Lamma Island Hike from Yung Shue Wan to Sok Kwu Wan

Welcome to another Travel Tuesday! This week, I’ll be taking you over to Hong Kong for a very non-HK-esque hike! (I liken Hong Kong to a Chinese New York City, so hiking and scenery isn’t something I usually associate with it!)

Lamma Island Hike from Yung Shue Wan to Sok Kwu Wan

Lamma Island (南丫島) is the 3rd largest island in Hong Kong. It’s a distinct contrast from Hong Kong in that there are no cars(!) and buildings can’t be more than 3 stories high. There’s no public transportation here, so people travel by foot or bicycle.

There are two main piers:

• Lamma Island (南丫島)–Yung Shue Wan ((榕樹灣, the most populated area on the island, with lots of little shops, grocery stores and eateries)
• Sok Kwu Wan (索罟灣, mainly consists of seafood restaurants).

Take the ferry from Central Pier 4 to get there–it arrives every ~30 minutes in the morning and spaces out in the afternoon. The schedules are here:

• Central to Yung Shue Wan
• Central to Sok Kwu Wan

It takes about 20-25 minutes to reach Yung Shue Wan from the Central Pier (if you start at Sok Kwu Wan, it’ll take ~35-40 min).

Distance: ~5km (3.1 miles)
Duration: ~1-1.5 hours
Difficulty: Easy
Price (for the ferry): 17 HKD (~$2 USD) – 29.8 HKD (~$4 HKD)

The road is paved pretty much the entire way, and there are lots of rest stops + little shops along the way where you can get fresh coconut water, drinks, ice cream, and/or popsicles!

Make sure you stop by at 亞婆豆腐花 (Ah Poh Tofu Fa, aka Tofu Granny!), where you can get a cold or hot bowl of 豆腐花, a tasty Chinese snack/dessert made of tofu and served with a sweet ginger syrup!

We went during November, so it wasn’t bad at all! (I’d strongly advise against trying to hike anywhere in Hong Kong anywhere between late May through August because of the heat/humidity.)

You can take a short detour up to the Lamma Power Station! Lamma Winds opened up in 2/2006 and is Hong Kong’s first power station! There’s also an exhibition area that talks about different types of renewable energy as well as their strengths, limitations + applications.

Hung Shing Ye Beach is located in the middle of the island and has super clear water and fine white sand. It also has changing facilities, toilets, and refreshment stands, and would be a great place to go in the hotter months!

Along the way, you might also notice a few caves as you get closer to Sok Kwu Wan. These are known as the “kamikaze grottos” and were dug out by the Japanese to store suicide boats (speedboats rigged with explosives).

Although we started the hike from Yung Shue Wan, you can also start it from Sok Kwu Wan if you’re worried about not catching a ferry. (Ferries arrive more frequently to Yung Shue Wan.) That being said, we had no trouble catching the ferry after lunch at one of the seafood restaurants at Sok Kwu Wan.

Let your server know you want to catch the next ferry! They know the schedule well and are great about getting all your food out quickly so you won’t miss it!

• Have you ever been to Hong Kong? (Are you surprised as I was about the scenery? :O!)
• Have you ever had doufufa/豆腐花?