Ap Chau and Kat O: How to pay a visit to two of Hong Kong’s most distant islands in 1 day

Continue to, numerous of these islands are simpler to accessibility than other people. Some, like Lamma and Peng Chau, have common various-instances-for each-working day ferry companies, a healthier group of whole-time people and a vary of shops and corporations. Other individuals can only be visited by way of personal boat or kayak.

Ap Chau and Kat O, AKA Duck Island and Crooked Island respectively, drop into the sweet location in the center. It really is doable to stop by both of these islands, located in Hong Kong’s far north close to the border of Shenzhen in mainland China, provided you do a small thorough preparing forward of time.

Your reward? Two islands, both of those gorgeous in their personal unique strategies, that you should not really feel just about anything like the rest of Hong Kong, all for just a couple of bucks.

The basic principles

The to start with sign you’re not just using any aged commuter ferry is the seem of the boat by itself. To get to islands like these, you may be touring by kaito — a smaller sized boat that seems to be a lot more like a fishing vessel.

When some of these kaitos accept Octopus transit playing cards (the identical kinds you can use on Hong Kong buses and the MTR), others only accept hard cash as they are run by independent businesses and not the town.

The kaito to Ap Chau and Kat O departs from Sha Tau Kok, which is in the New Territories in northern Kowloon. Acquiring there is fairly of a obstacle in itself and can quickly just take 90-120 minutes from Central.

You will either have to acquire several MTR subway strains and then connect to a minibus, or get a taxi. In the New Territories, taxis are green as an alternative of pink, and you will need to pay back in cash. English-talking capacity between taxi drivers is strike or skip, so check with somebody at your hotel to create out the location for you in Cantonese just in circumstance.

4 kaitos operate for every day, each and every working day — 8:30 a.m., 12:30 p.m., 2:45 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. If you might be boarding the final 1, while, be prepared to camp out — the return ferries operate at 6:30 a.m., 10:30 a.m., 1.30 p.m. and 4:00 p.m.

An additional place to select up a kaito to the two islands is Ma Liu Shui, close to the chaotic Sha Tin neighborhood. It is really trade-off, as this ferry is appreciably much easier to accessibility by means of community transit, but it only has just one departure for each day on Saturdays, Sundays and community vacations. It leaves at 9 a.m. and departs from Kat O all over 3:30 p.m.

Every spherical-excursion, same-day journey expenses $20 HK cash (about $3 US).

The journey

When the kaito rides are prolonged (an hour and a half from Ma Liu Shui), the surroundings is lovely. This is very a great deal a journey-is-the-vacation spot type of journey, with the additional bonus that the spot is also the desired destination. You are able to get up and transfer all around, building picture ops easy.

The very first prevent on the ferry will be Ap Chau, the more compact of the two islands. Ap Chau signifies “Duck Island” and must not be bewildered with Ap Lei Chau (Duck Lip Island), a tightly packed residential community. Ap Chau is explained to be the smallest inhabited island in the Hong Kong archipelago.

The ferry will continue to be at Ap Chau. You will have about an hour to examine the tiny island, at which position absolutely everyone will get back on the ferry and go on on to Kat O. Due to the fact Kat O is bigger and has a couple companies, you commit a few hours there right before returning to the kaito and heading again to the mainland.

Ap Chau is in some cases termed Robinson Island.

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What to do

Both of those islands are part of the Hong Kong UNESCO-identified International Geopark. They’re the two inhabited, but there are stringent procedures about what varieties of things to do can get area there.

Vacationer actions, specifically on Ap Chau, consist of very little additional than climbing and using in the scenery. Both equally islands have a tiny “tale area,” ersatz museums that give history on the heritage and geography of the spot.

On a clear or even obvious-ish day, hikers on Kat O will be ready to see the Shenzhen transport container port, which is just across the sea border with mainland China.

As Kat O is larger sized and has a marginally greater inhabitants, you can find a bit more to do there than choose in character. Its identify means “auspicious bay” in Cantonese, and the island’s unusual — indeed, crooked — form makes it a fun put to discover.

In the modest fisherman’s village where by the ferry lets you off, there is certainly a single restaurant, relatives-operate Cantonese eatery Yik Guy. This is a perfect place to refuel prior to location off on a wander.

Although Hong Kong has some of the world’s finest great dining eating places, there’s truly no practical experience really like going to a everyday outer-island eatery. Meals are laid-back again — often you can find just just one established menu — and served spouse and children-style for everybody at the table. If you want a soda or a beer, you can just stroll more than to the cooler and get 1 yourself. Payment is strictly only in funds, and will not use large expenditures if you can help it.

Numerous Hong Kongers converse fluent English, but the further more you get from the metropolis center the more probably you are to come upon someone who won’t use the language as considerably or is just not as proficient. Building an effort and hard work to find out a handful of essential terms and phrases in Cantonese will endear you to locals — consider ho ho (quite great) when they talk to how the food items is, and say mmgoi (thank you) when you go away.

The most important Kat O path is about a kilometer lengthy and pretty simple. If you might be willing to do the job a minor more difficult, head up to the Tin Hau temple. The see is stunning, even on a hazy working day — the Shenzhen shipping container port is so near you may come to feel like you can practically arrive at out and get it.