Hiking in Hong Kong – 5 best trails to enjoy with your children
NOW WITH MAPS: Some consider having small children a limiting factor when exploring the city's wilder side. Yet kids love the outdoors, and the exercise and fresh air is good for everyone.
Ngong Ping
High in the hills of Lantau, Ngong Ping is a tourist hotspot. Give the artificial "village" a miss, and you'll find there's plenty more to enjoy.
Although the Tea Garden has been abandoned, there's still a path through the woods here, where you might see splendid big butterflies. The weird Wisdom Path loops by wooden poles inscribed with calligraphy; scramble above it and you can overlook Shek Pik Reservoir way below, and see the lofty summit of Lantau Peak.
This is great hiking country. For a gentle outing, follow a tree walk, with information posts for any tree geeks in the family. There's a junction from where you can climb a little, then follow part or all the Nei Lak Shan Country Trail around a hill overlooking the Big Buddha to the south, and the airport to the north.
Down the hill, there is a cluster of temples, and you can turn onto the Tei Tong Tsai Country Trail, a hidden gem. The trail crosses streams where you can cool off and check for frogs and fish; a bench gives grandstand views over the airport.
Details: Walk 1: From the Ngong Ping Bus Terminus on Ngong Ping Road take the Ngong Ping Fun Walk south, then east (to the left). Where it branches just past a restaurant, take the right hand branch to Wisdom Path. From Wisdom Path continue north along the Ngong Ping Fun Walk; where the fun walk turns left (road section), instead continue north along the Nei Lak Shan Country Trail, which is a circular walk; at the end of this walk turn right along road section of Ngong Ping Fun Walk to return to bus terminus and Big Buddha.