Hong Kong’s Victoria Peak

During my last day in Hong Kong, I decided to take it easy and hang out at the hostel for most of the day, the only plan being to eventually hike Victoria Peak and see the sun set.

Victoria Peak is the highest point overlooking Hong Kong Island at 554m, and there are several different ways to reach the summit. The most popular (and easiest) way is to take the tram up to the viewing point at Peak Tower, but I decided to hike it from Causeway Bay.

I left my hostel a little after 3pm and entered the park through Wan Chai Gap Road, which admittedly was probably not the best call. The incline to the actual trail was ridiculously steep up until Wan Chai Gap Park (we’re talking angles greater than 45 degrees), and the scenic views were virtually nonexistent. Basically, the purpose of the trail was to see how steep of an incline I could hike in the shortest amount of time. So, uh, I get to feel good about that, but there aren’t really any pictures to show.

The walk from the entrance of Wan Chai Road to the park was about 2 km, and that was really the toughest part of the climb. Afterwards, you just cut through several residential areas before reaching the viewing point.

There were a few good areas to view the cityscape between Wan Chai Gap Park (which also had a food stand and restrooms for those who need a refill point after the climb—I sure needed a lot of water) and the Peak tower.

Once you reach the Peak viewing area, you have the option of enjoying the view over dinner or continuing on to the summit. The walk to the summit takes about 30 minutes.

Overall, it was a pretty good hike. If I could do it over, I would definitely do more research into which trail has the best views rather than just pick a random trail and walk blindly up the hill.

Learn more about the different ways to get to Victoria Peak.