How to go island hopping in Hong Kong
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Your island hopping journey with us begins on the most popular and exciting island in Hong Kong, and our starting point is the Central Ferry Pier No.5.
Now, on Hong Kong Island, there are 263 islands as part of the archipelago surrounding the city with this ferry providing you efficient access to five widely visited islands. And for our mini day adventure, we’re going to start the day at Cheung Chau Island, followed by Peng Chau Island then lastly, Mui Wo Village on Lantau Island by the historic Ming River inter-islands ferry.
The standard ferry operated by New World First Ferry Services runs every 30 minutes to Cheung Chau. We recommend rising early to catch the first few ferries, which begins at 6:10 a.m. to avoid those tourist crowds. You have two choices: catch the faster option and get to Cheung Chau in 35 minutes or catch the slower (but cheaper) ferry and get there in an hour.
Once on Cheung Chau Island, you can take a morning stroll getting lost in the maze of hideaway quaint shops or dive in at Kwun Yam Wan beach for a morning dip.
Cheung Chau Island, nicknamed Dumbbell Island, is home to the famous Bun Festival during which there is a big parade, lots of food stalls and a competition to climb up a giant metal tower of fresh buns (but you will have to come on Buddha’s birthday on May 19 to enjoy these festivities).
On any regular day, you can get all kinds of great street food and we recommend Valor Cheung Chau – a hip coffee shop serving extra fun items like an iced coconut coffee inside a whole coconut.
After, you can take windsurfing lessons at Cheung Chau Windsurfing Centre, which trained the widely-celebrated Olympic windsurfing champion Lee Lai-shan. In addition, you can go by foot to see the Mini Great Wall located along the southeast edge of the island where you can witness unique rock formations and a stunning view of the South China Sea. While Cheung Chau has a reputation for its delicious seafood cuisine, today we’re going to be having a cozy European style lunch instead on Peng Chau Island.
To hop over to Peng Chau, we will ride a kaito, or street ship in English. Kaitos are small boats which usually transport island residents back and forth to neighboring islands. The kaito that we board is called Ming River’s, which goes in-between the islands Cheung Chau, Chi Ma Wan, Peng Chau and Mui Wo. For one, very low fare, passengers can choose their own seats and take in the seascape at a leisurely pace.
Peng Chau Island is only a little under one square kilometer (0.39 square miles) with a population of around 6,500. On this tiny island, there is a close-knit community and at the village center, you can find the Les Copains D’Abord cafe (which in French means “Buddies come first”). This French-run cafe has the classic options for a laidback lunch such as premium quality cheese and cold cuts fresh from France, perfect to enjoy with a glass of wine.
After lunch you can go for a wander down Wing On Street, where you can discover cool local street art and discover the colorful leather factory – an ancient leather works turned into art installation and Airbnb. More culture can be found on Peng Chau down its windy side streets, where the boutique Sun Sat Store sells local handicrafts so you can take a bit of Peng Chau’s artistic style home with you. And before heading on to the next island, there is Peng Yu Path, a cement path with Instagram-ready ocean scenes and quiet beaches.
After hopping across the islands along South Lantau, it is finally time to land on the biggest island in Hong Kong – Lantau Island itself. Our destination is Mui Wo Village. Mui Wo has the famous Silvermine waterfalls to visit but in the late afternoon hours, we recommend you to go on the moderate hike from Mui Wo to Pui O beach. This is the most relaxing and scenic place to watch the sunset.
You can grab sundowners at Maverick’s beach bar located perfectly at the top of the beach or take one of the frequent buses down the main road back to Mui Wo for dinner. Surprisingly for an island village, Mui O has a plethora of dinner options. The China Bear for British pub grub, Cafe Isara for Thai food, Deerhorn Restaurant and Bar for Nepalese cuisine and Bahce Turkish for … you guessed it, Turkish food, all available and conveniently located near the Mui Wo ferry pier so you don’t have to worry much about missing the ferry back home.
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