【Featured Travelogue】Po Toi Island | Hong Kong’s Southernmost Island | A Traveler’s Journey

 

Most people go right—the path there is flatter and easier to walk; in contrast, the left path has more rocks. It depends on whether you prefer suffering first and then enjoying, or enjoying first and then suffering～We went with our mood and chose the left path, tough first then easy！

Figure out which path you want to take, then decide whether to go left or right. We spent 4 hours covering all the routes we had planned.

The observatory clearly predicted rain today, yet we got incredibly sunny weather！

After passing a convenience store, keep walking and you’ll see Ming Kee Seafood Restaurant, which seems to be the only restaurant on the island. We headed toward the restroom area of Ming Kee, where there’s a staircase leading up the mountain. The beginning part was quite manageable, with normal steps.

The only restaurant on the island

We accidentally chose the mountain path behind Ming Kee (behind the restroom)

Absolutely gorgeous weather！

But after climbing just a few dozen steps, the path suddenly turned into a rocky trail！And there was an endless-looking water pipe running alongside. Seeing that the path was still passable, we continued along the water pipe. This pipe was practically our lifeline, because a bit further ahead, the path became narrower and the rocks grew larger. In several spots, the “path” was just made of vines or tree roots. Without the pipe to hold onto, I wouldn’t have dared step on those root-formed “nets”—I was afraid I’d slip and fall into the valley. The pipe turned out to be the best support. When we reached a small pond, we switched to another path going up.

The path turned from normal steps to rocky terrain, with an unending water pipe

The rocks kept getting bigger—some were about half my height！(Traveler is 1.72m tall)

What is this “pipe path”?

More and more plants along the way

The path kept getting harder to navigate, no wonder there were hikers turning back who kept passing us. Since we didn’t want to backtrack (it was really steep), we steeled ourselves and kept going！

 

Finally, we reached the end of the pipe, which was a rock wall even taller than me！Water was flowing down from the top of the wall. We took a slight turn and climbed up a slope next to the wall (watch your step for slipping！). At the same time, some uncle hikers coming back from the wall warned us, “It gets really steep ahead！！”

Hikers turning back before the rock wall

Still not wanting to backtrack, after climbing the wall, we faced what was practically a vertical rock face. As the uncle said, “It really gets steep ahead!” But the uneven parts of the rock surface provided the best footholds—we treated them as natural holds and started climbing upward like we were rock climbing. I actually enjoy rock climbing, so scaling this wall was actually kind of exciting！Because it was so steep, we decided to move quickly, scrambling up fast and soon reaching the top.

Climbing the rock wall using both hands and feet！(We came up via the path under the small pond)

Looking up, it really felt like a rock-climbing experience.

The slope on the right is the path we climbed up.

“To see a thousand miles, climb yet another storey.”The view from up here was absolutely worth it.

It turns out the normal hiking path is on the other side.

We were motivated to push forward only because we heard voices of other people on the rocks.

Once we reached the top of the rocks, we realized the summit wasn’t the highest — there were several more rocky peaks ahead. But looking around, aside from the path we had just climbed up, there didn’t seem to be any other way. There were also quite a few people on the rocks. We asked them if there was an alternate route, and they said that if there was, they would’ve taken it. So we carefully made our way through the vegetation — it’s best you all take this advice too, or you might end up getting scratched by the overgrown bushes.

Can you see the path now?

The path is made by people walking it.

It took us one hour to finally reach the last rocky peak. The view here is truly amazing. The wind is so pleasant that we couldn’t help but sit down and rest for a bit.

Sitting here, we could see people on the opposite hilltop. Occasionally, their voices carried over, saying hello or asking for directions — because the entire route was spread out before our eyes.

Whenever we encountered people on the opposite hill shouting for directions or saying hi, we’d call back too. It felt like ancient mountain singing — really fun.

We were in the middle of some “mountain singing” with the folks on the opposite hill.

After resting, we hurried along because the last boat leaves at 4:30 pm. Finally, we got back to the proper trail.

A real hiking trail.

The King’s signpost?

The real hiking trail has chains to hold onto.

But after years of sun and rain exposure, the chains are quite worn out — be careful not to get your hands cut.

The path on the opposite hill: turning right leads to the pier, turning left takes you on another path (with even better views).

We didn’t plan to head back to the pier so early, so we chose the uphill path to the left. The views afterward proved that this choice was a good one — the most beautiful parts were still ahead.

We returned to a proper hiking trail.

Such a cute elephant.

The views on the mountain are really stunning.

After passing the Sunset Pavilion, even more beautiful scenery lies ahead.

Everyone couldn’t help but sit down and take it all in.

It’s an endless expanse of sea.

This kind of view is absolutely worth seeing.

We couldn’t resist taking a few more photos.

Ahead lies another small island (also within the Po Toi Islands area). We first went left (on flat ground), then looped up to the 126 Lighthouse (it’s the same path, forming a sort of loop).

Back at Cape D’Aguilar Lighthouse (Light 126), the southernmost lighthouse in Hong Kong (Cape D’Aguila has Hong Kong’s first lighthouse—see “Cape D’Aguila | A Hidden Gem of a Paradise”), it’s an awesome spot for photos and a great place to admire the breathtaking sea views!

Finally, we started from here and walked ~15–20 minutes to get back to the pier. Along the way, there were rock carvings, but we didn’t have time to see them.

Po Toi Island is truly beautiful. Even though it’s far away, it’s definitely worth a visit!

 

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