Car-free islands half an hour by ferry, with fishing harbours, seafood and a bun festival involving a tower of pastry.
Hong Kong has around 260 islands. Four are easily reached from Central on scheduled ferries, none has cars, and all of them are a complete change from the city.
Cheung Chau
Dumbbell-shaped, an hour by ordinary ferry or 35 minutes by fast, and the busiest of them.
A working fishing harbour full of sampans and trawlers, a village of narrow lanes with no vehicles beyond small electric service carts, seafood restaurants along the praya, and beaches on the eastern side.
Cheung Po Tsai Cave, said to have been the hideout of a pirate who commanded a fleet of hundreds of ships in the early nineteenth century before accepting an imperial pardon.
Pak Tai Temple, from 1783.
The Cheung Chau Bun Festival — Cheung Chau Da Jiu — held over several days around Buddha’s Birthday in late April or May. Sixty-foot bamboo towers covered in buns are built outside the temple, there is a parade with children mounted on concealed poles so they appear to float, and at midnight competitors race up the towers to collect buns for luck.
The whole island is vegetarian for the duration. It is one of the best festivals in Asia and the ferries are packed.
Lamma
Thirty minutes to Yung Shue Wan, and the alternative-living island — no cars, a substantial expatriate and artist population, vegetarian cafés and a large power station that is visible from everywhere and which everybody has stopped noticing.
The family walk from Yung Shue Wan across to Sok Kwu Wan takes about an hour and a half over a low hill, with a beach at Hung Shing Yeh partway. At the far end, a row of seafood restaurants on stilts over the water, which is what most people come for. Ferries run back from there.
Peng Chau
The smallest and least visited — half an hour from Central, an hour to walk round, a village, a small hill with a view, and almost no visitors. If you want the quiet version, this is it.
Lantau
The largest island, with the Big Buddha, Tai O, the airport and Disneyland. Reached by MTR rather than ferry, or by ferry to Mui Wo.
The ferries
From Central Piers 4, 5 and 6, run by New World First Ferry and HKKF. Octopus card accepted.
Ordinary and fast services run on most routes; the ordinary boats are slower, cheaper and have open deck seating, which on a clear day is the better option.
Timetables thin in the evening, so check the last sailing before settling into a seafood dinner.
Practicalities
Weekends and public holidays are extremely busy on Cheung Chau and Lamma. Weekdays are empty.
Cash is useful on the islands; many small places do not take cards.
Bicycles can be hired on Cheung Chau and are the sensible way to see it.
