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Jardine’s Lookout Hike In Hong Kong: Complete Guide

Jardine’s Lookout Hike In Hong Kong: Complete Guide

Jardine’s Lookout Hike is quite a short trail but it leads you to one of the best viewpoints over Hong Kong Central and the harbor. Seriously, I went to all the viewpoints and this was one of my favorites. So, if you are looking for an epic view of the city without having to hike for more than a few kilometers, this is your trail.

a woman standing on top of a lush green hillside.

JARDINE’S LOOKOUT HIKING GUIDE

In this blog post, I’ll share everything you need to know about the Jardine’s Lookout hike including where it is, how to get there, and when it’s best to visit.

a view of a city from the top of a hill.

TOP 3 PLACES TO STAY IN HONG KONG

  • Best Value Hotel: Metropark Hotel Causeway Bay4-star hotel for less than $100
  • Best Value Luxury Hotel: Hotel ICON$150 for a 5-star hotel with an epic pool
  • Best Hiking/Adventure Base: Hotel Stage –  Located in Kowloon and right next to lots of epic hikes.

Check out my full guide here: BEST AREAS TO STAY HONG KONG

a large swimming pool with lounge chairs and umbrellas.

JARDINE’S LOOKOUT HIKING TRAIL DETAILS

  • Hike Distance: The total hike distance is 3.5km but there are options to make it a through-hike or to continue to Mt. Butler if you want to continue on. 
  • Hike Duration: The hike will take about 1 hour of hiking time but you will want to watch the sunset at the viewpoint for sure so total adventure time could be 2 or so hours.
  • Hike Difficulty: This is one of the safest, simplest hikes in Hong Kong. It’s well signed and on a defined path the whole way.
  • Hike Incline: The total hike incline was just 240-meters.

HOW TO GET TO JARDINE’S LOOKOUT

The trail begins at  ‘Wilson Trail Hong Kong Parkview’. There is a big sign from the road and it is unmissable. Simply type ‘Wilson Trail Hong Kong Parkview’ into Google and the pin will take you right there. I caught the number 6 bus from Hong Kong Central.

I actually got off at the Wong Nai Chung Reservoir Park and had a look around there before walking up the hill to the trail starting point where all of the signs face the street. I’ve pictured them below and added a map of the hiking route at the bottom of the blog post so you should be set.

You NEED the Octopus Card

TRAVEL TIP: In Hong Kong you NEED the Octopus Card to use public transport and ferries, which is how everyone gets around. Pre-Book your Octopus Card with a Pre-Loaded balance of 50HKD so you can pick it up at the airport (very easy) and then catch public transport straight to your hotel.

  • Conveniently ride the MTR, bus, ferry, coach, and tram with just a tap of your Hong Kong Tourist Octopus Card
  • Conveniently pick up your card with a preloaded credit of HKD50-100 at the Hong Kong International Airport

MY 4 FAVORITE HONG KONG TOURS

Click the orange button below to view all of the top-rated tours on Klook

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MY EXPERIENCE HIKING TO JARDINE’S LOOKOUT

The hike began for me once I got off the bus near Wong Nai Chung Reservoir. After getting off the bus, you make your way up the steep road to the reservoir. It’s on the way from the bus stop to the official starting point of the Jardine’s Lookout Hike and worth a stop to look around.

The reservoir has a viewing area and a pathway that wraps around parts of the perimeter for a viewing platform. The most curious part about the Wong Nai Chung Reservoir is that there are hundreds of huge fish swimming about and even lots of turtles floating and sun-bathing. It was quite fascinating to see so many turtles in an urban area!

The road up to the reservoir.
Wong Nai Chung Reservoir
The turtles at Wong Nai Chung Reservoir
The fish and turtles at Wong Nai Chung Reservoir

After hanging out at Wong Nai Chung Reservoir for a few moments, it is time to continue on up the road until you reach the signs on the left of the main road, which are labeled with Jardine’s Lookout, Wilson Trail and Hong Kong Trail. I’ve pictured those above for your reference.

