Victoria Peak is an absolute must for anyone visiting Hong Kong. The view of the Hong Kong Island and Victoria Harbour is truly iconic. The scene is spectacular and well worth the journey!
How To Get There
Peak Tram: a very popular and seemingly ‘must-do’ if you are in Hong Kong. However, we found the queue to be far too long and decided to give this a miss. Perhaps arriving a little earlier will alleviate this problem.
Bus: The number 15 takes you from Central right up to the top. When visiting The Peak at night, later in the week, we did this. We didn’t have to wait long at all!
Taxi: an unnecessary expense in our opinion, however, useful for those with a higher budget and less time.
Finally, walking! Which is the method we chose for our first trip.
Walking to Victoria Peak
I want to say that it was well worth the climb. I want to say I loved every second of the hike and the achievement far out weighed the sore legs.
Unfortunately I cannot, and I do not recommend walking to the top! It was hot, it was humid and it was steep! The hike itself isn’t particularly scenic. You will find yourself surrounded by concrete, traffic and exhaust fumes for much of the journey.
There is a pretty, natural part of the trail but by the time we got there I had just about had enough of walking!
Definitely consider the bus or get to the Peak Tram early to avoid queues.
The View
The view from The Peak was just as impressive as we had imagined. Even with the lower than optimum visibility on the day we went.
We didn’t go to the Sky Terrace Viewing Platform as it cost around £5 and we we’re trying to save money. However, from what I have seen, the Sky Terrace is a pretty awesome photo opportunity with unobstructed 360 views. So worth considering if you wouldn’t mind spending the money.
You can still get yourself an ace picture without it though!
We stayed around the terrace area and observed from the Lions Pavilion vantage point, and a little walk further along.
Lugard Road lookout is a 10 minute walk away, but due to lack of time we weren’t able to make it. A shame as it is a free and supposedly boasts fantastic panoramic views.
The Peak at Night
As mentioned, we visited The Peak a second time at night. We timed it well enough to coincide with the Symphony of Lights.
Whilst seeing the city as night from The Peak is definitely a must do, I wouldn’t necessarily say the Symphony of Lights from The Peak is a must do. It might have been the less than favourable visibility, but I found that I could’t really make out the lights at all. Plus, it made the area very busy and difficult to even get a good vantage point in the first place!
We decided to leave just before the lights ended meaning we totally missed the rush and got a seat on a bus back down with little wait time. The crowds of people we left behind I am sure had to wait a while longer than we did!
What do you think?
Let me know in the comments section!
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