The Dragon's Back Trail Above the Sea

Where the Ridge Meets the Sky: Hong Kong's Dragon's Back

The Dragon's Back trail runs along a ridge on the southeastern edge of Hong Kong Island, and from the top you can see things that contradict every assumption you have about this city. No skyscrapers. No crowds. No concrete. Just the South China Sea stretching to the horizon in a sheet of jade and silver, and below you, the white sand arc of Big Wave Bay, and around you, nothing but grass and wind and the particular loneliness of high places.

I started at the To Tei Wan trailhead, accessible by bus 9 from Shau Kei Wan MTR station - a twenty-minute ride through the eastern suburbs that ends at a bus stop on Shek O Road. The trail begins with a set of stone steps climbing through shrubby hillside, and within ten minutes the city vanishes. The vegetation is low - grasses, wild rhododendron, the occasional windblown pine - and the ridge opens up in both directions like the spine of some enormous sleeping creature. Hence the name.

The trail is 8.5 kilometers from To Tei Wan to Big Wave Bay, and it is classified as easy to moderate, though the exposed ridge sections can feel more dramatic than the grade suggests. The path follows the ridgeline at around 280 meters elevation, undulating over a series of summits that offer progressively more spectacular views. To the west, the towers of Tai Tam and Stanley sit at the base of green hills. To the east, the Shek O peninsula juts into the sea like a green fist.

I hiked it in November, which is Hong Kong's best season - the humidity drops, the sky turns that particular subtropical blue that photographs never capture, and the temperature sits in the low twenties Celsius, warm enough for shorts but cool enough for sustained effort. The ridgeline trail was breezy, and the wind carried salt from below and the faint herbal scent of the hillside grasses.

The descent to Big Wave Bay is the trail's final act - a series of switchbacks dropping through bamboo groves and secondary forest to the beach. I emerged from the tree line and there was the bay, a perfect crescent of sand with turquoise water and a handful of surfers working a modest swell. I took off my boots, walked to the water's edge, and stood there with my feet in the South China Sea, looking back up at the ridge I had crossed, which was already dissolving into afternoon haze.

Bring water, sunscreen, and a hat - there is no shade on the ridge. Start early to avoid the afternoon heat, even in November. The trail is popular on weekends but never oppressive - the ridge is wide and the views absorb the crowds. And when you reach Big Wave Bay, there is a village with restaurants serving cold drinks and hot noodles, which is exactly what you will want after two hours of walking on the dragon's spine.