou/Chengou).The map has altitude colouring in feet,... Read more
Stanfords
United Kingdom
  • Admiralty Routeing Chart 5149(7) - South China Sea - July
  • Essential for use in passage planning for ocean voyages, Routeing Charts include routes and distances between major ports, ocean currents, ice limits, load lines and wind roses. They also contain expected meteorological and oceanographic conditions for each month of the year.Individual chart scales of 1:5,000,000, 1:10,000,000 and 1:20,000,000... Read more
Stanfords
United Kingdom
  • Admiralty Routeing Chart 5150(3) - East China Sea - March
  • Essential for use in passage planning for ocean voyages, Routeing Charts include routes and distances between major ports, ocean currents, ice limits, load lines and wind roses. They also contain expected meteorological and oceanographic conditions for each month of the year.Individual chart scales of 1:5,000,000, 1:10,000,000 and 1:20,000,000... Read more
Stanfords
United Kingdom
  • Admiralty Routeing Chart 5150(11) - East China Sea - November
  • Essential for use in passage planning for ocean voyages, Routeing Charts include routes and distances between major ports, ocean currents, ice limits, load lines and wind roses. They also contain expected meteorological and oceanographic conditions for each month of the year.Individual chart scales of 1:5,000,000, 1:10,000,000 and 1:20,000,000... Read more
Stanfords
United Kingdom
Stanfords
United Kingdom
  • Admiralty Routeing Chart 5149(8) - South China Sea - August
  • Essential for use in passage planning for ocean voyages, Routeing Charts include routes and distances between major ports, ocean currents, ice limits, load lines and wind roses. They also contain expected meteorological and oceanographic conditions for each month of the year.Individual chart scales of 1:5,000,000, 1:10,000,000 and 1:20,000,000... Read more
Stanfords
United Kingdom
  • Admiralty Routeing Chart 5150(4) - East China Sea - April
  • Essential for use in passage planning for ocean voyages, Routeing Charts include routes and distances between major ports, ocean currents, ice limits, load lines and wind roses. They also contain expected meteorological and oceanographic conditions for each month of the year.Individual chart scales of 1:5,000,000, 1:10,000,000 and 1:20,000,000... Read more
Stanfords
United Kingdom
  • Admiralty Routeing Chart 5150(12) - East China Sea - December
  • Essential for use in passage planning for ocean voyages, Routeing Charts include routes and distances between major ports, ocean currents, ice limits, load lines and wind roses. They also contain expected meteorological and oceanographic conditions for each month of the year.Individual chart scales of 1:5,000,000, 1:10,000,000 and 1:20,000,000... Read more
Stanfords
United Kingdom
  • Admiralty Routeing Chart 5149(1) - South China Sea - January
  • Essential for use in passage planning for ocean voyages, Routeing Charts include routes and distances between major ports, ocean currents, ice limits, load lines and wind roses. They also contain expected meteorological and oceanographic conditions for each month of the year.Individual chart scales of 1:5,000,000, 1:10,000,000 and 1:20,000,000... Read more
Stanfords
United Kingdom
  • Admiralty Routeing Chart 5149(9) - South China Sea - September
  • Essential for use in passage planning for ocean voyages, Routeing Charts include routes and distances between major ports, ocean currents, ice limits, load lines and wind roses. They also contain expected meteorological and oceanographic conditions for each month of the year.Individual chart scales of 1:5,000,000, 1:10,000,000 and 1:20,000,000... Read more
Stanfords
United Kingdom
  • Admiralty Routeing Chart 5150(5) - East China Sea - May
  • Essential for use in passage planning for ocean voyages, Routeing Charts include routes and distances between major ports, ocean currents, ice limits, load lines and wind roses. They also contain expected meteorological and oceanographic conditions for each month of the year.Individual chart scales of 1:5,000,000, 1:10,000,000 and 1:20,000,000... Read more
Stanfords
United Kingdom
  • Admiralty Routeing Chart 5149(2) - South China Sea - February
  • Essential for use in passage planning for ocean voyages, Routeing Charts include routes and distances between major ports, ocean currents, ice limits, load lines and wind roses. They also contain expected meteorological and oceanographic conditions for each month of the year.Individual chart scales of 1:5,000,000, 1:10,000,000 and 1:20,000,000... Read more
More maps…

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