3 hidden Lamma Island experiences

Lamma Island is free of cars, full of beaches and as quiet as a small country town.

But each weekend the village swells with day visitors who all walk the same path, eat at the same restaurants and swim at the same beach. It’s crowded, it’s frustrating and it’s noisy. It’s just like Central.

If you really want to enjoy Lamma, you need to work a little.

Views

First things first -- get off the main path. A spider web of hiking and biking trails traverses the chain of small hills that runs through the middle of Lamma Island.

These dirt paths not only offer the best views, they’re quiet and completely natural, at some points requiring you to push your way through long grass and sparse bush.

To start on one of these trails, take Yung Shue Wan Main Street and follow signs to Lamma Winds. After a short uphill climb, you’ll find yourself at the base of one of Hong Kong’s first wind turbines.

Directly to your right, next to a water and drinks stand, is a small path. Follow it.

Hugging the coast at first, the path will eventually head inland and upwards. Follow signs to So Ku Wan.

After a long stair climb you’ll be directed off the paved path and onto what looks like a riverbed. Follow this all the way up.

Although the trail is faint in some parts, eventually it will lead you to pop out of the shrubbery and onto a ridge that has the best views on the island.

Beach

Although Lamma’s beaches are occasionally afflicted by garbage-laden tides, for the most part the water is clean and swimmable. You just can’t go to the main Hung Shing Yeh Beach on a weekend when it will be too packed with people to provide the benefits of beachside idling.

Instead, get to one of the smaller and quieter sand strips where you can actually relax enough to fall asleep. Of these, Jawbone Bay is the closest to the ferry.

To get there, take the set of stairs at the end of the ferry pier and stay on them all the way up. After a short but rather intense uphill climb, you will see a few apartment blocks on either side of the path before it dips downhill again to Nga Kau Wan. Jawbone Bay is on the left.

The beach is not patrolled and dogs are allowed.

Party

The juxtaposition of a power station on a small tropical island may be strange, but it is a great place for night beach parties and bonfires.

While the reflection of the station's lights in the ocean isn't something you would automatically call beautiful, it is peculiarly pleasant to gaze at and not nearly as abrasive a sight as it is by day.

To get to the power station stay on Yung Shue Wan Main Street until you have passed through the main village. Eventually you will cross one of Lamma's few asphalt roads -- just after this is an open-air tofu shop. At the back of the shop a path runs between small farming fields and bush. Follow this path all the way to the beach.

Like hiking and beach-hanging, the humble fun of a campfire is easily accessible for most Hong Kong residents at most times during the year. Surely this is one of the city’s greatest assets. The small plot of trees that backs onto the beach is a constant supply of kindling and wood for fires.