To be fair, if you can catch Repulse Bay beach on a clear day with no crowds, particularly the bus loads from mainland China, and when the water is clear, it’s lovely. I must have to been to Repulse Bay I don’t know how many times, maybe 50, and the last several visits have out me off going there. The beach used to be clean, and the shoreline is, but in the water I’ve found litter including syringes, condoms, tampons and the usual plastic and other shit. Disgusting.
When the tourists starting coming, and in the busloads they sure did, I stopped going unless necessary. It’s fine having a few tourists around but when they start yelling and screaming, smoking all over the beach and spitting everywhere, it makes the whole place rather vile to visit. If you want to take a punt and hope that you don’t catch a busload of tourists, then you might find it’s alright.
There’s some nice Repulse Bay restaurants here but they’re not that cheap. Shoku Japanese Binchotan Grill has some very good sushi, wagyu beef fried rice and well everything I’ve tried is excellent in there, as is the service. Expect to spend $500-$1000 for 2 people though and that’s without alcohol. Hotshot serves up american fare, is cheaper but don’t sit on the seats outside in the summer, you’ll get bitten alive by sand flies and will have marks on your legs for weeks. The service there leaves a lot to be desired. Limewood is alright but again pretty expensive. There’s a cheap Chinese restaurant that’s fine if you just want to fill a gap but don’t expect fantastic food.
There’s a Classified and a few other restaurants which are ok, and a Hagen Das ice cream inside the Mall (The Pulse). There’s also a supermarket. Note the Pulse shopping Mall is on the beach, there’s also another mall above Repulse Bay beach which has more restaurants and shops. One, The Verandah is toffee nose, they won’t let you in with shorts on, which is ridiculous being beside a beach. I personally can’t stand places like this, especially the majority of the people who come there are going to be wearing shorts and flip flops. It’s over prices and they think they’re way too fancy for my liking.
Parking there is limited and also expensive during the weekends ($40 per hour), if you go around 9-10a.m you might have to wait a while to get a park but if you spend $200 on weekdays and $400 weekends you get a few hours free. Inside the mall there’s a small bouncy Castle for younger kids and they have quite a few events throughout the summer so check the Pulses website for more info.
If it wasn’t for the bus loads of tourists that seem to be there whenever I go there, and the filthy beach, Repulse Bay would be great and I’d go there much regularly in the summer. I much prefer driving another 15-20 minutes to Big Wave Bay which has less people and a much more local, relaxed atmosphere with far fewer (none) tourists.
While you’re there check out Tin Hau Temple and Kwun Yam Shrine, not the prettiest of shrines in the world and well in need of a renovation and upgrade but basically 100m from the beach so might as well go check it out. There’s also a concrete pier type thing you can walk out to and see some fish.
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