It’s been a while since we did the Violet Hill Twins Hike in Hong Kong, probably more than a year and thought we’d do another post and post some pics on a fine day, of which there’s been bugger all this year in Hong Kong. No parking available at the little car park opposite Parkview apartments, but down the road, just past Wong Nai Chung Reservoir on the opposite side there’s a hidden car park. From there, cross the road, walk back up the hill to the entrance of Wilson Trail section 1.
This is the beginning of the Violet Hill Twins Hike. Going up Violet Hill will take you around 20-30 minutes if you’re fit, there’s not a lot of views apart from what you see in photos below. Then go down a lot of stairs (not nice on the knees) and you’ll reach the beginning of the Twins. The first time we attempted the Twins was a long, long time ago, and we almost died and took over an hour, having to stop several (probably over 20) times. Granted it was the middle of summer but this was the first exercise we’d done in a long time. This time, we made it up in about 20 minutes, and the second twin in another 15 minutes. It’s still tough work, but running up and down the peak from Cyberport a few times a week definitely helps the fitness.
The views going up the Violet Hill Twins Hike aren’t actually that great, even at the top of either Twin the views are underwhelming. You have to wait until you’re on your way down to Stanley to get the best views (see photos of the Violet Hill Twins Hike) and they’re nice, but nothing great. A lot of people say this is a gruelling Hike in Hong Kong – for sure, it’s no picnic, but if you’re relatively fit it’s not a leg breaker. Instead of going down to Stanley, we ran back around the Catchwater, some shade, best of all peace and quiet and very little people (weekdays), and the occasional nice view over Repulse Bay. You’ll meet back up at the bottom of the twins, if you’re really keen you can hike back up Violet Hill or we prefer to run around Tze Lo Lan Country Trail, which can be reached by hiking a little way back up Violet Hill then turning left where the sign says Wong Nai Chung Reservoir.
The whole Violet Hill Twins Hike took us 2hrs 20 minutes, and it is actually only 11.83 km, slow going, but other than a few stops for taking some photos, we ran most of the way along any flat bits. Compare this to the much more leisurely Peak Hike in Hong Kong, which is similar distance depending on exactly where you go, and can be done in an hour and a half (Cyberport-Peel Rise-Peak-Hatton Road-Cyberport), and you can see the Violet Hill Twins Hike is much tougher thanks to the thousands of stairs on the way. This is many peoples favourite hike in Hong Kong but it’s really nothing great but a good work out.
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