Sunset Peak Hike is one of the more popular hikes on Lantau, famous for, you guessed it Einstein, views of the Sunset. A lot of the hiking in Hong Kong sites say this is one difficult hike but again, for the most part, it’s not really a hike but more a trek up some stairs. As usual, there’s a few ways up and down Sunset Peak, we took the Mui Wo ferry from Central (schedule here).
From there you can walk/run a couple of kilos to the entrance which is called Nam Shan. Take Lantau Trail No. 2, the first bit is through some forest then it’s stairs almost all the way. They’re not that steep but if you’re going at any kind of pace, it can be quite gruelling. There’s not much to see on the way up, looking back you can see Hong Kong west/south but you’ll need one of those very rare clear days in Hong Kong to be able to see it clearly. As you reach the top of the Sunset Peak Hike it turns into a dirt trail and actually finding Sunset Peak is a bit of a mission. Most people don’t even make it to the actual summit of Sunset Peak and just head down to Pak Kung Au, Nam Shan, as all the tourists, and there can be shitloads of mainlanders on any given day, climb from Pak Kung Au side. The views at the summit are average, you’re looking over the airport, nice but nothing spectacular. We’ve never been up at there at Sunset so can’t say much about the views at that time, of course they’re going to better during that golden hour.
The Sharp Peak Hike decent is worse than going up, it’s stair after stair and not very much fun. It doesn’t do much for your fitness, body or anything, which is why we don’t do the Sharp Peak Hike on a regular basis. Actually the first time we did the Sunset Peak hike, we came down Wong Lung Hang Country Trail. We twisted our ankle and fucked some ligaments in our left foot a few days earlier on Lantau Peak, so getting down was a real nightmare. Even without injury, both Wong Lung Hang Country Trail and Macelhose Trail decent are not much fun. Some say the Sunset Peak hike is more difficult than the Lantau Peak hike, that’s debatable, the climb up, at least from Mui Wo side, is not as steep, but it’s longer.
Once you get to Pak Kung Au, you can either take a bus to Mui Wo and get the Ferry back to Central, bus to Tung Chung or if you take Wong Lung Hang Country Trail down you’ll end up near Tung Chung. Or, for an extra challenge, do Lantau Peak.
Check out our post on Sunset Peak and Lantau Peak Back To Back, second and third highest peaks in Hong Kong one after the other.
Sunset Peak Hike Level of Difficulty 6.5/10, 8/10 going down
Sunset Peak Hike Access: Most do it from Pak Kung Au, but we think it’s better from Mui Wo (Nam Shan)
Sunset Peak Hike Views: 7/10
Send us any questions or comments you have about doing the Sunset Peak Hike via email or ask us on twitter.
