An eight-kilometre ridge walk on Hong Kong Island with the sea on both sides, forty minutes from Central.
Around 75 per cent of Hong Kong’s land area is undeveloped, and about 40 per cent is protected country park. This is the single most surprising fact about the territory, and Dragon’s Back is the easiest way to understand it.
The trail runs along the spine of a ridge on south-eastern Hong Kong Island, at around 280 metres, with the South China Sea on one side and Tai Tam Harbour on the other. It is Stage 8 of the Hong Kong Trail and it is about 8.5 kilometres end to end.
Central is forty minutes away.
The route
Bus 9 from Shau Kei Wan drops you at To Tei Wan. A short steep climb of about twenty minutes reaches the ridge, and then the trail undulates along it — the “dragon’s back” — with a viewing platform at Shek O Peak looking down over Shek O village, the beaches and Tai Long Wan.
From the ridge the path descends through woodland to Big Wave Bay, where there is a beach with lifeguards in season, showers, a small village and food.
Three to four hours at a walking pace with stops. The gradient is moderate throughout except the first climb.
What to take
Water — more than you think. Hong Kong’s humidity from April to October makes this a much harder walk than the distance suggests, and heat exhaustion on the trails is a routine call-out.
Sun cover. Proper shoes; the ridge is rock and loose stone in places.
Start early in summer. In winter it is close to perfect.
The rest of the country parks
Hong Kong has 24 country parks and four long-distance trails:
The MacLehose Trail, 100 kilometres across the New Territories in ten stages — the MacLehose Trailwalker race covers the whole thing in under 48 hours and is a serious event.
The Wilson Trail, 78 kilometres north–south. The Hong Kong Trail, 50 kilometres across the island. The Lantau Trail, 70 kilometres.
Shorter and excellent: Lion Rock above Kowloon, Sunset Peak on Lantau for the silvergrass in autumn, Sai Kung for beaches reachable only on foot, and Tai Mo Shan, the highest point at 957 metres.
Practicalities
Free. The AFCD publishes trail maps and there is signage throughout.
Getting there: MTR to Shau Kei Wan, exit A3, then bus 9 towards Shek O — tell the driver To Tei Wan or watch for the Dragon’s Back sign.
Coming back from Big Wave Bay: bus 9 again to Shau Kei Wan.
Typhoon and rainstorm warnings close trails and it is worth checking; the Hong Kong Observatory’s signals are published constantly.
More Parks & Outdoors
Kowloon Park
Thirteen hectares on the site of a Victorian barracks, with flamingos, a maze and Sunday afternoons that belong to Hong Kong's domestic workers.
Hong Kong Wetland Park
Sixty hectares of managed wetland on the border with Shenzhen, built as ecological compensation and much better than that sounds.