Lantau Peak Hike In Hong Kong: The Hiker’s Guide

The Lantau Peak hike is one of the most spectacular hikes in Hong Kong taking you to the Lantau Peak summit, which is the second-highest point in Hong Kong. There are several routes to the top. One route includes a visit to the big buddha while another route is touted as the ‘hardest’ hike in Hong Kong. I will detail all of the route options in this complete guide about the Lantau Peak hiking trail.

LANTAU PEAK HIKE: COMPLETE GUIDE

In this blog post, I’ll share everything you need to know about the Lantau Peak hike including where it is, how to get there, the many different route options and when it’s best to visit.

MY EXPERIENCE ON THE LANTAU PEAK HIKE

So, as I mentioned above, there are multiple ways to reach the summit of Lantau Peak. My blog post will share with you the details and my experience of hiking to Lantau Peak via the West Dog’s Teeth Hike. I did go down from Lantau Peak to Pak Kung Au and can say that there isn’t much to note about that route. It is just the quickest way up and down without too much to marvel at.

The other route via Big Buddha would be great also but I’ve never done that so I will not share specific details about it. So here we go, this is my hike recount of the Lantau Peak hike via West Dog’s Teeth Ridge.

The trailhead begins at the entrance for the Shek Pik Country Trail. You need to venture past the signs until you reach the man-made waterway. Cross the small bridge (pictured below) and then begin to follow the Shek Pik Country Trail.

The trail begins with a few steep stairways with full forest coverage. The first several kilometers of the trail is a combination of flat dirt paths and steep steps. 

You will need to remain on the trail all the way until you are 3-kilometers into the hike. Almost exactly at the 3-kilometer mark, you will make a turn off the trail on the right. There is a path (more like a rocky ramp) with spray-painted characters, which is the start of the West Dog’s Teeth Ridge and the point when you leave the Shek Pik Country Trail.

The dirt path you enjoyed for the first few kilometers is over and the trail to Lantau Peak is now a rocky scramble up the West Dog’s Teeth Ridge. It’s never too dangerous in my opinion (you be the judge for yourself) but you will have to use your hands in a few sections. 

This section of the trail is quite slow but it’s important to take it an easier pace to watch your footing and surroundings as you go. Don’t rush this part. Make sure to turn around frequently as you will be rewarded with great views back down to the reservoir where you began the trek. This initial section of the Lantau Peak Hike was probably my favorite section of trail throughout the entire trail.

These are some drone photos I took from the middle ridge looking up to Lantau Peak. It was a cloudy day but often pockets of the sun would smash through. Lantau Peak is said to be mysterious as it is often covered by clouds.

When we started it was totally enveloped by clouds and I was a bit disappointed but it ending up clearing up entirely. Keep that in mind. It could change quickly so don’t delay your hike if you see clouds, just cross your fingers the clouds blow over.

After almost 5-kilometers, you will reach an intersection of three trails. The one to your right leads down to the Middle Dog’s Teeth trail, one leads back the way you just came and the other is up to Lantau Peak. It’s time to make the final ascent up to Lantau Peak.

This final section of the hike up to Lantau Peak summit is very steep. It’s maybe less than 1-kilometer in length but on multiple occasions, you will look up at the giant wall of stairs in front of you! Make sure you turn back often to take in the views because if you have decent weather like us you will be able to see the whole ridge you have just conquered.

We made it to Lantau Peak, which is the second-highest peak in Hong Kong and the highest on Lantau Island. The highest peak is Tai Mo Shan, which I hiked earlier in the month.

After the tough journey to the summit, we took a seat and enjoyed the last half an hour of the golden hour before the sunset made it’s the best effort. Hong Kong can be very smoggy as it was while I was visiting. You can see it clearly in some of the photos below, which really shows the thick layer that seems to block all of the good sunset colors. Nevertheless, it was pretty nice being up so high and having panoramic views and looking out across to Sunset Peak, which is another great hike on Lantau Island. 

As you can see on the map below, I then headed down to the main road Pak Kung Au. It is the road between Sunset Peak and Lantau Peak so it’s the same way home as if you had finished Sunset Peak. This route was a nice way to go down in the dark as it was mostly paved and had a nice stairway for the majority of the route. This made it safe but we still needed our head torches.

The ridge we took down to Pak Kung Au. After completing the West Dog’s Teeth Ridge hike and the Lantau Peak Summit hike with relative ease, I would say it was one of the hardest hikes in Hong Kong but wouldn’t put it in the hard category on a relative scale to any hikes in Switzerland, etc.

It’s got incline and some bushwacking but you could quite easily take adventurous children on this hike if they had successfully completed some other Hong Kong hikes first. Happy hiking and I hope you enjoy this challenge of reaching the Lantau Peak summit.