Cycling in Hong Kong – Shatin to Tai Mei Tuk

If you’re even mildly interested in cycling in Hong Kong, you’ll most probably have heard of the Shatin to Tai Mei Tuk bike track. You can do it either way or back and forth but for most non-serious cyclists or those looking for a pleasant 2 hour cycling in Hong Kong experience, start at Shatin and end at Tai Mei Tuk.

I didn’t take Grobbler on this as it was a bit far but if you’re taking kids, you could start at Hong Kong Science Park and bike a few kilometres to Tai Po Waterfront Park, then back again. For kids cycling in Hong Kong that route would be ideal, take a few snacks to Tai Po Waterfront Park, spend a few hours then have lunch back at Hong Kong Science Park. For the adult or older kids bike ride from Shatin to Tai Mei Tuk, read on.

Went here with a friend, parked at Hong Kong Heritage Museum, which is cheap and about 600-700m to the nearest bicycle rental shop in Hong Kong. You can also hire one of those bike sharing app bikes, but most of them seem to be broken. There’s a bunch of them left outside the HK Heritage Museum so you can take your pick. We walked along the river (north), and as mentioned after 600-700m you’ll come across a few bike rental places. We took the first one. If you don’t want to ride 40km back and forth, you can choose to ride to Tai Mei Tuk and drop it off at their shop there, which we did.

Cost is $60 per bike, and an additional $30 per bike if you choose to drop it off at their Tai Mei Tuk shop. The bikes are alright, pretty much what you expect at any cycling in Hong Kong rental shop, big crappy but get you from A to B. Mountain bikes, which you don’t really need as it’s pretty much paves all the way, although I guess good to have if you want to do some off roading and exploring. My one had trouble changing into high gear and missed gears quite often, seat wasn’t the most comfortable but overall fine for a few hours of leisurely cycling in Hong Kong. Staff at the shop are nice and speak enough English to get you going.

So basically for this cycling in Hong Kong experience you start at Shatin, head north up the Shing Mun River and around Tolo Harbour. The first half of this cycling in Hong Kong track is the best as you’re basically riding near the water and it’s very pleasant. It’s completely flat and a very easy bike ride for even the most inactive people. The total distance is just over 20km so the first 10km is the best.

You ride about 10km to Tai Po Waterfront Park. You can turn right and head inside that and take a bit of short cut through an industrial estate, but I think it’s best to stay on the train track, which is sign posted all the way (follow the signs to Tai Mei Tuk). The signs aren’t always noticeable so at intersections you might want to pat attention. It’s not easy to get lost so you should be fine.

We rode into Tai Po Waterfront Park which is a 5 minute detour. Few people flying kites and just relaxing. I’ll take Grobbler back sometime and do the HK Science Park to Tai Po Waterfront cycling in Hong Kong track, which is less and manageable for 5-6 year old. Not too many people at that park so interested to go back as it has a big fort and a lot of grass. From there though, this Hong Kong bike ride gets rather boring as you head inland a bit and onto the roads. There’s a cycling track all the way so it’s safe or kids, but it’s nowhere as pleasant as the first bit where you’re riding along Tolo Harbour.

Basically you’re riding about 10km along the roads. There’s not shitloads of traffic (at least when we went late Saturday morning) and you don’t get hundreds of buses or trucks so it’s not that unpleasant, but compared to the first half it’s not as nice. Eventually, after about 20km, you’ll reach Tai Mei Tuk. You’ll see a bunch of restaurants, none of which look that great as well as many bike shops. I suggest you have some lunch or something to eat before going to the Plover Cove Reservoir.

Once you’re done with lunch, head across the road then basically just follow where people are going. You’ll go up a small hill and see Plover Cover Reservoir, which is also a nice, if not long hike, that can be done. You can read about that here. Bike across the reservoir or do whatever, there’s not much to do on the other side except more walking or cycling in Hong Kong.

Depending on what you’ve decided on the bike rental, you can either return the bike or ride back to Shatin. We returned the bike, jumped in a taxi to Shatin and then another taxi. You won’t find many red taxi’s here and the green ones can only take you so far as they’re for New Territories. There’s also buses and minibuses that take you to the MTR, but we couldn’t be knackered waiting around. Plus my ass got so sweaty it looked like I’d pissed my pants so I wasn’t to walk through an MTR looking like that!

Overall, this is an excellent cycling in Hong Kong experience which can me made longer or shorter depending on how long you want to do. We took our time, stopped long along the way quite a few times for drinks a short rest and it took just under 2 hrs. You could do it in a much shorter time if you wanted some real exercise, or take longer if you were really taking your time or had kids.  The 20km from Shatin to Tai Mei Tuk is probably a bit far for younger kids but if they’re 7-8yrs  should be fine.

If you have any questions about this cycling in Hong Kong track, ask us on our contact page or via Twitter.  For more things to do in Hong Kong, check out our things to do in Hong Kong page.