Spice up your family trip to Hong Kong with these off-the-beaten-path activities!
Frenetic, fast-paced and full of hills… Hong Kong isn’t usually the first destination that springs to mind when planning a family trip, but this bustling modern city actually has a whole lot of kid-pleasing sights and activities to offer. And while the kids will undoubtedly owe you a debt of gratitude if you take them to Hong Kong Disneyland, there’s a lot more to family holidays in Hong Kong than rollercoasters and water parks. Sightseeing with kids in Hong Kong can be a challenge due to the terrain, the jam-packed sidewalks (this is not a stroller-friendly place) and the summer humidity, but it’s easy to escape the city swelter. Nearby lie beaches and inviting trails, while the sheer number of museums and galleries in the city itself mean there’s always a chance to give the kids a good dose of culture. The obvious kid-pleasers (there are several theme parks here in addition to Disneyland) are unlikely to thrill parents looking for an off-the-beaten-path experience, but it’s more than possible to spice up your family trip to Hong Kong with some lesser-known sites and activities that should linger long in the memory banks.
Hike the Dragon’s Back at Dawn
Set the alarm early to get the trails to yourself, and put those little legs to the test on this manageable hike! This trek combines scrambly hills and trickling streams with glorious views of the South China Sea before winding up on a beach. This jaunt will take around 2 hours (add more time for a short-legged members of the party, who can be strapped into a sling or baby backpack) and pack a picnic to make it feel like a fun adventure rather than a test of physical strength. Lots of hikers head here at weekends, but active families in Hong Kong can beat the crowds by making the trek mid-week, and by setting off early. If the kids are up for early-morning adventuring, grab a coffee and go before sunrise, for some incredible photo opportunities as the sun comes up. Drive or take a cab to Shek O Road, some 20 minutes from downtown and the starting point for this hike. With almost 40 percent of the land surrounding Hong Kong classified as Country Park, this is just one of the treks that families can embark on, and it’s arguably the one with most appeal to kids. The promise of ending up at the aptly-named Big Wave Bay should be an incentive, and the mere mention of dragons makes it sound exciting to younger travelers. Don’t forget to bring plenty of water!
Find Pristine Beaches at Lantau Island
The largest of Hong Kong’s islands, Lantau is a popular destination for daytrippers, but while there are big beach crowds on the sandy strands at Silverline Bay, visitors looking for more elbow room on the beach can find blissful solitude at the farther-flung Cheung Sha Beaches, which stretch for miles against a mountainous backdrop. To get here, families disembarking the ferry from Central Pier 5 to Mui Wo can jump on a local bus (numbers 1-4 run out to Cheung Sha), leaving the hordes behind.
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Explore Waterfalls at Tai Long Wan
The skyscrapers and rushing commuters of Hong Kong island will feel a world away as you clamber over rocks to cooling pools and crashing waterfalls before topping up your vitamin D levels on a near-deserted beach. Located on the eastern coast of the Sai Kung Peninsula, it’s no breeze to reach, but a manageable day trip for adventurous families in Hong Kong, and one which more than merits the effort. A combination of buses and/or taxis (budget-pleasingly affordable in Hong Kong) will take you to Sai Wan Lan Pavilion, the starting point for well-marked trails to the first of several beaches. Bring tons of water and wear comfy shoes to navigate the beaches and, after chilling on the sands for a while, continue the trail for another 15 minutes or so to reach hidden rock pools and waterfalls. Brave souls can dive in from a number of natural platforms! Some of the beaches at Tai Long Wan are windswept spots popular with surfers, and others offer tame waters that are ideal for young swimmers. A couple of small restaurants offer fuel for watery adventures (and the return trip home!).
Eat This: Character Dim Sum
Oh yes. Dim sum with cartoon faces on them, or fashioned into cute animal shapes. If there’s a better way to convince little ones to try the local cuisine, I don’t know what it is! Cute character dim sum is very much a thing in Hong Kong, with several family-friendly spots on the island offering these goodies that look (almost) too good to eat. The most famous place to indulge is Dim Sum Icon, where diners can chow down on Spongebob Squarepants’ bright yellow face, should they so choose, but a more palatable option for grown up diners is Yum Cha (branches in Central and Tsim Sha Tsui), a very family friendly space that prides itself on its signature piggy-shaped dumplings as well as its no-MSG policy.
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