The Dragon's Back

It can be difficult in Hong Kong’s bustling down town districts to realize that you are in the middle of a very green and mountainous area. Most of the island is dedicated parkland and forests offering mountain trails with ocean views. You can cross the island’s grassy heights and wooded valleys by using the Hong Kong Trail. One of the sections of this is known as The Dragon’s Back Trail, once voted Asia’s favourite hike by Time magazine. The main point is you are so close to the city but you feel you could be a hundred miles away.

The walk is aptly named as it follows the spine of the headland up and down like a dragon’s back, in fact at certain points it reminded us of the Great Wall as it climbed up and down. The walk has posts every half a kilometre that are numbered so if you do have an accident you can contact the emergency services, give them the post number and they will know exactly where you are. This system can also be found on other walks and it also lets you know how much longer you have to do and whether or not you need to increase your speed. The highest point on the trail is Shek O peak where at 248 metres you can look down at the houses of the wealthy tai pans clustered around the golf course. The Dragon’s Back trail is some 4.5km long and is graded as moderate and you should allow yourself about 2 and a half hours to complete it.