This wasn’t a big adventure and isn’t even two kilometers each way but it still has a slight amount of incline on the way up. The trail begins with a few stairs, like most hikes in Hong Kong. The foliage on either side of the trail is often so high that you can only focus on the path ahead, with all other views blocked by the leaves. This is quite nice as it means the viewpoint is a big reveal of the view.

After about 1-kilometer into the hike,  you’ll find the Osborn memorial which commemorates the soldiers who fought in this region. The story on the plaque was in English and Cantonese and was quite interesting. It’s often hard to imagine bloodshed in places like this, which are so peaceful when I’m visiting.

Osborn Memorial

It took only about half an hour at a very leisurely pace to reach the viewpoint. It’s marked by a trigonometric pillar, which is found on all summits in Hong Kong. When we made it to the viewpoint, I was shocked. I was expecting a view but not quite this good. I hadn’t heard too much buzz about Jardine’s Lookout but after three weeks in Hong Kong, it turned out to be one of the best views of Hong Kong Central. 

From the official viewpoint clearing area, you have views of Hong Kong Central and all the way out to Tai Mo Shan (highest peak in Hong Kong) behind Kowloon. This is a great view but can be a little obstructed by the high bushes as you can see below.

My tip is to head down one of the wild trails to the left of the official viewing area (marked by ribbons but quite rogue) and find a clearing after 50-meters. Now you will have a private viewing area, not that many others will be at the other viewpoint. However, the main reason to come down to the clearings is for an unobstructed view of the city. You also now have a great little vantage spot where you can take some photos with people standing in the foliage looking out over the city. 

The sunsets to the left so you will get that beautiful golden-hour glow flowing through Hong Kong Central. It really couldn’t have been too much better (unless you removed the Hong Kong smog, of course).

The sun lowered into the smog and turned into a fiery red ball as you can see below. It was at about this time we decided to head down. You could do an out-and-back and return the same way but we decided to continue down the opposite end, which was just 1.8-kilometers till we reached our way back to civilization and jumped on the bus. You can also continue up to Mount Butler if you want more of a journey but that would mean you can’t have the sunset at Jardine’s Lookout, which is why we stayed.

I hope you enjoy this epic viewpoint as it really is one of the gems of Hong Kong.

JARDINE’S LOOKOUT MAP

5 BEST HIKES IN HONG KONG

I wrote a massive guide about the 21 Best Hikes in Hong Kong, but if you are only in Hong Kong for a week or less here are the five most epic routes.

a man standing on top of a large rock.

HAVE YOU READ MY OTHER HONG KONG ARTICLES?

a person standing on top of a cliff overlooking a city.

Sammy Lee

Saturday 8th of July 2023

Thank you for this informative post! I'm planning on visiting this week and look forward to the end view! :)

Trouble

Monday 14th of September 2020

So how to you get back to civilisation if you go down the other side of the hill? When you're down the hill, you end up at a water catchment. Do you follow that to the left? Or do you continue up - presumably to mount buttler?

Edward Griffiths

Monday 18th of January 2021

Hi Trouble, you can go left and follow that catchment - it is fairly normal for a while as you pass round under Jardine’s lookout but as you come round the north face onto the western side, the catchment disappears and you have to clamber over boulders (a rope is placed otherwise it is impassable) for about 10 mins before you reach a path which leads eventually down to Price Road! Great fun!

Jackson

Monday 14th of September 2020

Yea you can use Maps. me and walk on left of the quarry and you should be fine. Maps.me shows all possible routes and is free to use :) just download with wifi before you leave house.

Kreation Photography

Tuesday 14th of January 2020

We also try that route but somehow got lost as we had not much time to roam around.

Anita

Monday 13th of January 2020

I did some of these trails but I wasn't as lucky with the weather as you. Have to go again :P

Jackson

Tuesday 14th of January 2020

Yea was plenty of smoggy cloudy days in my 1 month in HK.