Cheung Chau Island

Cheung Chau is a small island to the south-west of Hong Kong Island. It is well known for it's yearly Cheung Chau Bun Festival held in late spring every year.

If you want to visit you will need a good map (the Hong Kong Tourist Board has one that is quite useful). Regular ferries to the island operate from Pier 5 in Central (right near the Star Ferry terminal). The ferry takes about 45 minutes (there is also a fast ferry which is a bit quicker).

The island is hourglass-shaped with a fishing harbour on one side of the “waist” of the hourglass and a beach on the other.

There is a path around both the south and north sides of the island which is highly recommended taking in a number of key historical sites but also some amazing scenery. The small “Cheung Chau Rock Carvings” near “Kwun Yam” and “Tung Wan” beaches on the east side of the island are ancient and captivating; “Human Head Rock” near “Kwun Yam Lookout” (itself offering fantastic views of the beaches and surrounding areas) is an amazing piece of landscape that is what it says on the tin; the “Cheung Po Tsai Cave” on the south-west of the island was used for smuggling and is somewhat more low-key but interesting nonetheless.

The “Tin Hau Temple” (Nam Tam) on the south coast is quite secluded with a tiny sand beach.

You can catch a “Kaido” (small junk) from Cheung Po on the south-west of the island to the main part of the harbour (near where the ferry docks).

There are actually several beaches all along the east coast of the island, the main Tung Wan Beach which can get extremely busy and the quieter, smaller, Kwun Yam Beach.

The beaches have change and locker facilities. There is no admission fee for the beach nor the change rooms.

Located close to the ferry pier (a short walk to the north), the Yuk Hui Temple (Pak Tai Temple) is the heart of the annual Cheung Chau bun festival (see Wikipedia - Cheung Chau Bun Festival for details) and, despite, appearances is quite old.

Entrance to the small temple is free of charge (though donations always welcome).